I love collecting older toys, especially anything having to do with cars. I found what I think is one the coolest pieces of my collection last night and would like to share it.
During my usual evening walk, I came across a large red truck in the toy section of my local Texas Thrift. Glancing up at it, I wondered what an old Blazer was doing parked next to broken Nerf guns and long forgotten action figures.
I picked it up and the body shell came away to reveal a bright yellow dragster underneath.
I extended the front portion and ran it along the ground a few times to find it had a large flywheel in the back. I got the mechanism spinning fast and flicked the switch on the back to see the car shoot forward while popping a wheelie and go careening down the thrift store aisle.
For the hefty sum of one dollar, I now have a neat little piece of toy history. I’m amazed this thing has lasted 43 years! Sadly, the pull cord on the back snapped off long before I bought it. Thankfully, it can still be revved up like I did it at the thrift store. Does anyone remember having this as a kid? I am planning on saving it for my own one day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bEQciyXLNM
Awesome, I had two of these! The first one I got for Christmas, I played with it so much that I wore out the flywheel bearings within months.
My mom encouraged me to write a letter to Mattel, and they responded so I mailed them the broken one and they sent me a new one!
When it was fully revved up it would just about do a backflip in Blazer mode. Many happy hours playing with this (and many noisy hours for my parents)
My favorite from this period was “Road Devils”: a race car attached to a box with a crank and a kind of tachometer on it. Wind it up REAL FAST (for the highest tachometer reading) then launch the car!
Was real fun but then something broke…
High poppin’ wheelies!!!
I had one of these. Thanks for posting, I had totally forgotten about this toy and the commercial.
I had r/c Dune Buggies, they had a cord, could go back and forth and when they took off would do a wheelie because there was a high mounted weighted ball that rolled back. I also had SST racers as well as the SST Smash Up Derby set; when they hit each other, parts would fly off! What great grade school fun!!
I was a proud owner of Smash Up Derby. Those ramps that came with the set were used for years after the cars were long gone.
I remember the powered follow-up to the original Hot Wheels: Sizzlers. Unfortunately, the rechargeable batteries didn’t last long.
Sizzlers were one of if not the first consumer application of NiCd batteries, custom made for Mattel. They were some pretty advanced engineering for the time.
Good find!
I’d save up my coins , and then buy a Revell model kit at the start of Christmas vacation & spring break. I needed an adult to purchase the tube of “airplane” glue.
(no sniffing).
My favorite was the 1940 Lincoln Cabriolet.
I can remember lemon scented model glue. Kids would sniff it just because it smelled good!
These came out after my toy-yearning prime, and I must confess that I don’t remember them at all.
These make me shake my head at the strange thoughts that come into peoples’ heads when thinking of ideas for a new toy. “Hey, what if we take a dragster, make it so it changes lengths, then stick the body of another regular vehicle over it so you have kind of two cars in one in a way that has never, ever happened in the history of the world?”
I remember these! Somehow in my memory of age 5-7 or so the Blazer body didn’t look as “off” as it does here.
I don’t remember these, but I do remember a few years before there was a toy car that you wound up and then pushed a button and it automatically unfolded and stretched into a dragster and then raced away. They eere very much like the (much later) Transformers become robots. I remember being absolutely crushed that I didn’t get it for Christmas (71 or 72?) and my Mom being really mad at me for being so cranky about it.
I believe you are referring to “The Imposters” made by Aurora:
Hi Guys, this was such a trip down memory lane. I totally made me remember that the same year I got this power shifter I also got a blue toy car that you would Squeeze Down like an accordion to a Muscle car and as it would roll it would extend itself into a dragster/funny car. Can any help me with figuring out the name of it? Thank you again for triggering these memories..AWESOME!
Omar
I still have my blazer from when I was a little kid. Mine is a 1976. I must have played hard cause it is kind of broken, but mostly just beat on, lol. It still has the original pull cord and it still works. I’m missing the stickers from the front wheels