Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Smash Up Derby



This is the kind of toy that no company makes anymore. Maybe it the small parts that your baby sister or brother would swallow. Maybe vehicular carnage is not so P.C. anymore but I remember when this was my very favourite toy next to the 'Evil Knievel Stunt Cycle'. While the adults were visiting over the holidays my cousin and I would giggle with delight as our cars zipped over the hardwood hallway floors and bashed into each other. When they did the doors and roofs and hoods flew violently off the cars in all directions. On our hands and knees we collected all the parts and repaired our cars for the next crash. How genius it was to include 2 ramps so that they could collide in mid-air. Since we didn't have degrees in physics you had to work out the optimum distance of the cars by trial and error - each time getting closer and closer to your ultimate goal which was to create the most carnage possible. Boy was it sweet when everything worked out and our parents actually came in to the hall to see what all the noise was about. Seemed that bouncing our vehicles off the walls and floors did nothing for the home's resale value but playing with these things on a carpeted surface just seemed to be missing the whole point of the toy. When we got bored with aiming the cars at each other, we would just shot them at the wall expecting them to be broken beyond repair each time but these toys were virtually indestructable. Everything you needed to start the fun was in the box. No need to buy two seperate toys like often is the case today. I only wish they had come with 2 crash test dummies who weren't buckled in so we could play doctor and pronounce them dead at the scene of the accident. Good times.

5 comments:

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

I'm pretty sure I played with something like that when I was a youngster.

Lemmy Caution said...

I SOOOO remember having that toy as a kid and having a blast with it. I was also easily entertained at the time.

themom said...

Now wouldn't they be considered DANGEROUS and VIOLENT today?? those were some fun toys...and we all survived. Amazing. I never even owned a bicycle helmet or knee pads. hmmmmm....

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

We also had lawn darts back in the day. Sure we all got hit in the head with the pointed metal tips but look - still alive. Kids today are just not equipt to survive in a dangerous world. It was the freakin 'Lord of the Flies' in the 70s.

Thomas Pluck said...

I had these as a kid. I remember playing with them with a jerky neighborhood kid who wanted the one I was using, so he hit me with a rock. My mom stopped me from mashing his head into the pavement. Maybe the toys were too violent...