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Thought this would be a good time to start this tread again.This time of year I think several of us remember the good ol' days with those great toys (now vintage)that we received in our youth..Post pictures of your favorite toys from past Christmas ,heck even Birthdays!
:text-merryxmas:

here are a few of my memories that I'm lucky enough to still have or have replaced..
My folks weren't rich by any means and times were sometimes tight..I guess that is one reason we held on to our stuff so strongly.. :)
Rusty

Those magnetic top things were a bit of a fad a few times. Used to get them in showbags at the Royal Melbourne Show. Such a simple idea and it really didn't do much, but for some reason they were a must have for kids for a while.

Geez. This is a topic that gets me wound up. My family didn't have a lot of money for
Christmas gifts when I was growing up. But there were several memorable years. Of
course, when asked what I wanted I always shot for the moon, knowing in my heart
that it wasn't going to happen. But sometimes, miracles did happen. One year I
wanted the AMF Thimble Drome Bell P-39 Aircobra u-line flying model. I could not
believe it when I found it under the tree. Then, when the in-laws all came over for
Christmas dinner, my father's brother and wife gave me the Douglass Dauntless
version as well. One of the best years ever. But then there were a few SNAFUs. One
year I asked for a Murray fire truck pedal car. My brother wanted the police car. There
was no way we were both going to get what we wanted, so mom and dad decided to
give us one car to share. It was the farm tractor, which was actually OK with both us
kids. But if you want to make mortal enemies of two siblings, give them something to
share. The fighting lasted to the next Christmas. By the time I reached my teens, everyone
in my neighborhood was into go-karts, and my Christmas wish list started to be mostly
tools. For my thirteenth year I got an oxy-acetylin welding torch. The next year a compressor
and spray gun. And so it went until I had a very impressive tool shop by the time I graduated
from high school. And my poor parents had to deal with the line of hot rods that would
show up in our driveway on Friday nights, all needing some sort of work done. But no matter
how many parts were scattered over the lawn and garage floor, they all got miraculously
put back together by Sunday night.

I'm the oldest of six and many of my brothers and sisters are much younger than me. The bigger the family got the more my parents had to squeeze what they could from the Christmas budget. There were some very memorable Christmases. Some of my most memorable gifts were Tonka trucks, Trik Trak, Formex 7, Bean Bag Bucaneer, Motorific Torture Track, Johnny Seven One Man Army, Thing Maker, and of course, an Aurora Model Motoring Thunderjet 500 set.

Great post. I read them all and this is good stuff.



Not my youth, but a track from when my own kids were smaller :)

I had an ho track as a little tike. It didn't last long as I was super destructive as a kid lol. My all time favorite was one year from Santa I got a G.I. Joe command center it was huge. I had many hours of fun with that thing! Wish I still had it they go for a pretty penny on eBay lol. It was till last Christmas santa brought my kids the go track built on a table. That got me going again! Looking at all those pictures something is telling me I'm a couple years younger lol

My most memorable Christmas, was 1968. My Dad had traded an old car for a well used Fox mini bike. It was the one with real spoke wheels and separate fuel tank like a real motorcycle in scale. He sneaked it into our basement, and did a complete rebuild of motor ,paint etc. That thing was a kids dream sitting in front of the Christmas tree on the big day! I wore that thing out during the next few summers, having my granddad rebuild the Mercury clutch bushings, and having the chassis welded a bunch of times. It had a 1/2 gallon tank, and I could fill it up for less than a quarter, and race all day.
Wow, I really miss that thing, and those days too.
Bob

Was it a 2 speed, called "Sundowner"? There are lots of great pictures of those on the 'net, and they look like a ball to ride as a kid.

Lots of Christmas toys in my past come to mind:
Remco; Whirlybird copter, Bulldog tank, B-52 Tailgunner, Barracuda sub, Johnny Reb cannon, Bazooka, Mortar ( :think: hmm looks like a trend)
Marx Big Bruiser tow truck
Gilbert "Which Lane Chicane?" race set (unfortunately it was with the go-carts which had a very vulnerable leading slot guide :( ).
Gilbert microscope and chemistry set (try and buy one today :o ), telescope, Erector set
Cadet Trainer Rifle
Think they were Renwal: Girder and Panel building set; Bridge and Turnpike building set (much cooler than Lego and they were perfectly scaled to our Matchbox cars.
Virtually every Monogram car model from the mid 60s.....the Marine wife that lived in the apartment below us worked at the Morton Grove factory.
Those are some of the high points I remember....I'm sure other posts will prompt more memories.

I had several of these, but from about 14-on it was all tools to work on my Chevelle.

Interesting how not having a windfall of toys forced us to make up our own things. Nobody
in my corner of town had the money for store bought go-karts and mini-bikes. so we built
our own. And when we took them to the vacant field where all the kids gathered to race,
our home builts always beat the RTR stuff. Made the rich kids, and their dads, furious.