What Products Do You Miss Most From Your Youth?

[Mr. Ected]

Growing up in the late 1960's and early-to-mid 1970's, there were so many great products (and not-so-great ones!) that came and went. I fondly remember the REAL Creepy Crawlers, which were dangerous as hell, Click-Clacks, which were also dangerous as hell, and so many other toys and foods and other items, that I thought this would be a great place for all of us to compile those memories. I'll start with the mystery food item that populated my lunchbox, every flipping day, for a couple of years:



Your turn!

[femmocrat]

1. Mr. Salty pretzels.

Why did they ever stop making them? :shrug:

And banana popsicles. They actually looked like they were made from bananas and were creamier than the "banana-flavored ice pops" they make today.

[DainBramaged]

129. Nabisco just sucks, I grew up eating Mr. Salty pretzels, can't find 'em

:hi:

They aren't even lised on the website of Nabisco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTGp2G-aMi0


http://www.taquitos.net/snacks.php?snack_code=2661

[ornotna]

2. You don't have to miss them

http://www.funkyfoodshop.com/spacefoodsticks-c-23.html


click the link.


you know you want to.

[Love Bug]

3. Choc-o-mint Lifesavers

[texanwitch]

4. I loved Creepy Crawlers.

One learned how to play safe.

Kids today are protected to much.

[commander bunnypants]

5. Jarts

but I guess yhey brained a bunch of kids and they stopped making them

CB

[dugaresa]

12. ooooh Jarts

favorite game

[azmouse]

13. My cousin threw one at me and hit me in my arm.

Hurt like hell. I still have a scar from it.
After that my family threw the Jarts away.

[HughBeaumont]

6. Wacky Wafers.

Name Droppers
Finger Pops
Lego sets that weren't models
Wooden Tinkertoys, not the bullshit plastic ones
Flyin' Finnegan
Bottle Caps (yes, I know they still make them . . . they just don't taste the same)
Choco-lite
Atari 2600
Not-made-by-Nestle Sno-Caps
Ice Bird
Girder and Panel sets
Micronauts
GD Ritzys
Burger Chef
College Radio Metal Shows
The Kingdom of Could be You
The Most Important Person
Arcade games that weren't 3-D versions of Berzerk, Yie-Ar Kung Fu or Pole Position
Mister Rogers Neighborhood
An authentic hardcore/thrash metal/underground scene

[Kali]

51. the smell of tinkertoys!

and lincoln logs!

I was SO bummed when my kids were old enough for legos and all they had were stupid already-put-together toys!

And burger chef! the place I bought my first "lunch" by myself.

[AwakeAtLast]

73. There is a GD Ritzy's in Evansville, IN

Great place! :thumbsup:

[HughBeaumont]

84. I used to eat 3 of those burgers in one sitting.

Awesome stuff.

[hippywife]

88. I just knew you were from OH

when I saw Ritzy's and Burger Chef. I remember them well. :hi:

[HughBeaumont]

140. Burger Chef and Jeff!!

I miss those Kaiser bun-burgers and "The Works" bar. They were the shizz.

[HopeHoops]

7. Quisp cereal

They brought it back for a short time in 2005 and I bought a bunch of it, but it is all gone. I'm sad.

I also miss the Crispy Critters cereal, although it was sort of like Alpha-bets.

A-1 space food bars were fun, and I miss those - even though I probably wouldn't eat them now.

[joeybee12]

10. Yeah, when they brought it back, I was deliriously happy!

Nothing comes close to the way that tasted.

[HopeHoops]

19. Well, other than Capt'n Crunch

But even that isn't quite the same.

[joeybee12]

22. I still tink Quisp's taste is unique...some cerelas taste sort of like others...

...Quisp is in a class of its own.

I think Quake was Capn Crunch retread.

[backtoblue]

8. pop rocks

[AwakeAtLast]

72. I can get them where I live

I'll bet a good candy store has them in stock.

[fishwax]

78. I had some of those yesterday

ms. fishwax picked some up at Michael's :woohoo:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

9. Every summer,

when I step out of a shower on a hot day, I miss Jean Nate Splash. I've bought some, but it doesn't smell as good as the stuff from when I was a kid....................

[azmouse]

14. I didn't know it was still being made.

I loved Jean Nate too.

[Moondog]

18. Ahh, you've brought back fond memories of someone I once knew.

:)

[peacefreak]

25. Did you put it in the fridge

so it would be cold when you splashed it on?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

35. YES!

In the hottest weather, yes, that's what I did. Did you do that? You did, didn't you?

Oh, now I really, really miss it..................

[peacefreak]

52. Yup. Sure did.

And you're right. The last time I tried it, it didn't smell the same.

[WCIL]

53. I was feeling nostalgic for this earlier this summer

I went to Walgreen's to get some, but it smelled terrible. Almost like Lysol. I also miss the original Love's Fresh Lemon and Love's Baby Soft.

[crim son]

61. Oh, I second your comment on the Love's.

Both scents were fantastic. My sister wore the Baby Soft so I wore the Lemon. And whenever I think of those colognes I think of certain summer evenings and a sweet young man called Jim... ah, innocense.

[ornotna]

65. If you don't like Jean Nate anymore

you might try 4711 as a replacement. It has a light clean citrus scent. Very refreshing.

http://www.4711.com/startseite+M52087573ab0.html

[carlyhippy]

117. Oh man, I tried to put that stuff on after a shower and I had mosquito bites on my arms/legs

that was some burning going on, that stuff does not feel good on irritated skin haha.

[backtoblue]

11. and these...

[Bertha Venation]

15. Click-Clacks!

[TokenQueer]

44. I was the Click-Clack champion of my bus stop!

Shit, those things were dangerous.

Looking at them now...no wonder I'm gay.

[Sultana]

66. Oh my, I just laughed out loud

You are funny :thumbsup:

[myrna minx]

95. LOL.

:rofl: Welcome to DU. :hi:

[carlyhippy]

121. I was a champ clacker, I could double clack

up and down 28 times before I broke the rhythm..well until the day one ball flew off the string and across the playground, that was my last pair, by then they were outlawed and I couldn't get another set

[Amerigo Vespucci]

16. There were these caramel candies similar to "Bulls-Eyes"...

...with the major difference being the modern-day retro-candy "bulls-eyes" that are available have a chewy caramel outside and a bland, equally chewy white interior, while the REAL bulls-eyes I grew up with as a kid had a softer caramel exterior, a much softer white interior that was powder sugar-based, and the outside edge of the candy was very lightly dusted with powdered sugar.

Real delicate, melt-in-your mouth stuff, and my favorite candy as a kid.

:toast:

[Kali]

50. OMG

Goetzes???? Bulls eyes???!!!!!!!!

Unintended internets humor!

[bif]

17. Junket & Jarts

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

20. Lick a sticks

pop rocks, "penny candy" of any kind.

[crim son]

62. Lick a Stix are still out there and surprisingly like the originals.

But penny candy is gone, alas.

[elocs]

21. Two candy bars I liked to eat at the movie theater when I was a kid,

The Seven Up candy bar and Turkish Taffy (I'd smack it flat on the chair's arm and the pieces would last a long time. I actually liked the vanilla flavor.)

[704wipes]

81. I think Slo-Pokes are gone too

along with some fillings and teeth they took with them...

[elocs]

91. Oh yeah! I lost a filling to a Slo Poke. The pain, the pain, and a mean dentist to boot. n/t

[ZoltarSpeaks]

23. Where to begin....

Foods & Candy
A&W rootbeer in the icy mugs and the paper cones, A&W teen burgers.
Gums: Blackjack, Teaberry, Beemans, Clove, sour grape gumballs that were so tart you puckered.
Grape Sticks & Orange Sticks (sort of economy grade frozen juice bars).
Any form of food from a drive-in theater concession stand. Especially the well aged hot dogs of unknown origin.
Flavored wax lips and teeth.


Toys
Erector sets and chemistry sets with the good stuff inside. Tin lithographed robots. Mr. Machine. Think-A-Tron. Those airplanes on the end of a flexcable with the flashlight-size motor thing you held in your hand. Verti-Bird. The original 8-balls.


TV Shows (sort of a product)
Supercar. Thunderbirds. Johnny Quest. Twilight Zone. Outer Limits. Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

I have to stop here.

[dixiegrrrrl]

105. I know how old you are ....neener neener.

Same list, same memories.
Nothing tasted as good as A & W rootbeer on an August Day in the middle of the Eastern Washington desert.

Barq's root beer I discovered recently. Pretty good. But A&W does not taste the same now.

[Orsino]

24. Vinyl records.

Oh, I'm all in favor of CDs for the fidelity of sound. What I really miss are the record jackets full of fascinating stuff.

[Blue_In_AK]

26. I used to love those candy cigarettes

when I was really little, but thinking about their sweetness now almost makes me gag.

[joeybee12]

29. Oh yeah, I tried to act like I was smoking them, but that didn't last...

...I ate them quickly...no willpower.

[MajorChode]

79. The bubble gum cigars were great also

[The empressof all]

27. Thomas' Date Nut Bread

It's gone---For no good reason either. They won't even release the recipe.

It makes me very sad...

[Moondog]

37. Wow. I'd completely forgotten that stuff! It was good, wasn't it?

[The empressof all]

47. It was the best

We always had it with Breakstones whipped cream cheese. For a while they use to have it available from Thanksgiving through New Years. But no more. I hear tell you can still get the Cream cheese and Date nut bread sandwiches at the Chock full of nuts coffee places in NYC. But their bread isn't exactly the same. Even home made doesn't live up to the moist gooey goodness of this product. I remember wadding it up into date nut bread balls and rolling them in powdered sugar or cocoa powder. God it was good....What a stupid move on their part. There are angry middle-aged people everywhere who long for our datenut bread. I should start a movement.

[LostInAnomie]

28. I can think of quite a few fast food items I miss.

The Rancho-Steak burrito from Taco Bell. The Artic Orange milkshake from McDonalds. The Mega Chili Cheese Burrito from Taco Bell. The Bar-B-Que Monster Burger from Hardees. I could go on and on.

Battle Beasts were a cool toy that I miss.

[derby378]

30. I need help from my fellow DUers to identify this candy

This candy stick was shaped like a short Chik-O-Stick, had the consistency of peanut butter mixed with a tiny amount of molasses, was colored kind like a Slim Jim, and tasted heavenly - like a delightfully weird strain of peanut butter.

Can anyone help me here? :hi:

[Minimus]

34. No, but dammit - now I want one! You had me at "weird strain of peanut butter".

[Aristus]

38. Speaking of weird strains of peanut butter, once again, my all-time favorite:

[enigmatic]

118. That's my pick, too

That abs Reece's Peanut Butter Cups kept my ass going food-wise while I romped away many summers of my childhood..

[crim son]

63. I know those things.

What the heck were they called...?

[derby378]

100. That's what I want to know!

I can't seem to kind them anywhere, and I miss them!

[Mr. Ected]

104. Hmmm...the only thing I can think of is Mary Janes

A mix of peanut butter and molasses...but it sounds a bit different than what you're describing...

[blaze]

108. Don't know what Chik-O-Sticks are, but...

This sorta fits your description... http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/browse/Home/Food-Candy/Old-Fashioned-Candy/Molasses-Peanut-Butter-Kisses/D/30100/P/1:100:1020:100840/I/f15191?evar3=BROWSE

[derby378]

126. Not really...

I've had the Brach's version of those kisses before, but the Vermont Country Store version sounds rather enticing.

That said, the candy I'm looking for is something radically different. Thanks, though! :hi:

[stray cat]

31. corn bran cereal

[Dr Fate]

32. The Whamo Super Ball was pretty cool.

Bounce it once, and some kid 2 neighborhoods over gets his glasses knocked off.

[Xipe Totec]

33. Real Mexican Barbacoa

every Sunday.

With flour tortillas.

[MineralMan]

42. OMG!

I did one last year. The pit is still in the yard, and I'm going to invite a bunch of people over and do it next month. I have to start looking for a steer head soon. There's a bison farm not far away. I wonder how that would work?....

My Chihuahuan neighbor in the house behind me almost fell down when he saw what I was doing. I gave him a nice big pile of meat. He still hasn't figured out why the white-haired, white-bearded anglo was doing that. He just shakes his head when he sees me.

It's a family tradition for me, even with my Scottish last name.

¡Muy sabrosa!

[Xipe Totec]

45. I doff my hat to thee, Señor!

Thank you for sharing that story!

[begin_within]

36. Fizzies!

Although apparently they started making them again.



You're supposed to drop them in water, but we always just put the tablet directly in our mouth.

[Odin2005]

70. I remember the 90s revival of them when I was a kid!

[madmom]

109. We used to put them under our dogs tongues and hold his mouth shut enough so he couldn't spit it out

[NNadir]

39. Sodium Cyclamate.

It was the only artificial sweetner I could tolerate.

[backwoodsbob]

40. metal tonka toys

me and my brother used to beat the hell out of each other with them but now I wish I had them to remember the times better :pals:

[704wipes]

82. metal tonka toys are worth a lot

if you have any in good shape from the 50's/60's

[Cairycat]

41. Red Ball Jets tennis shoes

You knew summer was ending when your parents took you shoe shopping (in a real shoe store, with clerks who fitted you) to get new school shoes and Red Ball Jets for gym class.

[704wipes]

83. I really COULD jump higher in Red Ball Jets

nt

[MineralMan]

43. Not so much a product, but a catalog...

The Herter's Catalog. Hunting, fishing, outdoor gear, with copy written by a narcissistic wacko guy who probably never told the truth about anything his entire life.

It was my wish book.

[Richardo]

48. Speaking of catalogs, Heathkit and Edmunds Scientific

That was some fun stuff. I just saw that Edmunds is still around and has a website. Cool.

[MineralMan]

87. Allied Electronics, too, and Lafayette Electronics.

Both were huge back in the late 50s and early 60s when I was fascinated with all things electronic. I couldn't afford much, but...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

101. Does anybody remember the Gokey's catalog?

Stuff for hunting in the cold North. Nothing you could use in Texas, but interesting....

[DBoon]

134. Edmund Scientific

Still around, but made safer and unfortunately less challenging

http://scientificsonline.com/default.asp?sid=edsci&bhcd2=1248623449

[TokenQueer]

46. Stretch Armstrong

I would put him on the heat vent until he was soft enough to reach all the way across the room.

[bluedigger]

49. Opiated hash

(Did I say that out loud?)

:hide:

:rofl:

[complain jane]

59. LOL

[Capn Sunshine]

102. don't forget hash oil!

:popcorn:

[carpetbagger]

54. I miss those big square cars, the ones you could stand up in.

I'm sure the child-sized crash test dummy standing in the back seat of a 1975 LTD would excel as a missile, but those were good times, looking out that big starboard window as we sailed down the Long Island Expressway.

[AwakeAtLast]

74. I was standing in the back seat of my Mom's '65 Chevelle

in '73. We got T-boned. I got stitches in my eye socket area and that was it! That car still ran in '85, too!

[WCIL]

55. Chocolate or vanilla flavored Tangy Taffy

Dubble Bubble (or Super Bubble?) green apple gum. Marathon bars. Lots of different candies at the penny candy counter at the neighborhood comic book store. We could buy new comic books for a quarter or trade in used ones 2 for 1. We loved Little Lotta, Wendy, Nancy & Sluggo, and Betty and Veronica.

My mother thought Click-Clacks were too dangerous, but we had Jarts. My sisters and I would take turns standing in the plastic circle while the others threw Jarts at them. If you didn't jump out of the circle, you got a point. If you stayed in the circle AND didn't flinch, you got 2 points. We kept a hidden stash of rubbing alcohol and band-aids outside so mom wouldn't take the Jarts away.

[carlyhippy]

110. I remember chocolate/vanilla tangy taffy

I forgot all about that. There are some online candy stores that still sell some of those penny candies, but they are more than a penny now LOL

[Captain Hilts]

56. Shit! I was going to say "Space Food Sticks!!!!!!!" I loved them. nt

[Tommy_Carcetti]

57. Wendy's SuperBar

Wendy's had this mini-buffet of a salad bar, taco station, and a pasta bar that they had in some of their restaraunts. I would always load up on it, especially the pasta bar.

Also, the Taco Bell Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito.

And while we are on fast food, does Hardee's still have the Big Cookie? There aren't any Hardees around here so I wouldn't know. But I loved me a Big Cookie.

[rcrush]

115. Yeah Wendys salad bar was great

I never ate their burgers or whatever I always got food from the superbar!

[complain jane]

58. Super Elastic Bubble Plastic, Squirmles, the game Twizzler

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Elastic_Bubble_Plastic

And Pop Rocks & candy cigarettes...

[carlyhippy]

112. I usually ended up with a buzz after playing with super elastic bubble plastic haha

dont know if it was the fumes or the hyperventilation from trying to blow a bubble using those tiny straws.

[complain jane]

60. sideburns

but I guess that wasn't a product exactly

[crim son]

64. LONG jump ropes.

It's easy to find the ones made for individual use, but I can't seem to find the ones made for groups of kids. I used to love Double Dutch and the other skipping games. Of course I was ten at the time.

[Odin2005]

71. My elementary school had a whole bunch of them when I was growing up in the 90s.

According to my niece they are still there!

[Minimus]

67. Quaaludes

[muffin1]

133. mmm...

Lemon 714...the best buzz ever!:)

[Odin2005]

68. Surge! The pop parents and health Nazis loved to hate.

http://www.inthe90s.com/food/surge2.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surge_%28soft_drink%29

Vault is pretty much identical to it, but it just isn't the same, no controversy and urban myths surrounding it like Surge had.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

92. I'm a Mello Yello man myself

Which is still around on a limited basis, thank goodness. Although you have to search long and hard for it. I managed to get a case recently at the supermarket next to my office.

True story....for a while you couldn't get Mello Yello above the Maryland-Virginia border, and even there it only got more frequent when you got to the Carolinas. So when my family took day trips into Virginia, we'd try to scour ever convenience store we stopped at and every soda machine we walked by, in the hopes we'd find those little green and yellow cans. When we bought a 6 pack, we'd take it home and break it out for us on Thanksgiving.

[Odin2005]

96. Mellow Yellow is very common here in the Fargo area.

It's what I usually get at fast food places with Coke products, it's just like Mt. Dew to me.

[carlyhippy]

69. A perfume called "Blue Jeans" by Shulton

I would give just about anything for a bottle of it, they haven't made it since the 70's and it is the best smelling stuff ever.

Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific was good stuff, but I can still get it from the vermont country store.

Peanut butter space food sticks also ruled! Jello 123 was awesome

[WCIL]

76. I remember Blue Jeans too

My little sister bought it for me one year for Christmas. I also used to love Ambush.

[AwakeAtLast]

75. I loved Zotz

[AllenVanAllen]

77. The Swing Wing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kcUjuXBFA8








Naw, not really. That's just fucked-up.

[MajorChode]

80. Pixie Stix

What could possibly be wrong with straws full of white powder?

[stray cat]

85. Anyone remember Quench gum?

[carlyhippy]

113. I loved that gum, but it wouldn't stay very flavorful for long

carly

[Doc_Technical]

86. Screaming Yellow Zonkers

http://www.oldtimecandy.com/screaming-yellow-zonkers.htm

[yellowdogintexas]

97. just reading the box was a treat! That stuff was good. nt

[Moondog]

106. They're still around! At least they were a year ago.

I came across a huge stack of large boxes of them at the local Sam's Club. Bought one (big mistake). They were as wonderful as I remember them being. I went back three days later to lay in a huge supply, and they were gone! For the last year, every time I go in there I scour the snacks aisles looking for them. For nought. I have never seen them again.

[SoxFan]

89. Cheap baseball card with that weird gum

Fifteen cents for a pack of ten cards, and you got a piece of that scary gum that was made out of leftover shards from the Roswell crash.

[madrchsod]

90. "whip n` chill"

[Mr. Ected]

93. Anyone remember Jello 1-2-3?

The bottom formed jello, the middle was mousse, and the top settled into a whipped cream topping.

[Kali]

94. I do.

Remember tv dinners in metal divided trays?

[Mr. Ected]

99. You mean like this?

Check out the price: $0.89!!!

[Kali]

103. oh yeah

remember how if you scraped your fork on the tray it would taste all metallic - especially under the vegetables and potatoes?

[carlyhippy]

114. I liked the turkey dinner just for the dessert

it was some kind of cake with cranberry and apple stuff in it. good stuff, I ate that first!

[WinkyDink]

98. Humorous and ad-less MAD magazines.

[Haole Girl]

107. Lemon Love perfume

I loved that stuff as a teenager!

[carlyhippy]

111. those spice flavored certs, they were red and dark, also

cinnamon Dynamints....spice certs and a can of Dr. Pepper was my signature snack at the roller skating rink on Friday nights in Jr. Hi in the late 70's

[rcrush]

116. Godfathers Pizza

I hear they are still around but i havent seen one since I was 5.

[datasuspect]

119. dioxin, PCBs, and lead paint

[carlyhippy]

120. water wiggle by whammo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1ZeS6vF1-M

that toy was like a power sprayer with an orange head haha. It could hurt someone if a kid turned it upside down and spray another kid in the face

[carlyhippy]

122. The Vermont Country Store has alot of this stuff mentioned

http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/Shop

[msanthrope]

124. Especially older perfumes, shampoos, candy, crackers--

I get "Body on Tap" from them.

[murielm99]

137. I love the Vermont Country Store!

I could spend a fortune there.

Usually, I make my Christmas list from it and give it to my husband. Otherwise, he gets me expensive crap that I don't want.

[XemaSab]

123. Garbage Pail Kids (my mom threw mine out) and New York Seltzer

Now everyone knows how old I am. :D

[lightningandsnow]

125. Gum with only real sugar in it.

Even the sweetened ones have artificial sweeteners as well these days.

My digestive system hates artificial sweeteners hardcore. So no gum for me anymore. :(

[donheld]

127. Eating anything I wanted to and not gaining weight.

[bluestateguy]

128. Topps Baseball cards WITH bubble gum

The gum was terrible, but it made the cards smell good and it kept the pack straight.

I remember when a pack of cards cost 50 cents. Baseball cards are not the same anymore.

[ZoltarSpeaks]

130. This thread is reverting me back to childhood...

Okay, you folks are jogging my memory. Here goes:

Martian invader bubble gum cards. These were the martians with the exposed brains in clear glass helmets. Those things actually creeped me out when I was a kid. They weren't tongue-in-cheek like Tim Burton's martians in "Mars Attacks".

Long licorice/cherry whips and button candy on long paper strips from the theater concession. It was *very* important as kids to get as much edible volume and/or linear footage out of our pennies, regardless of what it tasted like.

"PIC----- It doooooooon't work". The green coily thing that you burned to keep mosquitos away during drive-in movies.

The ads and announcements (usually made by Filmack Studios) shown before drive-in films and at intermissions. "Let's all go to the Lobby..."

Any plastic model kits by Big Daddy Roth from the '60s (Like Rat Fink and Road Hawg). Also the classic monster models like Frankenstein and Wolfman (reissued, but it's not the same).

Pump-up water rockets. Multistage water rockets. Good wet fun.

Guillows balsa airplane models.

The original Silly Putty (just to compensate for lost youth, I bought 5 lbs of the original color Silly Putty a few years back).

Christmas toy catalogs that actually sold lead metalcasting kits (for making toy soldiers), foam hot-wire cutters, and chemistry sets with little bottles of sodium ferrocyanide (anything with "cyanide" in the name is impressive, even by today's standards). Kids could actually learn some serious skills if they survived.

Penny fortune-telling scales outside of drugstores and variety stores.

Cox .049 powered flying saucer that was about 20" in diameter. If you could ever get it running it would spin and free-fly to amazing heights.

Old candy vending machines like the Stoner (common in theaters) and U-Select-It (the tall vertical one).

Wig-wag train crossing signals. I would sit and wait for trains just to see them start swinging.

The full page ads in the back of comic books showing prizes that you could earn by selling only a few boxes of all-occasion cards. I hustled an entire town of 8500 people just to sell 6 boxes and earn an electronic megaphone, which I immediately disassembled for parts.

Crystal radio kits that used an actual galena crystal and a catwhisker probe carefully positioned to detect the signal. All of this just to pickup the one radio station in our town.

Ideal's Robot Commando. A motorized robot with spinning eyes and arms that would fire plastic balls. I wanted one badly, but as with Mr. Machine, they were beyond our means at the time. I would have just taken it apart anyway.

The exploding plastic automobiles that consisted of a spring loaded bunch of parts. You pushed them into a wall and the bumper would trigger the thing to explode.

Girder-and-Panel building and road construction sets. Seriously good toys.

As someone else mentioned, the all-wood Tinkertoy sets. These were such a good toy that I generally got replenisher sets on Christmas or birthdays because I simply wore the wood ends away.

Sea Monkeys. These are probably still available but the whole scam of the time period was the expectation of seeing the little monkeys depicted on the artwork of the blister-pak. I never got any results, since I wasn't looking for brine shrimp that probably ended up getting dumped down the toilet.


I will mercifully stop reminiscing here.

[NJmaverick]

131. Sparklers

hardly ever see them anymore

http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:2okFuizGDM3-OM:

[Pool Hall Ace]

132. The board game 'Pie Face'

So much fun on the playground, and better with whipped topping than shaving cream.

Maybe I could get Bill Kristol, Ann Coulter, and Bill Gates to play with me!

[zanne]

135. music tapes

They cost nothing to copy. Most of mine were copies that sounded just as good as the originals. I miss not being able to buy new tapes and copy them anymore.

[bluestateguy]

136. 2XL

http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/2XL/index.html

I loved my 2XL robot.

[raccoon]

138. Cartridge fountain pens and peacock blue ink.

I've got some of the pens left from those days, but you can't buy them now.

Can't buy the peacock blue ink, either.

[raccoon]

139. Date bar. Was it Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker? Whichever, they quit making it. nt

[schmuls]

141. I wish I could say Fizzies, but I bought some from Vermont

Country Store, and they are horrible! The little girl upstairs likes them though!

[hamsterjill]

142. Lemon Up Shampoo

It was awesome.