LizzieMaine
Bartender
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We had those too, but the log-cabin theme was kind of limiting. I was very frustrated trying to bulld a frontier-style suspension bridge.
^ I had forgotten about those SSP cars. They weren't much more than a "one-trick pony" toy--pull the rip cord and let 'em go--but one friend and I spent hours racing them up and down his parents' driveway. Kenner eventually produced the "Smash Up Derby" versions with parts that would fly off when the front bumper struck something, but by then the novelty had worn off for us and we'd moved on to whatever our next fascination was.
In our neighborhood the hot car toys in the late-60s and 1970s were Mattel's Hot Wheels. Lesney Products had been producing their Matchbox line of die-cast cars for approximately 15 years before Hot Wheels appeared on the shelves, but for those of us steeped in southern California's "car culture" the Matchbox cars, though very well done, were relatively boring. I mean, imagine you're a young boy who sees "hot rods" everywhere he goes. Which of these are you going to choose?
I know the place, but I've never been there; I should make an effort one of these days....There's a place in your area that specializes in vintage Hot Wheels and Matchbox called Toy Box Treasures. It's next door to King Richard's Antique Mall -- in fact it's in the same building but it's a separate shop...
We were not poor but it was the 1950's ...father worked ...mom at home. My favourite, most used "toy" was my bottle cap collection. My father a travelling salesman would collect them for me on his route and bring them home at the end of each week. I sorted them into armies, the beer caps were best as many had coats of arms or a replication thereof., then battle formations on imaginary battle fields. I tossed the really bent ones, trying to keep only the pristine ones. If I had extras of any one type I would pry out the cork backing and press them into badges on my t shirt. Many many hours of solitairy fun at no cost. My parents parties in our 1950's RecRoom were the best as I would help clean up and rescue the beer caps from the trash. I guess it was just a simpler time.
I am sorry I never heard of this as a kid......we could have occupied ourselves for hours on this. Our equal would have been marbles. That was a favourite school yard game. The cool kids carried their marbles in a purple Seagram's whiskey bag with a draw string.I'm about 10 years behind you, but home life was pretty much the same as yours.
Re bottle caps, about all we used them for was a game called Skelly or Skully, depending exactly where you were from.
We would take a candle from the pantry, light it on the stove, and drip the wax into the bottle cap to give it weight and make it stable so it could finger-flicked on the street, on a special chalk-drawn course. It was a big square with numbered boxes all around it. The object was to the first to make a round trip of the numbers, from Start, outside the square, to 13, in a square in the center of the big square, and back to Start, taking turns flicking the caps.
We took great pleasure in blasting other player's caps off course. Of course, if we missed, our own cap would go flying way off course. Either result was always met with much yelling and gnashing of teeth.
In today's merchandized world, there are commercial versions of the board available, but we simply did something like this:
View attachment 171893
The boards I drew were a lot neater and bigger than this one, but that's the general idea.
There's apparently another difference between the two besides flavor. I can drink Diet Coke all day long with no problems, but if I drink more than 10-12 oz. of any Pepsi product about 30-45 minutes later I get indigestion (sometimes fairly severe) and spend the rest of the day going to the restroom every 15-20 minutes. Lucky for me I prefer Coca Cola products anyway.And yes, there is a difference between Coke and Pepsi...