Your Favorite TOY !

It's so funny that kids can't understand how much we were outside when we were young. My mom had to beg us to come in for dinner. She made us sit down for dinner, knowing that we would rather eat standing up so we could get back outside.
Probably my favorite toy without an engine was my rowboat. At 12 years old, it gave me a sense of freedom, much like a car at 16. My best friend Slurp (Jon Martin) and I would spend afternoons rowing our boats around the lake, or flipping them to use as rafts for swimming. If the wind picked up, we would bust out the sailboats.

This thing was my pride and joy as a kid. I paid $500 for one used and it was kept at our cabin in the Poconos. I was on that thing from the time we got there Friday evenings to the time we left on Sunday afternoons.

We had a ranch where we spent a lot of weekends. When I wasn't grubbing around outside, there was this (thanks Grampa). I must have played with this thing long beyond the age appropriate point.

Lawn Darts and BMX bikes!   No swamps here to play in, we had about 1000 acres of undeveloped property down the street to build tracks on and take short cuts to other friends houses. Spent most every day on my bike until I got a my DL then those same places became usefull for other stuff.

I'm with Eric, matches were a blast too especially with WD40.

Swatkinz wrote: what are the slot cars you guys are talking about? HO cars?

Steve-- I know you weren't that 'Sheltered'!!

Here ya go


I had a 3 speed automatic Honda CT70. We took that thing camping with us. These 3 campgrounds had trails back in the woods.
My fav bike was my Schwinn 3-speed Chopper. Slot cars- Yes! We still have a local track--although the guy opens it at odd times . RC airplanes-- my dad still has his Piper Cub with a 6-foot wing span. He was a Fireman in his day and how he got that plane was the owner flew it into the top of a Pine Tree about 100 feet in the air. He laid the controls down and said- whoever gets it down it's theirs! So my dad leaves me with some stranger there that Saturday morning, gets in the car-62 Ford Falcon convertible 3-speed on the column, to get to that tree faster, and he's back about an hour later.
Of course now-about 10 years ago I got a RC Richard Petty Car- and then the other 'Big Boy' toys- the 66 and the 93 today.

Gary S wrote: Steve if you ever need parts these guys have been around a long time and are good to deal with.

Thanks, Gary. My problem for the last several years is that the bike doesn't get ridden enough. I'll tinker with it for a couple of weekends and get it running and then I'll get too busy or forget about running it on a regular basis. carb gums up and I start all over again. I can't get the carb right on it and am thinking about buying a new carb ready to bolt on and ride. My girls are now 7 and 5 so they are the perfect age.

im with you John, a pack of matches and come home when the street lights turn on

Honda Z50. The thing would not die. I got an SL100 and my best friend would ride my Z50 as hard as he could. Both of those bikes burned in our house fire in '77.       Then I got a Yamaha YZ125.   

JBear, I also had the full size slot cars. It was better than HO's because you had to drive them. No "Magnatraction"

Actually, the best "toy" we had growing up was the swamp across the street. Frogs, snakes, mud and forts.

I'm with Halston and Gary S. I have a 1978 Honda minitrail Z50 that I got brand new for Christmas. It cannot be bought for any amount of money. Needs some carb work, but it will run for short bursts.

Lego all the way. Played hours and hours with that stuff...

jbear wrote: Lionel trains...had a big set-up in my parents basement. Son had it up till a few years ago. Lost in his divorce I think. Slot cars..not HO..I believe..028 gauge? Used to go to the slot car tracks at storefronts. A Red Western Auto 3 speed (!) 'English Racer' bike. My very own Catchers mitt when no-one owned one..you just used what the league provided 'cause nobody wanted to be a catcher! john

When my brother and I were probably like 7 and 11 my dad built a big table and made us a nice Lionel layout. After some years he tore it down and sold the stuff and started a huge HO layout. After a year or so, the guy he was working on it with died and he lost interest. He tore that apart and we used the table for an HO car race track mixed in with a small HO train layout that I built, and at the other end, the bigger 1/32 race cars. We too took our 1/24 scale race cars to the "motoramas", the big store front tracks to race.

Eventually, that table was torn down too. Many years later, after he retired, my dad started another very ambitious HO train set. After several years he got too old to work on it. He was going to sell/donate it all, but I took it apart and saved all the components. My son and I built a small layout when he was young.






I eventually took it down, but again, saved all the pieces. I still have my dad's Lionel tin plate train from the 1930s with an engine almost identical to this one, about 10 cars and a station.

jbear wrote: Slot cars..not HO..I believe..028 gauge? Used to go to the slot car tracks at storefronts. john

I still have a big wooden box full of my dads slot cars and the triggers that go with them even got some brand new motors for them

It had training wheels before this pic. started at 2 years and 6 months old.

army men and bb guns

Hey Guys,
What was your Favorite Toy growing up? Just look at what the Kids today get to play with