I happened across this video last night from Youtube user RAVN52AOL, and just had to share it. It’s six minutes long, and it’ll really take you back when your old favorite toy comes up in the montage. I think it’s the Duran Duran song that really ties the whole thing together. [UPDATE: I have just been indignantly informed by another 80’s kid that the song is by Simple Minds — not Duran Duran!! Apologies!!]
Tonka Trucks — I haven’t heard those mentioned in a long time (although, admittedly, they were around for a looooong time before the 1980’s). My best friend next door had a fleet of the big metal things; they were always scattered around the bulky square sandbox that his Dad built for him in his backyard. That kid loved his Tonka trucks.
This meme says the “THE 70’S,” but I encountered a little boy playing with something kind of like a balsa wood glider yesterday! I told him how much I loved these when I was his age.
His was a bit fancier — it might have been made of thin plastic. The gliders that I received from visiting aunts and grandparents were like the mostly unadorned balsa wood jobby that you see below. It came in a long plastic sleeve like the one pictured, and you had to assemble it yourself. (It wasn’t quite as high tech as the X-Box.)
Loop-de-loops were damn fun. It was slightly less fun seeing it snap off a wing or fin after a nosedive. Note to any well meaning aunts or uncles who might spy a balsa wood glider, if they’re still around: buy a couple of them for that kid in your life — these things break easily.
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 