The toys that made a difference to you...

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Seems like '66 or '67, I had to have THIS one with the mountains ... But 55 years ago or so today, it wasn't to be. It was another set (can't remember the brand ..) that didn't have mountains.

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BTW ... $19.99 in 1966 money is about $190.00 in 2022 money. not really cheap. could be why i didn't get it.

I had this Sears set, I think I've posted it before, plus we had a bunch of other combined sets when several of us got together in the neighborhood. I ended with a whole bunch from trades/swaps/yard sales.
I got some money for the cars and kits but the haggling really wasn't worth it as many were modified for drag racing to do wheelies, bigger rear tires, rewound armatures, drilled and cut for cooling. Same with the comic books, Mom had put them in the Church Christmas Bazaar many times and had numbered/initialed the covers (small in corner) which freaked out the collectors but one collector that paid $450.00 for a first edition told me that the ink can be removed by a restorer, not only that the whole cover can be redone. The one he paid $450.00 for had a book/guide of $1,500.00 if it was grade A mint condition at the time.


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[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Welp after another day of wasting time scrolling through FaceBook Marketplace getting sidetracked from checking my auto & motorcycle for sale bookmarks, recently I've seen a ton of old trains & train track setups coming from kids selling off their dad's estate, some of the train setups are as 'come and just take it away' like the swip/swap leave it on the curb Yahoo forum of day's gone by.

I just seen this one, a decade or so later after my Aurora HO car days being the AFX version plus the warning "CAUTION: ELECTRIC TOY" that this one gotta be from almost the 90's.

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[Big_John]

I forgot these. Remember when?

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I just found this in the back of a closet. It's empty... Or I'd probably build something just for fun.

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

I got one for xmas in the 50's. Now THERE was a chemistry kit.
I remember spending all my time trying to make a bomb.
Now all kids have to do is go on the internet and they can make nuclear bombs, pressure cooker bombs, fertilizer bombs, suicide bomb vests........
Just a few key words in the search box.
Imagination, curiosity, and motivation has been totally 100% sucked out of our youth in the crucial learning years.

Heh ironic, I came across this in the endless FB scroll after reading all this thread and finishing up my bookmark updates, bring back memories Stan?

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[live4theking]

I forgot these. Remember when?

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I still have mine somewhere.

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

SnapOn Tools 1950s Garage Display, I can't vouch for the validity of this I was a wee lad in the 50's but I've never seen anything like this.

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[Vaanth]

There were many toys that I had (and still have some), enjoyed, and that made a difference for me.

Perhaps the most important influences came from these Radio Shack Science Fair Electronics Projects sets. I started in electronics at five years old. I got the 50 in 1 set at about nine years old and the 100 in 1 set later:

I began dabbling in chemistry at around six or seven and biology/zoology a little later. The influence of those electronics sets were followed up with these:

Mechanical technology started early on blended with the foregoing, and a fun execution of that was with the following kit which was handed down to me from an older cousin:

Although not a toy, and not my first foray into computers, this was my first computer of my own and aided in the crossover from electronics to computers. It has been followed by many...

My car work and hobby practically began at eight years old on our 1964 Valiant, and there have been all manner of automotive related toys. Real cars of my own came later, but scale models provided something of mine while I learned and worked on my parents' cars. The earliest that I still have is a 1971 'Cuda that I built in 1971. It was repainted a couple of times in the 70s, so it's not the smoothest of finishes:

But possibly the earliest inkling from a toy that made a difference for the car side of me was at five years old with my "Big Blue Car":

I didn't stick with the cigars though.