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BangShift Question of the Day: What Was Your Favorite Automotive Toy As a Kiddo?


BangShift Question of the Day: What Was Your Favorite Automotive Toy As a Kiddo?

Combining the video of the Crazy cart and the fact that I recently stumbled upon this photo of a young me, proudly perched in my Power Wheels truck back in the early 1980s got me thinking. Of all the neat car related toys and widgets mom and dad (along with the rest of a very supportive family!) gave me over the years, that truck stands as the singular most neat piece of them all.

Why? Because I could drive it! Sure, it went about three miles per hour and I was restricted to the confines of the yard, but neither of those things entered my mind. I’d drive it until the battery went dead virtually every day. I could haul rocks in the small bed, chase my sister around the yard, and imagine-up virtually any scenario I wanted to and stick myself into it. It was a mini-version of what we love so much about the real things today, it gives us an escape, and outlet, and something to lose ourselves in.

This photo also serves as proof that my head has always been exponentially larger than normal.

So the question of the day focuses back on what your favorite automotive themed toy was as a kid. Maybe it was a Hot Wheels or Matchbox car that caught your eye and you’ve attained the real thing in adult hood. Maybe a remote control car, hell, maybe even a video game. You tell us!

What was your favorite automotive themed toy as a kiddo? 

Lohnes rocking out in his Power Wheels circa 1984 or thereabouts


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18 thoughts on “BangShift Question of the Day: What Was Your Favorite Automotive Toy As a Kiddo?

  1. Kevin

    Hot Wheels and more Hot Wheels. Favorite was a first gen Camaro with the functioning hood. It was green with a black top.

  2. Kent Reed

    It depended on the weather . Summer time,I had a big sand box under an oak tree, And I had a fleet of Tonka trucks and heavy equipment. I was a ditch digg’n road make’n mutha. Maybe that’s why I later became a heavy equipment operator. I just retired from that a year ago . In the winter months it was hot wheels . I had a shoe box heaped with them . And of corse building models . Man I spent a lot of hours in my bedroom making custom hot rods. I still remember the first model I ever had. My grand mother and I went to the local Royal Blue grocery store . She bought me a 1/32 scale model “T” . that’s all it took . I was about 10 yrs old. And it was a great childhood

  3. Brendan M

    Legos allowed me to build the car of my dreams no matter how my taste in automobiles changed. I know it’s not specifically a car toy, but Lego fans can appreciate the connection.

    1. Matt Cramer

      Good call. I had the “expert builder” set and have fond memories of building rack and pinion steering mechanisms, crane trucks with pneumatic claws, and a lot of other mechanical pieces.

  4. Jenny K

    I had a Knight Rider pedal car from the 80’s. It was mint condition, never took it outside. Spent most days polishing it in the basement. A year ago my mom took it to the dump. It broke my heart. So I broke her heart by showing her it was worth about $2000 to collectors!

  5. David

    Easy HOT WHEELS!!!!!! You could play: on the floor, with or without track, in the sand box, in the car, on a family vacation, etc…..

  6. Scott Inman

    Had many Hot Wheels including the drag strip. But I had the Playskol Big Foot pulling set with the pulling sled and all the extra trucks. Including Black Gold 4wheel drive and the 2wd trucks of Orange Blossom special and Warlord funny car. My dad and I would load the thing down with pennies and have pulling contest across the living room.

  7. DanStokes

    This is going to sound like “Poor Me” but the truth is that pretty much none of the stuff you guys mentioned even existed when I was a young’un. If I could pilfer some wheels (sometimes the old Japanese stamped tin cars would fall apart so I’d harvest the wheels) I’d build a wood block racer with a 2X4 and 4 nails to act as axles. Somehow I had fun with them.

    A kid across the street (I thought he must have been rich but probably just slightly more affluent than my folks) had a couple of the early all-steel Tonkas. I thought they were pretty cool but he was kind of a jerk and only let me play occasionally.

    Probably the biggest car-related thing I had was crayons and paper. My oldest bro says that the first time they handed me a crayon and paper (he figures I was 18 mo. or so) I drew a horizontal box and 2 circles in the appropriate places – my first car drawing. I never was very good at it, however.

    And I had to walk 37 miles to school, uphill each direction……….

    Dan

  8. BOB MCCUTCHAN

    AMERICAN FLYER \’S\’ GUAGE TRAINS. LATER REPLACED WITH BLOWN FUEL CHRYSLERS.

  9. Mombo

    My ultimate was a Farmall 560 pedal tractor that I got for Christmas when I was about 3. 2 sides of the four of our block had sidewalks and I put many miles on the tractor going back and forth. I know I went through two sets of the hard rubber rear wheels/tires (it could burn rubber!). It is in storage in the attic of my garage.

  10. 3nine6

    Hot Wheels, Aurora A/FX slot cars, building AMT, MPC, Monogram, Jo-Han model cars and finally the Lil Indian mini bike I got on my 13th. birthday after cutting what seemed 20,000 acres of grass for 3 years.

  11. TheCrustyAutoworker

    Hot Wheels when they were first released, then on to building model cars and racing Aurora A/FX slot cars here too.
    Would actually like to get a A/FX track once again as I think it would be cool for when I have grand kids that will need to be started off right.

  12. PJ

    Micro Machines! They trumped all other cars at the time. Matchbox and hotwheels had nothing on them. I had a pedal car that kept me entertained when I was outside.

  13. CoffeeJoe

    My Great Uncle took me to the John Deere dealership when I was 5 years old. My Dad was deployed to Vietnam and he kinda took me under his wing as a “father figure”. As we walked in I saw a brand new John Deere pedal tractor sitting in the middle of the showroom. I was enthralled. I asked if it would be alright to sit on it. He said sure…because it was mine! He had bought it for me and had them stage it there for when I arrived. I loved that tractor. I surprised I did not wash the paint off with as many times as I washed and waxed her. Alas, the ravages of time got the best of her. But I will always remember that feeling when I walked in that showroom.

  14. ANGRYJOE

    I had many auto related toys, I dont think I could pick one favorite. Hot Wheels and Matchbox, Bigfoot SST, Stompers, Tyco Big Detour reace track…loved them all!

  15. Rcupp

    Starting in 1980 I put a 100k miles on my MF pedal tractor through the years, I did more things on that than I care to admit!! It was and still is ertl tough.

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