Cars, wheels, motors, oh my!
These mechanical wonders seem to gravitate us towards the World of Wheels. From the onlooker to the enthusiast and whomever in between, motor carriages (the car) has fascinated many of us GenX'rs and beyond our generational envelope. The primitive carriage, think Little House on the Prairie, with a small motor, drivetrain, and a steering stick most likely captivated our foreparent's while driving the innovation to create the more majestic, contoured vehicles we appreciate in this current era.
As young children, cars and trucks captivated us and one of the most inexpensive avenues to get our hands on a sleek vehicle were in the form of 1/64th scale cars. Brands like Corgi, Ertl, Kyosho, Maisto, Matchbox, Hot Wheels, and countless other diecast manufacturers achieved this endeavor permitting many a child to have spanning car collections that cost fractions less than the real-deal collectors.
The adventures of a small, finger propelled vehicle traversing jungle-like terrain, icy-like thoroughfares, knurled fields, rock-laden concourses, and so forth provided hours of entertainment. Conveniently portable for those road trips to family members, waiting room stints, or the babysitter's dwelling making a few, simple diecast toys turn into welcome distractions and joy.
As gifts, welcomed pleasure of seeing the sleek paint and minute chrome trim as we peeled the vacuum formed clear plastic from the slim cardback to clutch our newest addition to the garage.
Then came the television and movie car era in which we could now possess one, or many, star cars including Airwolf, BA's A-Team Van, General Lee, K.I.T.T., Speed Racer, and many others. The joy of now having a star car intertwined with our conventional '57 Belair or D-50 traversing the carpeted roads or having K.I.T.T. and the General Lee jumping over our "junk yard" of cars and landing on the couch was exhilarating in itself.
Fast food restaurants such as McDonald's included Hot Wheels cars in their Happy Meals making lunch or dinner a real happy meal.
Personally, my adventures were all over. Primarily, my favored play roadway was in my childhood home's kitchen. The carpet was a dark red with random darker and lighter threads running down the length. However, there was a particular pair of yellow (or tan) lines that effectively created a two lane roadway along the length of the kitchen.
I would place my cars on either side of the roadway parallel to the road way, one side served as my car dealer lot where I would trade a car for another, while the other side served as my owned collection. Two to three cars would be parked in an opposed fashion, mimicking my home driveway's layout. Those particular cars would be driven the most while I would occasionally change out the cars or go to the dealer lot to trade-in for another model.
Some of us had accessories which lent aid to our diecast imaginations. Track kits permitting simple jumps to loops and on to accelerated and extended orange or blue roadways gave ways to lengthy experiments going from one bedroom to another, or down the stairway. Portable sto & go garages like the ones our late friend and founder, Jason Gross, had where it was a service center, car wash, city, or construction set continued to add variety to our playtime. As for myself, I had the Fisher Price garage to serve as my maintenance and city garage. Moving a couple cars up and down the hand-crank elevator and onto the Batcave-like turn table.
Below are what remains of my childhood cars:
What are your memories of these cars? Did you have the Micro-Machines? How about any funky, off-brand cars like the AMC cars?
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