More toys from our youth that would be illegal today

[darrels joy]

More toys from our youth that would be illegal today



After writing about the Johnny Seven One Man Army rifle (a toy from the sixties that Chuck Schumer would personally ban), I resurrected this old list. If you can think of more toys that would be completely illegal today, please let me know in the comments.

Jarts! a.k.a. "Lawn Darts." I'm not sure how many thousands of punctured limbs these things were responsible for, but the class-action lawyers must have cleaned up.

Tonka Dump Trucks: fabricated entirely from Ginsu knives by Tonka. They could slice fingers off if slightly mishandled.

Stretch Armstrong: the kind filled with jelly. If these were sold today, a hypo-allergenic, ADD nutcase would swallow the jelly, get sick, and his parents would sue the Chinese manufacturer. The entire episode would be the basis for a 20/20 special hosted by John Stossel; Nancy Grace and Greta would also devote a week of shows to the injustice.

Bow and arrows: remove the suction-cups from the ends of the arrows and -- whhoooooeeee -- you really could put an eye out; and I'm sure some kids did.

Bangsite!: evil-smelling, granular crap that came in an industrial-strength toothpaste tube -- it may have been calcium carbide. Mixing Bangsite with water made an explosive gas. Some kids had Bangsite cannons, heavy cast iron things that were relatively safe to use. Normal kids took a metal baking soda can and punched a nail hole through the bottom. This turned the can into a three-man, crew-served weapon. One kid tipped some Bangsite into the can, spat on it, jammed the lid on, and placed the can on the edge of the curb. Second kid put his foot on the can to brace it. Third kid applied the match to the nail hole. KAF---INGBOOM!!! -- with a burst of flame, the lid goes flying clear across the street. I still cannot believe that my parents knew I was doing this, and let me.

Airplane, ship and tank models: yep, we spent hours in our rooms with model glue... and our parents didn't care a bit. These days, an ambulance would be called and our rooms fumigated for a month.

Flexy Racers: a sled on wheels that was missing only one thing: brakes. These mysteriously disappeared from the market after -- I'm guessing here -- some kid rolled onto the Interstate and got pancaked by an 18-wheeler.

Wrist Rockets: basically a weapons-grade slingshot that fit around your wrist and used massive rubber tubes as the bands. The ammo was indistinguishable from a heavy ball bearing. Slightly less powerful than a .357 Magnum, and slightly more powerful than a .38.

Snow sleds with steel runners: on a decent hill, you could hit 70 MPH and some kids did, may they rest in peace.

Water-air rockets: I don't remember the brand, but this was a rocket that you filled with water and then pumped full of air. Let's just say that after a couple of hundred concussions and numerous missing teeth, it was removed from the market.

I'm sure I've missed dozens. Let me know in the comments if you can think of other noteworthy dangers from our youth.

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/200...-would-be.html

[revwardoc]

Wow! The only ones from this group I didn't have was Stretch Armstrong, the flexy racer, and bangsite...though I wish bansite were available around here, probably banned in MA.

A former co-worker did lose his eye to a bow-and-arrow set, just like it says. His brother shot an arrow that stuck to a wall, pulled off leaving the rubber tip, didn't notice it, and shot his brother right in the eye. At work the DB would take out his glass eye and put it on a girl's shoulder saying, "I've got my eye on you!" or, if you were'nt careful at a bar, would drop it in your beer glass and wait for your reaction as you drained it and say an eyeball staring back at you.

[Keith_Hixson]

You can still get wrist rockets.
Sleds are still around.
Model Airplanes and Various Models still can be found.
Skate Boards, are about as dangerous as any of these things. Hundreds get seriously hurt or killed on them every year. Surprised they haven't been banned.

Keith

[MORTARDUDE]

that model airplane glue in the 50s was strong stuff. I still have a big box of car models and some planes I put together, plus the Famous Monsters series from the 60s.

Larry

[revwardoc]

I remember back in the early 60's when there was a nationwide "alert" over model glue and how kids were sniffing it to get high. I was a prolific model airplane builder and my mother got all kinds of worried about how her little boy was becoming a "glue addict". Much to her surprise and joy I always kept the windows open when making a model because I didn't like what the fumes did to my head.

Once I went into the AF she tossed all my model airplanes, cars, and tanks, plus models I made of The Beatles. I wonder how much those would bring on eBay.