Automotive (and other) toys from our childhood

[unclescott58]

Doing a little research online, my "Monarch" bicycle may have been a Monark. The logo for Monark looks right. But most Monark bicycles shown online are from the 1950's and before. I see none that looked like mine.

[Agent G]

I got one of these for my 11th birthday. 1967 Schwinn "Rams Horn" Fastback.

G

[SfanGoch]

A lean, green racing machine! Those handlebars were great. You had to lean into them and looked like you were doing 100mph even while coasting. Beats the heck out of BMX or mountain bikes. Kids around here used to tie a partially filled balloon onto the front fork to sound like a motorcycle when the spokes rubbed against it.

[unclescott58]

The toy from my childhood I wish I still had? Christmas 1966 Batman toys are all the rage. And I was Batman crazy. In fact, I still am. More than anything else I wanted the Ideal Batman Playset as seen in the Sears Christmas catalog (Wishbook) that year. It came with 3" tall hand-painted figures of Batman and Robin. Unpainted villains, a plastic Batmobile and Batplane, miscellaneous Batcomputers, and things like that. Sad to say, I did not get that set.... Instead I got the holy grail of those Ideal paysets. And one that was not in the Sears Wishbook. I got the Justice League of America Playset!

Besides Batman and Robin, the Justice League set also came with Superman, Aquaman, Flash, and Wonder Woman. Plus seven villains. The Batmobile, Batplane, a Batcomputer, and a "laser ray" weapon. And what I assume is Superman's Sanctuary at the North Pole. Since the plastic cave said "SANCTUARY" over a wooden door. And the door accepted a giant weathervane key like Superman's Sanctuary in the comic books at the time. Very, very cool.

It turns out that Ideal's Justice League of America Playset was not made in large numbers. So it is very rare and valuable today. Of course at the time, it was just a toy to me. And a toy I had a lot of fun playing with. I took fairly good care of my toys, but never with the idea that they would someday be valuable. Heck, I don't know what ever happened to my Justice League set. I outgrew it. So it was either tossed out or given away. But, back then who knew?

Speak comic book characters. Several of the comic books my sisters and I had as kids have survived. Again, we were taught to take care of our things as children. We did read them. A lot. So none of them are in "mint" condition. But, they are still there and still readable. The last few years they have been stored up at my youngest sister's cabin. (Comic books are prefect cabin reading material.) But now, that sister is selling her cabin, and moving to Florida. She e-mailed me just the other day, asking if I wanted to take the comics? The collection is mostly things like Archie comics, etc. ( I had kept my own superhero comics I had as a kid in a separate collection, at my home.) But, that is okay. I told her I'd take them.

[unclescott58]

As far as I'm concerned the 1960's were a golden time to be a kid. Especially if you were a boy. So many cool toys came out at the time aimed at kids like me. And since it was a less polically correct or fearful time, we had a lot of guns, and things that could blow up or burn you if you weren't careful. It was fun and cool!

Here are a few toys I wish I had when I was kid. In some cases wish I had today. And most of them are both safe in general and polically safe, I'm sorry to say.

The one I always wanted, and still do, is Mattel's astronaut figure Major Matt Mason. As a kid I was madly in love with the space race. Major Matt Mason, and his other astronaut pals, had some of coolest equipment to explore the Moon and beyond with. Don't know why I never got a Major Matt Mason at the time? It would have been a prefect gift for me. By the way, on at least one of the US's Shuttle missions they took a Major Matt Mason figure with them into space. How cool is that?

Spys were a big thing in the 60's. Especially James Bond. Had a friend who had Gilbert's James Bond Race Set. Never got to play with it. Gilbert who manufactured it, and Sears who sold the set, had a lot of troubles with them. Most did not work. I don't know if this was the case with Dirty Dave's or not. I didn't see his set until the early 70's. And by that time many pieces were missing. This is another one of those toys that has a very high collectors value today.

Well, that's two for now. There are many more. But, I've got other things to do right now, so it will have to wait. Plus I want to hear more from others. I'm sure many of you agree with me. The 1960's were a great time to be a kid.

[Snake45]

Spys were a big thing in the 60's. Especially James Bond. Had a friend who had Gilbert's James Bond Race Set. Never got to play with it. Gilbert who manufactured it, and Sears who sold the set, had a lot of troubles with them. Most did not work. I don't know if this was the case with Dirty Dave's or not. I didn't see his set until the early 70's. And by that time many pieces were missing. This is another one of those toys that has a very high collectors value today.

 

I clearly remember that from the catalog, but don't think I ever saw, much less actually played with, one in real life. IIRC the cars were an Aston-Martin and a '65 Mustang, right?

[Kit Basher]

I had a Gilbert racing set (even tho I asked for Strombecker) with two E-type Jags. It worked OK but was kind of a pain to set up because of the way the metal strips joined.

[Harry P.]

My cousin, who lived next door, had a really cool bike. I don't remember the name, but it was a "stingray" style bike, purple, with the big shifter. But what made it different was that the frame was sort of stretched... it was a lot longer than a typical stingray bike. It almost looked like it was a custom bike, but I know it was store-bought. Anyone else remember those "stretched" bikes and who made them?

Edit: I found it! Found this via google, but still don't know the manufacturer. Anyone?

[SfanGoch]

That's a Huffy Rail 5 Speed missing the chainguard. Cool bike.  

[Harry P.]

Yeah, I was pretty jealous when he got that bike.

[Ace-Garageguy]

My final kid-bike was one of these. At 26", pretty tall for my legs at the time; I could barely ride it, but was expected to "grow into it". I eventually ended up stripping off all the extraneous stuff...lights, fenders, chain-guard and tank, fitting a generator and better lights, and painting it black. My first hot-rod. 

[unclescott58]

Here's two more toys I would have like to have had, but didn't. Let's see if anybody remembers these?

The one many of you may remember is Remco's Mr. Kelly's Car Wash. You put a car on the chain and its dragged through the car wash, using real water if you wanted to. Or your mother would let you. It had cleaner rollers, and a so called dryer. It also came with small cloth and small tins of car wax. Plus a stand alone sign advertising the cost of a wash.

The other one was put out by Remco too. And that was Barney' Auto Factory. There were 6 step in building a car in Barney's factory. First you put the chassis on the motorized conveyor belt. Second you put an engine in the frame. Third, you dropped the body onto the frame and screwed it down. Forth, insert steering wheel and install the roof. Fifth, place wheels on the axles and thightn the nuts that hold then on the right side. And sixth, there is an automatic turnaround so you can do the same on the left side of the car. Kind of cool. I wonder how much time you were given to preform each task? And I wonder why they picked the name Barney's Auto Factory? Buy a car called a Barney doesn't sound all that glamours to me. Still I want one. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

They both sound like a lot of fun, Scott...though I don't remember seeing either one.

[Harry P.]

I remember them both, but never had either one.

[Snake45]

My final kid-bike was one of these. At 26", pretty tall for my legs at the time; I could barely ride it, but was expected to "grow into it". I eventually ended up stripping off all the extraneous stuff...lights, fenders, chain-guard and tank, fitting a generator and better lights, and painting it black. My first hot-rod.

My "big boy" bike was very similar, but it came from Sears (like half of everything in our house) and had dual headlights on the "tank." Pretty sure it's still over at my Dad's house.

I got this just before the Sting Rays came out, so I never had a Sting Ray (my Dad would have considered that a "step backward"-- I didn't even have to ask to know the whole idea would have been a no-starter.)  But I always wanted one, and finally, in the late '80s or early '90s, bought one at a yard sale for the grand sum of $35. The rear tire was in bad shape and there were some tears in the white metalflake banana seat, but only a couple minor scratches in the factory strawberry red paint. Ran the serial number through a Schwinn collector site and found it was made in '73 or '74, I forget which. The 5-speed gear still works perfectly. I've seen ones not quite as nice sell recently for 10x what I paid for this one. Think I'll dig it out and ride it some this summer. (I just realized--I've now owned it around twice as long as the original owner!)

[Harry P.]

The only Krate I ever owned is this 1/6 scale model from Xonex...

[Mike_G]

Ah yes, the infamous "nut-buster" shifter!

[unclescott58]

I clearly remember that from the catalog, but don't think I ever saw, much less actually played with, one in real life. IIRC the cars were an Aston-Martin and a '65 Mustang, right?

Oh.... To answer your question Snake, yes they were an Aston-Matin (black for some reason) and a red '65 Mustang fastback.

[Snake45]

Found a web page on the Sears/Gilbert James Bond thing. I can't tell the scale--is it HO, or maybe a little bigger?

http://www.trainweb.org/allaboardsets/bond.html

[Sherry]

On 5/20/2016 at 10:59 PM, Tom Geiger said:

I forgot I had this until I saw the last few play sets posted!  Anyone remember Thimble City?  The cars and people moved around via magnetic wands you moved under the city. This is an NOS 1965 set that's never been more out of the box than in these photos.  I found it on a shelf in my grandparent's basement when I was clearing out to sell the house. My grandparents were known for buying gifts off season and hiding them. But they often forgot so this one sat until the late 1990s.  

Is this item for sale and if so what is the cost?  Thank you. 

[Xingu]

On 12/28/2019 at 7:01 PM, Sherry said:

Is this item for sale and if so what is the cost?  Thank you. 

Buying and selling are not allowed on this site. Only trades are allowed.

[TonyK]

Thimble City! That's the name of it. My sister and I both had our own and always remembered it but not the name. It was a lot of fun. Thanks for posting this.

[NYLIBUD]

I work part time at a flea market,/antique,& collectible store, for lack of a better word.And the old automotive and toys that I see there all the time.Toys that I used to play with.And antique automotive items, would blow you away.Great stuff.???

[unclescott58]

On 6/24/2016 at 2:18 PM, unclescott58 said:

The toy from my childhood I wish I still had? Christmas 1966 Batman toys are all the rage. And I was Batman crazy. In fact, I still am. More than anything else I wanted the Ideal Batman Playset as seen in the Sears Christmas catalog (Wishbook) that year. It came with 3" tall hand-painted figures of Batman and Robin. Unpainted villains, a plastic Batmobile and Batplane, miscellaneous Batcomputers, and things like that. Sad to say, I did not get that set.... Instead I got the holy grail of those Ideal paysets. And one that was not in the Sears Wishbook. I got the Justice League of America Playset!

Besides Batman and Robin, the Justice League set also came with Superman, Aquaman, Flash, and Wonder Woman. Plus seven villains. The Batmobile, Batplane, a Batcomputer, and a "laser ray" weapon. And what I assume is Superman's Sanctuary at the North Pole. Since the plastic cave said "SANCTUARY" over a wooden door. And the door accepted a giant weathervane key like Superman's Sanctuary in the comic books at the time. Very, very cool.

It turns out that Ideal's Justice League of America Playset was not made in large numbers. So it is very rare and valuable today. Of course at the time, it was just a toy to me. And a toy I had a lot of fun playing with. I took fairly good care of my toys, but never with the idea that they would someday be valuable. Heck, I don't know what ever happened to my Justice League set. I outgrew it. So it was either tossed out or given away. But, back then who knew?

Speak comic book characters. Several of the comic books my sisters and I had as kids have survived. Again, we were taught to take care of our things as children. We did read them. A lot. So none of them are in "mint" condition. But, they are still there and still readable. The last few years they have been stored up at my youngest sister's cabin. (Comic books are prefect cabin reading material.) But now, that sister is selling her cabin, and moving to Florida. She e-mailed me just the other day, asking if I wanted to take the comics? The collection is mostly things like Archie comics, etc. ( I had kept my own superhero comics I had as a kid in a separate collection, at my home.) But, that is okay. I told her I'd take them.

Back when I wrote the above, I did not how to post pictures here. Now I do, and still enjoy this thread. So I'm now posting pictures of that Justice League playset. Like the one I had so many years ago.

 

[unclescott58]

Speaking of Batman toys, here's something I got the next Christmas in 1967. Not as cool as the above. But, cool nonetheless. I wish I had one today. Somebody reproduced it a few years back. But, I was unable to buy a copy at the time.