While we have showed you some of these killer 1980s monster truck toy tv commercial examples in the past, there’s a slew of them in this five minute video that we had totally forgotten to even go looking for. I’ve made no bones about the fact that I think the 1980s and early 1990s were the high point for killer automotive toys for kids. This was before videos games totally dominated life and when it was actually awesome to have something you could touch, feel, and make do various operations. From driving over your sister’s Barbie Corvette to watching a truck climb over a pile of dirt you made, every one of the toys shown in this video was a gateway to an imaginary world that provided LOADS of creative fun.
The Lohnes family was not swimming in pools of gold coins growing up, but I did have most of the stuff you will see in these commercials at one time or another and if I didn’t have it, chances are that one of the kids in the neighborhood did. There’s also the fact that these were not million dollar toys, either. I remember saving up and buying a couple of these things, particularly The Claw truck. I always wanted the Bigfoot stunt arena with the re-formable cars. That was a brilliant idea, whoever thought of it.
My kids still bust out the Hot Wheels and they still make stuff with blocks but it’s not the same world. Forza 7 arrived at the house last week and they have been way more enthralled with it than anything else as of late. My wife keeps the reigns on them pretty tight on video game time but they use all the allotted minutes that they can. Hey, it’s still car stuff, right? Meh.
I wish stuff like this was still the way of the world!
