Remember flicker rings? These were cheap little plastic rings that had a lenticular picture which changed when you moved it around. I got one occasionally from a gumball machine. The perfect pinky bling to boost your 3rd Grade street cred.

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I remember these rubbery little toy creatures that hung from a string and wiggled around like crazy at the slightest touch. I had one hanging in my bedroom as a kid. It was a yellow gorilla like the one seen here. It had a small piece missing out of its arm where my pet hamster once took a bite out of it.

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The year I bought my first baseball cards was 1968. I grew up in Chicago, and was a Cubs fan. I still remember the exact spot where I stood on the sidewalk outside the corner drug store and opened the pack that had my first Ernie Banks card.

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What’s left of my fireworks from around 38 years ago.
They are now collectible.

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Wow! Very cool to still have those. Zebras and Thunder Bombs bring back good memories.

How about the little guys that packed a punch, Mighty Mites

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I don’t remember mighty mites.
Jumping jacks were a lot of fun.

Digging in the closet.
The dust runner is still in there, but the planet of the apes box is empty.

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Rolled around on one of these as child. Don’t really remember but the pictures tell me I did. Lol.

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I would be afraid to pick those up. Figure they would be unstable and blow up in my hand.

So you didn't play with blasting caps when you were a kid ?

LTG : )

Here are a couple that were especially important to me. They both provided my young self with the freedom of movement that led to many adventures.

First is the Ross Snapper BMX bike. This isn’t my photo, but is is the exact same model I got for my birthday. Yellow first gen Tuff Wheels, rat trap pedals, the works. Almost immediately I stripped the chain guard, reflector mounts, and anything else I could to reduce weight. I added some cromoly parts later, but with those wheels and that frame, it was always on the heavy side. It was built like a tank though. It wasn’t my first bike, but it was the first with which I could really range out.

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Next up was a 60s era Sears Gamefisher boat. Again, not my photo, but really very similar to this one. We had a Johnson 10HP outboard to go along with it. It would easily pull a skier. That aluminum boat didn’t weigh anything. I had to put the gas tank all the way forward to get it to plane off if I was alone. My Dad and I had been going out in that boat as long as I remember. He wouldn’t let me solo until I could prove that I could swim to shore from the middle of the biggest cove near our dock (100 yards, at least).

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By ten years old I was free ranging on both land and water.

My only pre-school ride was a red generic base-model tricycle. I remember I liked to set the tricycle upside down and make the front wheel spin as fast as I could by moving the pedals around with my hands. I couldn’t find any image online of a kid doing this so I must’ve been crazy.

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I used to do that, too. I’d get it going so fast that my hands would fly off the pedals, but they would keep going and circle around and slam my knuckles. Maybe we were both crazy?

Me too!

Ooh, ballpark memories! My Dad took me to several Cubs games at Wrigley Field in the 60s. I loved it when they played the Giants, since Willie Mays was my favorite non-Cubs player. We got a home run ball once that landed under our bleacher seats. I loved the Oscar Mayer hot dogs they had there back then. Also the Oscar Mayer “Smokie Links.” Mustard and onions, please.

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Did you ever run up or down in the opposite direction of a moving escalator? I thought it was big fun until one day I fell and got nasty bloody scrapes all over my arm and shoulder. Never tried that genius move again...

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Anybody grab onto the bumper of a car and let it drag you through the snow covered streets ?

LTG : )

Lots of times. I had a friend run down one once and I didn't feel like going after him so I yelled "stop thief". He disappeared for awhile. He wasn't none too happy with me after spending time with store security and getting searched.

I miss being a kid.

I miss wrist rockets too.

LTG : )

Yes, we called it Skitching, not sure how that term was derived.

When I was about 3 or 4 years old, my Mom got me these Snippy electric safety scissors for cutting paper. I’ve always thought these scissors were supposed to look like a bird, but I see now 60 years later that it’s a fish!

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we called it shagging. good times. when cars had metal bumpers that you could grab hold of and hang on for dear life in subdivisions

Cool, we liked Peacocks, Zebras, and of course Black Cats. I just dug out my 1972 Thunder Bombs. I've only had them for 20 years. My friend, jukebox restorer Steve Ralston, bought them while he was in the Air Force in 1972. He gave them to me one day while I was at his shop fixing his computers.
The brick's paper wrapping has disintegrated, but I kept the label. They still work very well!

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This was next to the scissors in my house growing up. Both had magic and adult warnings!

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Mooch I just gotta say thank you for posting. Your post remind me of all the great childhood memories of having fun, even if it did not include a toy(every time you post -I have a major flashback). This thread is awesome-keep on posting

We called it hopping cars. Best hop by far was a UPS truck with a little too convenient rope on the back. Rode it for a good 1/2 mile till I noticed the rope was soaked in oil. Had to be intentional, I’m sure the driver must have been laughing his ass off but so was I.
I’ve noticed anyone under 25 has no idea that we would hop, shag or skitch cars back in the day.

Couldn’t agree more and have wanted to say the same thing to you for weeks. Sorry I haven’t until now. Please keep em’ coming!

Many times, A group of us went to a RUSH concert at Joe Louis Area, after a trek thru to the roof parking on Cobo hall we came upon the down escalato, we got Steve to go first, he ran track several other followed, then I gave it a go and nearly ran out of steam3-4 steps from the top. Finally made it! It al happenedl because of BEER and left handed cigarettes. BTW it was a long escalator going up the equivalant of 2 floors.

Think these were a Tupperware exclusive

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I whiled away some hours with this set.

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Would always confuse the two

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Surprised Mr.Yuk hasn’t made a resurgence in 2020

Anybody know anything about a line of (pre die-cast?) toy cars whose bottoms resembled this picture(but with black wheels) I think the cars came in a set and none of them had chassis. I believe they only came in blue,green,orange and red. Not sure if they were based on actual cars or not.
Anyway I have been searching the web for the past week or two with no luck. Closest I got is this picture. Just spent another 20 minutes and got frustrated.

I hope one of the toysiders here on pinside can help.

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Looks like Hubley.

They had more of a gray tire, that crumble with age.

LTG : )

This might be mostly a NW thing, not sure. But we used to make wooden hydroplane model boats and pull them with string behind our bikes.
I made at least half dozen and usually spent some time in the design/paint process. We made ramps for jumping & added nails to make sparks at night.
Good fun!
Here's an article from local news about the phenom:
https://mynorthwest.com/1066454/seattle-street-hydroplanes/?

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Struck out on a Hubley google search but it put me on the right road.

Tootsie Toys!

Thank you L ... it really was driving me nuts

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This would beat any Hot Wheel or Matchbox car on the block.

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Boy Scouts anybody? My dad I put the weight in the back of the car not knowing that it would have been better in the front to pull it down I believe. Didn’t fair all that well. But memories I have.

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When I was very young the quarter machines spit out amazingly original stuff. Thanks for the pictures. Jigglys sell pretty well still.

120 $this lot. Available now on the Internet.

There are big new ones out there. Rubber monsters!

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I had the first two bikes. I was so embarrassed by the gas tank on the western flyer that I ripped it off at the bike rack the day after I got it. What a asshole kid I must have been. Last month I posted that I threw one air Jordan 1 off the pier cause I got the wrong color and tonight recalling that I destroyed that bike. Worse I blamed another kid for damaging the bike hoping my parents would buy me the Monoshock bike. My plan worked with the shoes didn’t work for the bike.

Guess my dad knew I was a asshole : )

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Omg I had the yellow and black huffy too.

Thanks guys. It’s getting harder to come up with stuff. I’m scraping the bottom of my memory barrel. I love all the old funny stories from childhood everyone is posting.

Same here but feels pretty good when you pull one out.
Think that’s what makes this thread so enjoyable.
We all just monkeys in a barrel, each clinging to our own memories.

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. One in which, after reading that last sentence, I’ve taken too much of tonight : )

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Ever chew on an icicle? Whenever I found a reachable row of long clear icicles hanging down, I couldn’t resist cracking one off and chewing on it like a carrot. But I don’t recall ever taking more than maybe two bites of one, since they were usually flavored with a hint of roof dirt.

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I had this cool plastic submarine toy that I played with in the bathtub. It fired two little red torpedoes in the water. Great for launching an attack on a rubber duck. I also remember these anti-slip flower shapes my Mom stuck all over the bottom of the tub. I guess she was going for a groovy 60s Flower Power vibe.

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