FARK.com: (6801352) Memory Lane: Remember everything you ever wanted for Christmas as a kid? Take a look at this catalog from 1976 for a glimpse of how we used to live

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		Memory Lane: Remember everything you ever wanted for Christmas as a kid? Take a look at this catalog from 1976 for a glimpse of how we used to live (dailymail.co.uk)		536
		More: Cool, Argos, Six Million Dollar Man, astronomical catalog, Argos catalogue

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TheAlgebraist		2011-12-09 10:35:14 AM

Rusty Shackleford: Fails due to lack of:

[www.vintagetoysgames.co.uk image 300x208]

/always used the "shoot to kill" card when playing the Germans

Do you know WHY you always played shoot-to-kill? Because there is NO OTHER WAY for the Germans to win that game other than to kill all but one of every nationality of POW. Honestly. In the rules, it suggests that you set a time limit, and if one of the POW player hasn't won by then, then you say the Germans won.

Escape from Colditz was designed by a former POW who was held there.

dkimball		2011-12-09 10:36:43 AM

rocinante721: [www.plaidstallions.com image 450x298]

I still want this

I had one. of course, once I started using it , all the pieces broke off

Because People in power are Stupid		2011-12-09 10:38:36 AM

Ricochet racer is all I wanted in 1976. Toy cars that shot from a gun...

Confabulat		2011-12-09 10:38:39 AM

This:

kept me busy for more hours than Fallout 3

dkimball		2011-12-09 10:38:45 AM

friedlinx: [1.bp.blogspot.com image 287x400]

/mammary lane?

I had one of these..I have a picture of me holding it up. I think I was about 14. I really only looked at one part of the poster.

trappedspirit		2011-12-09 10:38:53 AM

This looks like it's from the sixties. I guess that's because it's 70's in the UK.

Incog_Neeto		2011-12-09 10:39:32 AM

Hugh Jassole: My uncle bought me a Verti-Bird for Christmas one year. I thought he was the coolest guy ever..... rght up until he took me into the basement and tried to make me blow him.

Then he was only the 2nd coolest guy ever?

rwfan		2011-12-09 10:39:54 AM

Elroyone: I still have my six million dollar man and the rocket ship he fits in.

I also loved the Evel Knievel stunt bike, you just had to keep it away from your hair while the wheel was still spinning.

/yes, old

I can still remember a friend trying to extract his hair from that thing. 1974 was the best year for Evel Knievel memories though (Snake River jump in September). All summer long we pretended we were EK trying to jump things on our bikes. I almost lost a testicle that summer.

ocendot		2011-12-09 10:40:23 AM

Then this came out, and I forgot about all those other toys...
www.thocp.net

Odd Bird		2011-12-09 10:41:10 AM

Pud: I actually got one of these one year. I was the coolest kid on the block ...at least until the batteries died.

[upload.wikimedia.org image 640x149]

I got one of these, was still an outcast.

/not completely, someone blackmailed me to let them use it

Scurvy Dog		2011-12-09 10:41:25 AM

friedlinx: [snarkerati.com image 400x372]

Stretch Armstrong was one of my Christmas gifts in 1976. The following spring, my cousin and I stretched him from one corner of the room to the other - then my cousin let go of his end, and I got snapped in the face. Eventually, Stretch was punctured (or possibly torn), and his "Happy Fun Ball" innards oozed out.

brigid_fitch		2011-12-09 10:41:37 AM

Pud: I actually got one of these one year. I was the coolest kid on the block ...at least until the batteries died.

[upload.wikimedia.org image 640x149]

My brother got that, too. He also got the Eagle 1 from Space 1999 but the VertiBird was cooler.

I wanted an Atari. Got a ventriloquist doll, instead.

/WTF?
//Still bitter

zappaisfrank		2011-12-09 10:41:46 AM

Still have my Six Million Dollar Man toys but the only Evel Knievel toy I have left is the figure. I had the stunt cycle and the scramble van but never the dragster! I had the gum card set, too!

oh_please		2011-12-09 10:41:58 AM

DarthBrooks: VertiBird was great - - except for the torque problem in the power take-off joint right at the base. The spring would shear off after a few weeks of use and it was impossible to repair.

Really? Mine lasted more than a year and I beat the shiat out of it.

In my family, all the relatives would gather on Christmas Eve and exchange presents...then the kids would get stuff from Santa on Christmas morning. I got the Verti-Bird on Christmas Eve from my Aunt Lucy, and the adults immediately took it over, you know, to make sure it was safe and all.

EdVenture		2011-12-09 10:42:25 AM

I still have my Ricochet Racers gun. (1st toy page #4) It's a little worse for wear but it still works. I was 8 in '76 and I duct taped the safeties so I could fire in in mid air.

texdent		2011-12-09 10:42:27 AM

So everyone born in 79 and afterwards should get off your lawns?

fireclown		2011-12-09 10:42:27 AM

ocendot: Then this came out, and I forgot about all those other toys...

I played a lot of hours on one of those.

wren337		2011-12-09 10:42:40 AM

rocinante721: [www.plaidstallions.com image 450x298]

I still want this

My brother and I had those, we used to shoot them at each other. I also had the exact haricut of the kid in the pic.

amindtat		2011-12-09 10:42:50 AM

I still have that Matchbox coal truck (8). It's identical except for the fact that mine is red.

m1ke		2011-12-09 10:43:06 AM

People in olden times were weird.

h2oincfs		2011-12-09 10:43:09 AM

Zombie DJ: For months I asked for a 6 Million Dollar man doll. My dad finally bought me one for Xmas but when I opened it, his leg was missing.
We took it back to replace it but the store was out.
My dad just took his refund money and I never got a replacement.

/Sad story Bro.

so, the 4.2 million dollar man?

fireclown		2011-12-09 10:43:19 AM

texdent: So everyone born in 79 and afterwards should get off your lawns?

For the duration of this thread, yes.

ViceOfReason		2011-12-09 10:43:28 AM

Had the verti-bird, spring broke within a day, got a refund and never got a new one.

Had the Evel Kneivel stunt-cycle, used that for years.

Had the spin-welder too, you could burn fingers if you touched those plastic "welds" right away.

Rusty Shackleford		2011-12-09 10:43:37 AM

TheAlgebraist: Rusty Shackleford: Fails due to lack of:

[www.vintagetoysgames.co.uk image 300x208]

/always used the "shoot to kill" card when playing the Germans

Do you know WHY you always played shoot-to-kill? Because there is NO OTHER WAY for the Germans to win that game other than to kill all but one of every nationality of POW. Honestly. In the rules, it suggests that you set a time limit, and if one of the POW player hasn't won by then, then you say the Germans won.

Escape from Colditz was designed by a former POW who was held there.

Well that, and I'm a bit of a bastard.

And I actually met several ex-Colditz men, including David Stirling, the founder of the SAS, and Julius Green, a Glaswegian Jew who was a dentist in the British Army who wrote a book called "From Colditz in Code." He was quite a character to talk to; a natural comedian, yet you knew that he was a very intelligent man who had known all along the risks he was taking (he had been gathering intelligence while in various POW camps doing dentistry on inmates and sending it out in a pre-arranged code system).

tdyak		2011-12-09 10:44:04 AM

Link to full catalogue.

WARNING: ALL ON ONE PAGE, takes a while to load.

meanmutton		2011-12-09 10:44:22 AM

Anyone else notice how insanely expensive some of these toys were? The Six Million Dollar Man was £5.95. In 1976. In today's US dollars, that's about $60. That Sharp transistor radio that went for £10.95? Over $100 today. The Tonka Dump truck was £7.95, which is around $80 today.

Remember, in the UK in 1976 the average house went for £12,700.

The average annual salary was £4,400.

That Six Million Dollar Man was worth around 3 hours of the typical 1976 parent's wages. Pre-tax.

Tom_Slick		2011-12-09 10:44:37 AM

I liked the desk set with built in Ashtray and Cigarette Box.

Random Discord		2011-12-09 10:44:37 AM

Hah, I had that Six Million dollar Man ~~doll~~, Action Figure

No TCR Racing?

hamdingers		2011-12-09 10:44:53 AM

I got this:

www.micro-outpost.com

...and that was a bad-ass Christmas!

Had the white one too. You could scramble 'em together. Good times...

pwhp_67		2011-12-09 10:44:55 AM

m1ke: People in olden times were weird.

You haven't lived until you've tried to amuse yourself for an afternoon with Lincoln Logs and a GI Joe...

brigid_fitch		2011-12-09 10:45:05 AM

Jerkwater: [www.begum9.com image 640x640]

Thousands upon thousands of hours playing this. I still play it.

My father got the basketball one the year it came out. I can still remember the "ta-da" tone when you made a basket.

img.auctiva.com

UtileDysfunktion		2011-12-09 10:45:05 AM

miss diminutive: [i.dailymail.co.uk image 640x827]

What the hell are those things at top left? Some kind of archaic, screenless computer?

They're instant labelers that print on plain paper. One guy at work used to keep an ancient Royal on his desk for things like file folder index tabs and mag tape labels.

Cpl.D		2011-12-09 10:45:11 AM

Go back another twenty years and you regress to the Colorful Rag on a Stick.

EdVenture		2011-12-09 10:45:28 AM

stummo		2011-12-09 10:46:12 AM

Did anyone else look at the home gym picure and think "gangbang!" That scene is straight out of a 70s porno.

ocendot		2011-12-09 10:46:13 AM

fireclown: ocendot: Then this came out, and I forgot about all those other toys...

I played a lot of hours on one of those.

Yeah, I played it so much that it probably kept me from going blind and growing hair on the palms of my hands, at least at that age.

Because People in power are Stupid		2011-12-09 10:46:53 AM

zappaisfrank: [i5.photobucket.com image 604x453]

Still have my Six Million Dollar Man toys but the only Evel Knievel toy I have left is the figure. I had the stunt cycle and the scramble van but never the dragster! I had the gum card set, too!

Nice Collection with one glaring omission

img.photobucket.com

Petey4335		2011-12-09 10:47:18 AM

h2oincfs: ah, the lego 912 set. that was my first. :)

many happy years followed, for me. not so much for my mother, who to this day says she can still hear me digging through the pile of bricks.

*SSHHHHHKKKK* *SSHHHHHKKKK*

Lego 182 (train set) was apparently what one of my cousins got in the 70's, which I ended up annexing into my pile in the 80's and now my kids play with.

oh_please		2011-12-09 10:47:43 AM

ocendot: Then this came out, and I forgot about all those other toys...
[www.thocp.net image 437x650]

Oh, hell yeah! Did anyone else play it upside down after it got too easy to beat?

jmadisonbiii		2011-12-09 10:47:58 AM

Sears Wishbook was the shiat.

airplanesandrockets.com

May Cause Drowsiness		2011-12-09 10:48:07 AM

DjangoStonereaver:

No wifi...

ObscureNameHere		2011-12-09 10:48:56 AM

I
RE
MEM
BER
WHEN
A
FRIEND
GOT
THE
SPEAK
AND
SPELL
CAME
OUT
WE
HAD
FUN
MAK
ING
IT
SAY
BAD
THINGS

Fista-Phobia		2011-12-09 10:50:24 AM

Random Discord: Hah, I had that Six Million dollar Man doll, Action Figure

No TCR Racing?

Ah nice. It would sling cars off the track a top speed. MY FACE!

someonelse		2011-12-09 10:50:36 AM

Perlin Noise		2011-12-09 10:50:42 AM

Pud: I actually got one of these one year. I was the coolest kid on the block ...at least until the batteries died.

[upload.wikimedia.org image 640x149]

Came here discuss this ...dangerous as hell ...loved it ...

Also,
Jerkwater: [www.begum9.com image 640x640]

Thousands upon thousands of hours playing this. I still play it.

Got one at my desk here at work ...everyone plays it when they need to talk to me.. LOVE IT

gunga galunga		2011-12-09 10:51:18 AM

I got what I wanted. But if I could go back in time, I would tell my parents to buy two of every Kenner Star Wars toy. One to put under the Christmas tree, the other to leave in its original packaging and keep in a climate controled storage center. The extra expenses will be more than worth it thirty years later.

Misconduc		2011-12-09 10:51:29 AM

jmadisonbiii: Sears Wishbook was the shiat.

[airplanesandrockets.com image 430x600]

[www.comixconnection.com image 640x862]

Holy hell if I was given one of those bikes for christmas I would of probably went off the handle and shot up a college campus., seriously a hidious looking bike.