DISCO DOWN WITH MY FIRST CARS!
Put on your polyester shirt and glasses with big frames for some of the earlier offerings in my collection!
Hot Wheels Hot Bird - 1978 - This car and the next one may have been the first cars of this type I ever had. I think they came with a toy called the Thundershift Roarin' Raceway. The toy consisted of an oval track made up of flexible plastic strips, and it had a lever that launched cars down the track. The Hot Bird is a Pontiac Firebird. One article says the Hot Bird later became part of a set called the Hot Ones. Nothing like kicking off this website with a flatulence reference!
Hot Wheels Racebait 308 - 1978 - This car is a Ferrari 308 GTB and was also associated with the Thundershift Roarin' Raceway.
Matchbox Stretcha Fetcha - 1972 - 1:66 - The Stretcha Fetcha is an ambulance that has big windows that allow anyone to see right inside. It also has a tailgate that opens up. It seems like I got several other cars around the time I got this, which I thought included a blue sports car, but that might have gotten mixed up in the wrong crowd. I think at the same time, we got some toy that included ink stamps of each letter, but the letters weren't backwards, so they were useless.
Matchbox Toe Joe - 1972 - 1:66 - The Toe Joe is a booger green tow truck, useful for hauling away illegally parked Stretcha Fetchas and Hot Birds.
Matchbox Hovercraft - 1977 - Booger green seemed to be a trendy color in those years. The Hovercraft is an amphibious rescue yacht. No "yacht rock." Just a yacht. Several websites say the Hovercraft was only 1:190 scale instead of the standard 1:64. But it's just make-believe! It's pretend!
Hot Wheels Emergency Squad - 1975 - I must have gotten this truck pretty early, but I don't remember much about it. It's probably worth big bucks. I noticed someone was selling one of these online that was all beaten up for $19.99.
Matchbox Police Patrol - 1975 - 1:61 - It takes the popo to keep order! This police cruiser is interesting in that the orange light was designed to spin as the car moves. It's a little stiff now, but it still spins some. The car is shaped a little bit like the infamous Plymouth Horizon, but this model came out before the Horizon did.
Matchbox Blaze Buster - 1977 - 1:90 - Emergency vehicles loomed large in my conscience as I watched shows like The Dukes Of Hazzard, CHiPs, and Code Red. This fire engine has a ladder that you can move, and the photo shows it at its maximum extent - which was useful for the many fires in our layouts.
Playart Volkswagen - I was particularly fond of this car, as it was a popular style of the era. Volkswagen's early history isn't so great though. I got this car around the time of the "Volkswagen does it again" ad campaign. A kid at school once farted the "Shave And A Haircut" melody and said it was the "Volkswagen does it again" jingle.
Tomica Dodge Coronet Custom Taxi - 1976 - 1:74 - Extra value is what you get when you buy Coronet! This taxi is labeled as only 1:74 scale, but the doors for the front seat can be opened. An online comment implied that other companies ripped off Tomica's quality Coronet models. Some of these knock-offs are laughably bad, and some don't even have a label or brand. It's like how someone told me the worst bubble gum was a kind that was in a wrapper that just said "bubble gum" and didn't have a brand. Also, taxis don't work the same way in real life as they do on TV. When I was in college, there was a blizzard, and people thought I could just make a taxi appear by yelling, "Taxi!" I had to explain that's only on TV.
Hot Wheels Letter Getter - 1977 - When I started this page, I saw that this item was selling for $1,500 on eBay, even in worse condition. The back door of this truck opens, but mine is pretty rickety now. The truck looks roomy enough to store lots of mail. Maybe we'll find an M Street Journal from 1994 or something else we've been waiting for. Hot Wheels has also used the Letter Getter body for other vehicles, including a Wonder bread delivery truck.
Matchbox Fire Chief - 1976 - 1:65 - As the name implies, this is a fire chief's car. This is one of several cars in my collection that is supposed to have a plastic bubble on top representing a light (though not designed to be functional), but it fell off down inside the vehicle. Reattaching it would be almost impossible, like when you found frames that fell off your View-Master reels down inside the container.
Tomica Pontiac Firebird Trans Am - 1978 - 1:68 - This car was another personal favorite, and best all, the doors can open. Some of my neighborhood pals got mud all over it once. There may still be a little bit of dirt stuck in the grooves. Trans Ams were such a big deal back then that I think I had a larger model Trans Am that I put together. I know I had a model ambulance like that which I put together, and during my 2013 toy sort, I was disheartened to find that it had been completely crushed because someone had piled junk on top of it. It was in shambles. A pile of plastic shards.
Ertl '57 Thunderbird - This sleek 1957 Thunderbird was yet another favorite of mine. It has a hood that can open. I liked this car so much that I buyed it new in the early 1980s after saving my limited allowance money. I didn't get an old scratched-up one at a yard sale or beg my parents to buy it for Christmas. I purchased a new one myself at a nearby store where neighborhood kids were always buying bubble gum. But, unlike some spoiled brats I knew in my day, I had to earn it.
Playart Double Decker Bus - An online thread says this British-style bus has a scale of about 1:100 instead of the standard 1:64. When I got this bus, someone told me that double decker buses were illegal on American roads. This rule must have been lifted later, as I took a double decker Megabus to Occupy the Super Bowl in Indianapolis in 2012. That was the bus where another passenger entertained us by using his laptop to blare a comedian telling X-rated jokes.
Tomica School Bus - 1976 - 1:108 - This bus is labeled as 1:108 but is still too big to fit in a single slot in my car case. But sometimes, bigger is better, and this bus was always a crowd pleaser.