  Guideboat Member Username: Guideboat Post Number: 17 Registered: 02-2008 |
My folks saved all our big toys as kids, and as avid pack-rats they also saved the boxes. I just pulled a whole bunch of 70's era GI Joe stuff in original boxes out of my moms attic. Same thing with Fisher Price little people stuff. Anyone else make tennis ball launchers out of metal tennis ball cans? Taped several cans together the squirted lighter fluid in a hole on the bottom, light the fuel, and launched a tennis ball like a bazooka. I would also like to comment that new curbs aren't worth a crap for curb ball. They're too squared off to be of any use. | ||
Mdoyle Member Username: Mdoyle Post Number: 366 Registered: 10-2006 |
Kenner Girder and Panel set was amazing. The damn panels never stayed on though. I was always into building sets. AMT & Ertl model cars, lego, lincoln logs, construx, tinker toys or good old fashioned wood and nails. I could build a mean pinewood derby car. I used to insert the wheel pins into an axle of brass tube and grind up a bunch of pencil graphite to make sure it spun nice and easy. | ||
Kathinozarks Member Username: Kathinozarks Post Number: 1126 Registered: 11-2006 |
56, thanks for the Thingmaker post! We had the Creepy Crawlers, Fun Flowers and Creeple Peeple. Only burned our fingers a couple of times and big deal, right? God, I love that toy. The smell of the Goop while cooking, and the sizzle of the plate touching the water to cool is a fond memory. There was another molding toy that I had that you poured this cement-like stuff into and it made a little statue that you could paint. I think I remember that I had Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (sp). Does anyone know what that was? This is the kind of thread that I just love reading and the reason I came to DYes. Thanks, Little Buddy! | ||
Kathinozarks Member Username: Kathinozarks Post Number: 1127 Registered: 11-2006 |
Eastburn, do you live on Eastburn near Trix? | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 4983 Registered: 12-2005 |
If you like to build things I would recommend http://www.activeworlds.com/. I was so ravenously obsessed with Dr. Nim that I went on to generalize the algorithm to any number of marbles, whether the player who took the last marble won or lost, and even generalizing it to modulo n (Nim was stuck in modulo 4) -- all while in the fifth grade with zero encouragement from adults! There's something magical, intrinsic in the human mind, predestined to understand absolutely anything. That's a beautiful thing. (Message edited by Jimaz on April 03, 2008) | ||
Kathinozarks Member Username: Kathinozarks Post Number: 1128 Registered: 11-2006 |
Oh yeah, the most fun toys we had were empty appliance boxes left for the garbage men. Man, you found one of those (or two was gold!) and you were happy for DAYS. Cut windows, a door, crayon on some curtains and a house number outside, put it over an old rug from the house, whew...I want one. We would also play in them like it was a tank. Hands and knees rolling down the street in a box. Yeah, we had imaginations, didn't we? | ||
Whittier70 Member Username: Whittier70 Post Number: 105 Registered: 02-2008 |
DONT FORGET THE ONE THAT STARTED IT ALL! I bought with paper route money at 11 years old for the price of $129.00 from Fretter on Gratiot.  | ||
Eastburn Member Username: Eastburn Post Number: 21 Registered: 03-2008 |
Kathinozarks- I lived on Eastburn between Rex & Crusade from 1949 until 1966. | ||
Kathinozarks Member Username: Kathinozarks Post Number: 1129 Registered: 11-2006 |
Eastburn, Where is Rex and Crusade? My family had a house on Eastburn right near Trix school from the 40's til 1992. I wish I lived in it now, it was cute. Thanks for responding  | ||
Eastburn Member Username: Eastburn Post Number: 22 Registered: 03-2008 |
We were halfway between Gratiot & Kelly. | ||
Kathinozarks Member Username: Kathinozarks Post Number: 1131 Registered: 11-2006 |
Thanks, Eastburn. I'm done thread-jacking now. | ||
Flanders_field Member Username: Flanders_field Post Number: 247 Registered: 01-2008 |
We neighborhood kids evolved from using cardboard appliance boxes to make forts,(which were good until it rained) to wooden windshield crates from the back alleys of collision shops along Gratiot in the D during the 60s. We would lug them with our little red wagons down the alleys, until we collected 3 or 4 and used the family saw and hammers/nails to connect and stack them together. We then would cut openings in the sides to make entrances and exits. The largest fort we made was as high and long as our garage, using 8 of them. | ||
Eastburn Member Username: Eastburn Post Number: 23 Registered: 03-2008 |
We found a Firebird 99 on Ebay & gave it to my 52 year old brother in law for Christmas. Just like the one he got when he was 6. You should have seen his face when he opened it. Well worth the exorbitant price. | ||
Flanders_field Member Username: Flanders_field Post Number: 248 Registered: 01-2008 |
The woodburning art kit, or the blistermaker:  | ||
Whittier70 Member Username: Whittier70 Post Number: 107 Registered: 02-2008 |
I had this too  | ||
Eriedearie Member Username: Eriedearie Post Number: 1218 Registered: 08-2007 |
Kathinozarks - Oh yeah! The appliance boxes. Those were the best. Played in those for hours. I forgot about a puzzle of the United States that I still have. Its from about 1952. That was my first experience with geography. There are some pretty neat toys shown on here guys! Thanks for a great thread Little Buddy | ||
Whittier70 Member Username: Whittier70 Post Number: 108 Registered: 02-2008 |
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Whittier70 Member Username: Whittier70 Post Number: 109 Registered: 02-2008 |
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Flanders_field Member Username: Flanders_field Post Number: 249 Registered: 01-2008 |
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Flanders_field Member Username: Flanders_field Post Number: 250 Registered: 01-2008 |
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Whittier70 Member Username: Whittier70 Post Number: 110 Registered: 02-2008 |
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Ptero Member Username: Ptero Post Number: 182 Registered: 12-2005 |
Wow. Great stuff. We had both the American Red Bricks and the Girder and Panel sets. There were a few medical plazas(?)/buildings along Seven Mile that looked just like the girder and panel style. I'd build replicas. | ||
Detroitgig Member Username: Detroitgig Post Number: 5 Registered: 04-2008 |
Flanders-Field, Yeah, we got our "tank-boxes" from Karras' and Son's Collision on Wilfred just off Gratiot and Joseph's Bros. Collision just across Gratiot from Bella's dry cleaners and Family Italian Restaurant and Lounge. Also, right across the street was Bob Foxes used car lot. | ||
Detroitgig Member Username: Detroitgig Post Number: 6 Registered: 04-2008 |
I had every ethnic G.I. Joe they had. German, Japanese, Australian, French, British, Russian. They would be worth a whole lot now. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 5934 Registered: 10-2003 |
Whittier, I have that Alvin & The Chipmunks record. It is locked away in a safe place. | ||
Gravitymachine Member Username: Gravitymachine Post Number: 2019 Registered: 05-2005 |
i had legos, and LOTS of em. best toy ever | ||
Elimarr Member Username: Elimarr Post Number: 54 Registered: 09-2007 |
I had the Chatty Cathy doll. She survived for quite a few years, but her voice got lower and gravelly like she needed an exorcism. Also, I had a collection of plastic dog figures that were from inside cereal boxes. They were of all different breeds and came in a silvery or a golden color of plastic. Does anyone else remember these, and what cereal they were in? | ||
Defendbrooklyn Member Username: Defendbrooklyn Post Number: 799 Registered: 11-2005 |
The green machine was a classic. It could reach serious speeds and make sharp turns. Good fun for all! | ||
Southwestmap Member Username: Southwestmap Post Number: 987 Registered: 01-2005 |
Christmas trees. I have a friend who, with his brothers, went up and down the streets and collected all the discarded christmas trees. They piled the trees up, up alongside the house and then jumped into the pile from the attic window. Mother was perfectly happy. Those were the days before helicopter parents. And if you had a lot of kids (not like now with only two) you could afford to lose one! | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 2107 Registered: 07-2004 |
I had Mr. Hugo. It was a present from my grandparents. I used to take the plastic head and put it on top of the vent for my GFA Viewmaster Slide Projector and use it as an eerie nightlight. |
