Video Bonanza: Great Ads for 1980s Gearhead ToysBy Brian Lohnes Posted 02/11/10
As we speed toward our 30th birthday, we've been taking a little stock of our younger days. Growing up in the 1980s was a fun situation because there were so many awesome gearhead kid toys that were showing up all the time. The Saturday morning cartoon shows were full of ads for the latest and greatest truck, car, or construction set that did neat stuff. We managed to find a ton of awesome 1980s ads that show some of the coolest toys of the era. We knew our parents were great, but watching these ads made us realize that we had just about one of everything on the list!
We're super afraid of sounding like an old person when we lament the fact that, "they just don't make stuff like this anymore," but they don't. These toys were all about creating the environment to play with them in. Piling up some rocks, making a tunnel, making dirt piles for the monster trucks to climb. It involved imagination, and because none are remote control, it required you to get up off your ass and chase them around.
As you'll see in these ads, monster trucks truly ruled the spectrum of gearhead kid toys back in the early 1980s. Directly or indirectly, many of these toys were inspired by them.
One last thing. We always hated the kids in the tv ads because they had to coolest setups to play with the toys in. You'll see one ad with a truck climbing a running river! Who the hell had the time and skill for creating something like that at age ten.
We suck at video games because we were too busy playing with all the junk below:
Comments + Post your comment!
Written by Remy-Z
Feb 11 2010
Thanks...now I'm searching (again!) for the toys I had when I was five...
One was a blue metal '68-'70 Charger by ERTL. Had the push motor, which I broke, it made a god-awful noise but I loved that damn thing.
Other was two different cars, a Ferrari Spyder and a 3rd Gen Firebird. They were part of four cars, had a T-handle shifter, all done up Pro Stock-like. You could get the car to do a wheelie, ran on an obscene amount of AA batteries.
Written by antmnte
Feb 11 2010
I had this- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGvOTpVoNME
It worked for about 2 days after i opened it Christmas day Freakin POS.
My dad was yelling at me that I broke it then he returned it and the new one broke too!
Written by BigBlockRanger
Feb 11 2010
I still have some Stompers including 3 of the semi-truck with trailer versions.
Written by TheSilverBuick
Feb 11 2010
I didn't notice this blog this morning! I can't watch the videos until I got home, but just yesterday I was thinking about the "Animal". I had a couple of them (well between my brother and I we had a few) and was thinking it would be cool if my Jeep had those claws ;D We had a good handful of stompers too, though apparently I angered my grandfather by promptly breaking my first one right after he gave it to me by "Stomping" right on it. My Old Man likes bringing that story up :D
Written by prlafayette Feb 11 2010
This is the beauty of having a son. My little guy is only three months old and I am already combing Ebay for good toys that are out of production. A perfect example is all steel Tonka trucks. He needs to have more than just the Mighty Dump Truck.
I figure the 50cc four wheeler for his third birthday will be appropriate. Skip out on the Power Wheels four wheeler.
Written by 78GBod
Feb 11 2010
I had the "The Animal" monster truck and some Digger Dan stuff back in the day. However, I was an hugh collector of Stompers. I had 20-30 of them at one time. Most were broken or burnt up (9V battery). I also had a Stomper pulling sled. Here's a video: [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQdCfow6Iik&feature=related]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQdCfow6Iik&feature=related[/url]
Darn it you guys, my wife is going to kill me when the Stompers start showing up at the door step. I bet I can get all I want online. Gotta find that pulling sled!
Chad
Written by Brian Lohnes
Feb 11 2010
:) :)
http://www.bangshift.com/blog/Tales-from-the-Gearhead-Toy-Box-The-Kenner-Red-Line.html
Written by oldrustycars Feb 11 2010
Does anyone remember a hand held drag racing video game? There were classes you could select, I seem to recall Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Modified. The game was shaped like a butterfly steering wheel. It was around in the early to mid 80's. Am I having a senior moment, or did this exist?
I just answered my own question. Not willing to drop $450 to get one
http://cgi.ebay.com/80s-KENNER-DRAG-RACING-REDLINE-ELECTRONIC-GAME-BOXED_W0QQitemZ120517115714QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c0f613f42
Written by stump_puller Feb 11 2010
Man that brings back memories.
I had one of those Flex's too! I remember the Cross-Boss but didn't have one.
This isn't a gear head one, but one that still influences me today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czGhfXhpN90
Or it's Parody version ;D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfDbuPmE8VU
(warning strong language :P)