Hell Yes!! Toys and life back then was so awesome! Simple and fun. As a kid all we did was go to school, do our homework, do our chores and then play. On weekends we got up early and watched Saturday Morning cartoons, then went outside to play and toys and playgrounds were so much fun. It was fun being a kid back then. No iPhones, social media or internet.
hektorlinko boy did you ever sum I️t up perfectly!! My Sons are almost grown and only did that kind of stuff when they were real little...No one could’ve predicted what tech would do to a Childhood...even being an Electrical Engr I️t wasn’t clear to see that would happen...Now you feel sad that they didn’t get what we took for granted. Simple fun. Smash Up Derby Cars, Cox gas powered cars and riding BMX bikes in the canyon by the house (now filled with endless houses). We all want to go back to our childhood and experience that simple life again and play with Star Wars and Kenner Smash Up Derby Cars!!! The best part of the 70s!!! Here’s to all of us 50 something’s !!! Best to you.
Crash up Derby. Awesome toys. My oldest brother got them for Christmas, and I couldn't stop playing them. One of the most fun toys ever. I miss those days.
I was a kid during the 70s. I remember everyone wore stripes, dots, paisley. It was bizarre. As for the toys--I had all of the ones featured here. The SSPs were cool. So were the Evil Knievel dolls. You made Evil Knievel jump over stuff and watched him crash. The toys are so different now. Video games have replaced the hands-on stuff.
As a child of the 60's many of the toys encouraged you to use your imagination. You can still find some of the "retro" toys but you have to look for them.
I remember Smash Up Derby. I was about 5 when I got it for my birthday and my dad put it together. Then he made one of the cars ram the wall and fall apart and I thought he broke it so I started crying lol. It was a lot of fun once I figured it out myself but the cars actually did get broken after a few days and couldn't be put back together again. Plus I lost some of the parts lol.
Every once in a while over that "Smash, bang, crack 'em up! Put 'em back again!" would flicker into my head for a brief instant and I couldn't remember what it was from. Now I know! My brothers and I had a few of those when we were wee lads. Good memories.
I'm 53, and this did bring back some memories. I was 9 in '72, which is about the time these ads aired. For some reason, I don't remember "Bing Bang Boing", "Water Wiggle", or "Screech", but I'd forgotten about the whiz that the T-stick on SSP Racers made until now. Hadn't thought about that for decades, but now remember it like yesterday. I had a toy called "Wacky Wheel" (I no longer have it) that I got, I would say, in late '72 or early '73.
I can still remember the dream (nightmare) I had on Christmas eve in 1972 about the Smash-Up Derby cars. I dreamed that when I opened the box and played with them, they were just the SSP type and not the Smash-Up type. The doors wouldn't pop off in my dream. I think I woke up crying. Amazing that dream has stayed with me all these years. You had to watch your fingers with these cars or they would get pinched with the little gears that the plastic pull rod went through. Ouch!
My family and I still play Masterpiece at Christmas time when we're all together. Same old faded 70's box and still have all the paintings and white clips for it too. Kind of funny that we're still playing it once a year 30+ years later...
Board games have made a huge comeback since your post here over ten years ago. And I am glad. Christmas time board games go into the wee hours of the morning with my now adult children. We have a great time!
“Hey, kids, would you like to see screen candy win you points?” “Sounds kinda boring!” “Well, what about ball bearings bouncing on rubber?” “Now you’re talking!”
nice to know you young folks appreciate our old 70's toys -- they really were a lot of fun, and the best thing was there were no "rules" like in computer games -- you could make it all up yourself. on the other hand, i remember when my neighbors got Pong in the mid 70's and we all went crazy -- imagine if somebody would have dropped an xbox on us in 1975... i don't think we would have played with our bugout games that much any more.
I had the Tyco Command Control, which was Tyco's version of TCR. Track had to be kept immaculately clean or the cars couldn't get traction, but the biggest problem was that you couldn't fly off the track if you overdid it. Just tape the trigger down, and they might as well have been Hot Wheels Sizzlers. Got into AFX & Tyco slot cars later ( you actually have to DRIVE them into corners), and these days I'm into 1:32 slot cars and model trains of 5 different scales.
Holy cow... I'm old enough that I THINK I remember all these toys and commercials (commercials used to run for a while, didn't they?), but young enough that none of this stuff has crossed my mind in a LONG time... thanks, Bolt, I'm in a pastime paradise...
SSP's were great, almost indestructible too. Simple and fun, just don't try to stop one bearfoot! The Evil Kenivel playset was great too! There aren't hardly even slot car sets around anymore..
You can still find slot cars I had 1.32 Eldons I bed 200 feet of track toys were so much better back then Still have a lot of my motorrific cars trucks and track !
The "laker-specal" was like the "ram-jet" without the JET, THEY were the BEST-BALANCED & FASTEST-SSP'S they could break about 28 M.P.H. ACTUAL down a slight -grade!!!!!!!!!!!
packardexelence I had the RamJet. Only it was metallic gold. And it was fast. So fast, and it had "wings" on the sides. I thought it could fly. So my young ignorant ass launched it off the outside stairway. It flew and then dropped on a flat cement paver. It broke in half and the wheel jitterbugged into the bushes and I never found it. That was 1974 and I am sure the wheel is still there. Still sad after all these years.
Darth Frodo--NEVER was a truer statent--"Youth is WASTED on the young!" I forget what happened to my AMT model of the Astro-I Chevrolet experimental car, BUT I would have to spend $200.00 if I want one TODAY!!!!!!!!
I remember these commercials and actually had the smash up derby game, big fun for a 7 yr old in 72. It always seemed the kids in these commercials had the biggest kitchen floors ever. the cars just go and go and go...
Yes, and no one had to worry about being alarmed by a pretend bug in a cage or the elitism of buying masterpieces for multi-millions. And people were not afraid to point out the race of people who commit violent crime because it would be mean to call them out on it. Yes, we could behave in a more normal way, and kids could be kids.
Smash up Derby was my favorite toy until Star Wars came out---loved sending them into the floor board molding to see the parts fly. I still have one of the cars but no t stick. Boy that sound!!!! Zzzzzrrrrrrzrzzzrrrrrrrrrrrrzzzzzzzzzz
JB beatle We lived in a three story townhouse,and the stair well had a long hardwood floor hallway at the top. I used to send my smash up derby cars flying off the stairwell. One day it came flying down and plunked my dad in the head. Side impact test was a success. Lol
I actually have the SSP Star Wars Dodge van set. The only automotive related Star Wars toy available in 1977. Still in the box,in near mint condition. They ran awesome on our hardwood floor.
I had those SSP smash up derby cars. I had the Evel Knievel SSP bike too. I wonder what they would be worth today? Probably not much unless they were in their original packaging, which doesn't make much sense, because what kid in the 70s would've kept his toys in the original box? Toys were made to be abused by kids. We used to "tough-test" all our toys down the steep hill from one kid's backyard into the woods. Tonka trucks, GI Joe jeeps, Big Jim camper, all that went for a run. All the green army men that got set on fire to hear the "Vvvvt, vvvt, vvvt.." sound, and they had some detail, they could've been painted and glued to a diorama... Oh well.
+CrazyBear65 The fact that almost no one kept the toys in the box and played rough with them is why in the box like new is worth so much, it is just rare
Imagine finding MINT condition of everything shown! I remember playing Boggle and Life... most board games are 'bored' to today's kids.. Heck, my Grandparents had the 'original' German version of the "Sorry" game.. You had four marbles, Red, white, yellow, black, green or blue, roll the dice and go around till u made it to 'home' but you run the risk of being bumped back to start! each took turns rolling the dice.
I had a Bing Bang Boing set I got second-hand when I was a kid. Some of its parts were broken, though, and I had the darnedest time trying to figure out what I could do with it. I remember kind of figuring out what each piece did, but not how to connect them together. I was thrilled to see it in action in this video, though, after all these years!
You can tell that the 70's was the era of board games. High production quality (keep in mind that the quality we see here is not what kids saw on TV). Bing Bang Boing, Smash Up Derby, great toys. Bing Bang seems especially creative, a sort of commercial take on a Rube Goldberg contraption. Kids today have no patience for anything that requires skills and creativity to set up. I grew up mostly in the '80s but I do remember that things seemed just a bit cooler then.
The sizzlers! My friend had those. They had the little hole in the side where the little spinning shaft from the "charger" would go and wind up the little coil inside. Those were so cool!
I remember SSPs worked better if you just pushed them. I found that the wheel stopped spinning as soon as you put it on the floor. The little motorcycles that came with the air pump worked better. they shot like bullets. TTP by Kenner.
@@kewrock me and my two brothers each got one for Christmas. They all worked great. We played with them until we finally wore out the T stick you pulled to make them go.
Jarts were fun, but poorly designed. They remade them with blunt arrows in the late 1980's and early 1990's. We had a set of the original, but my parents forbade us from ever playing with them. They also did the same with GI Joe sets, because they didn't want us to think "war was fun" - because war isn't fun. It's brutal, as I learned from my great uncle, who was in the Pacific theater.
The stupid kid across the street from me had the SSP car with the one wheel. He would rev it and then stick it in me and my sister's hair to get it tangled up and it really hurt!
@Bolt70 TYVM for sharing these family friendly commercials, and trips down memory lane with us all Rube Goldberg's Mouse Trap opened up wild new avenues for family fun games. I cannot count the hours spent with Mom, Dad, and my brother playing it, and other family oriented games. 💯👍🏼👏🏼 We used to love the Demolition Derby's held locally at the dirt track. Man the smash bang was something to see, and taught us what Not to do when driving. 👍🏼😲😯 Water Wiggle gave me a couple black eyes, before I learned why the company was called Whamo 🤣🤣🤣
I remember disabling that annoying sound the SSP racers made, who's brilliant idea was that? I thought, at the time, the added friction from the little piece of semi-stiff plastic rubbing against the teeth of the gear you pulled the T-Strip on was causing shorter distances, and lower top speeds. Also that sound sucked big time. I remember using these as floor missiles in the house form front room out to kitchen chair legs. Good Times.... (Ô¿Ô)
Dsdcain Seriously? An ‘engineering major’? It was a toy, you played with it. I don’t believe you’re old enough to have ever played with one and you’re just trolling. Of course, back then, smart kids had imagination and intrigue. They figured stuff out. Now unless the rules are really simple, kids don’t want to know.
The consistent strategy used in the advertisements is the thematic background music and the cheerful atmosphere when the kids are playing with the promoted products. First, the music is lighthearted and it’s easy-singing. It creates the melodic memory in the audiences’ (children’s) mind. Kids might even sing along, and this helps deepen the positive image of the toy in their mind.
+EastTexassurvival Yeah, but after you lost all the parts you could still douse the car in Ronson lighter fuel and launch it one last time in a blaze of glory. ...Not that I ever did that... Well, yeah, actually I did.
I had the Smash*Up Derby. One day, in the family room they crashed together and one of the wheels disappeared. We never found it again. It has bothered me for 30+ years that it vanished. I'll bet my mom swept it up and threw it in the garbage.
Black Buick , she gave it away because females , even if they are moms can t stand to see a male , even if it's their on son , have any enjoyment , it's something deep in their subconscious nature , they don't even realize they're doing it .
Thanks for the good memories! My brother had the Screech game when I was quite young, so I don't remember it very well, and have always wanted to see it again. I knew I wasn't imagining it! I also had Smash-Up-Derby, which I loved as a kid, so it was cool to see it too! Mine was a bicentennial version from 1976. RU-vid is bringing back so much stuff that I remember, but thought I'd never see again!
samidella idella - At my house it was Lego blocks, because I put the steel ball bearings in a slingshot, they were long gone. But those Lego blocks, forget just one of them, just one, and somehow my dad's foot would find it. 😭😭😭
You should see my face right now seeing these!! To think since that time, someone even did a real-life flying head-on car wreck, 1980's sometime I think!! I HAD THAT SSP Smash-Up StationWagon!!!!
From this I can conclude that over the years the quality and innovation in the toy industry has gone down while in the advertising industry it's gone up.
3:28 that was the best ad and tune promotion ever, I remember that on the t.v. and got that set, very cool, lots of fun. I was lost in a world of toy cars...it was cars....and more cars...and if I was bored,...more cars. Models that had to be assembled, 1/64 scale cars, track cars like AFX, bigger tin cars that did stuff on batteries..whew, our house looked like a psycho car kid had gone off his meds.
My older brother LOVED the SSPs!! He played w/them in the house quite a bit though! He had the demolition derby cars too & Rock-Em Sock-Em Robots! Memories!!!
I had the crash up derby cars!! Yaay our generation! Even the lousy games were good because we soon got bored with 'em; and hustled outside to create our own fun.
MAN!! My big brother and I loved "Masterpiece Game". I had almost forgotten about it. It was really cool. He was starting college and I was in 5th grade? Not sure. But we liked the whole thing.
My brother got that bing bang boing thing one year for xmas. I being the great older brother got it taken away from him for trying to teach him and his friends how to make a weapon out of it. Amazing how easy it was to get your hands on various explosives in those days lol
