Moved to Cape Cod and all the kids had mini bikes. I had to have one. Dad said if I could raise half the money for a mini bike he'd cover the other half. I was 10 (1970), had no money. Few months later after working 2 paper routes I had the $150. My parents were shocked, they really didn't want me to have a mini bike and I'm sure they figured there was no way I could save up that kind of money. Went and bought a Honda Z-50A mini bike. Ended up paying off the other $150 as well and then moved up to an XR-75 about a year later, again with my paper route money.

A baseball glove, Reggie Jackson model Rawlings

A Bear Polar II compound bow. Detassled corn that summer, saved enough for the bow, a quiver, sights, and a dozen matched arrows.

Fueled a 45 year addiction to archery.

A new rack and pinion for a 1988 Chrysler New yorker. Used a hansens manuel and installed it myself.

For me it was a slot car, 1/24
" Black Widow" had two engines and a picture of a black widow on the box.
Never happened though, instead I got a pocket knife and firecrackers.

GI Joe action figure
Hulk action figure
Fred Bear mini magnum bow
Sony Walkman

quote:

Originally posted by 83v45magna:

1956. Was it this one: TR-63


Or this one?
Regency TR-1
[/QUOTE]

The top one for sure. Where did you find those pics? That's great.

Box tops and $1 for an AR-7 Survival Rifle, just like issued to the USAF pilots!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=801p2AS3Mh8

A large version of the Swiss Army knife.

I worked baseball card shows with my dad on weekends. I would see this large an awesome Swiss Army knife at a travel/luggage store in Hollywood mall and drool...

I finally worked enough shows to save up the cash. $50 at the time (1987) was quite a bit of money, especially for an 9 year old.

A few days later while playing at a friends house, I managed to slice my thumb pretty good with it!

Still have the scar.

First car, starting with a paper route at age 10 in Florida.

Found out when I was 17 and asked what account my folks had transferred the $1,200 or so to when we moved to AL that they had apparently dumped it in with so much other on their failing auto parts store venture. How about that for a kick in the nuts?

My mom did make me whole on that, and I understood, but that was unexpected! Luckily I had saved up more since then, but wowza.

My best recollection other than $.25-$1.00 toys is a used mini bike for $15.00. It was a used Sears mini bike around 1963-65 and for a young kid in the country it sure shortened up the distance to friends houses.

Crossman 760 pellet rifle with 4x scope.

This BAMF Transformer when I was 9ish:

quote:

Originally posted by 45 Cal:
It was 1955 and I saved my tips from the grocery store I worked .
Then I rode my bike to Savannah Ga to a pawn shop and bought a brand new Remington model 550
auto loader 22 rifle.
Then back home to Pooler Ga with it proudly across the handle bars.
That was not a good site for my mother.

My mom's dad bought my dad a 550 in the 1950s. I shot it a lot and it was no problem for a 12 year old to keep it in his room. I was finalizing a deal on one at gun show when my cell phone rings, my dad says he still has it and he'd give it to me next time he saw me. It shoots little bitty groups.

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:
10 or 11 years old, around 1964, I saved $50 to buy a Hitachi KH-1005 like this one from the iconic Burstein-Applebee Electronics in KCMO. Besides the telescoping FM antenna, it had a plug in wire AM antenna. I could pull in stations as far a way as Del Rio, TX at night. Took 4 C batteries and had the handy light button for nighttime tuning.

Possibly more iconic electronics store in Kansas City at the time was McGee Radio. Their catalogs were amazing and so were the prices.

A cowboy revolver from the Western Auto catalogue! It came in the mail, but Granma got the mail. And the gun. And a switch.

Slight thread drift, if I may.

My Mother bought and gave me my very first gun that was mine, all mine, no borrowing brother's anymore.

Mom owned a small business and it turned out she decided to buy me the gun for my 16th birthday. She told me she funded it by saving all the 50 cent pieces that she received through her cash register.

It was a Marlin Glenfield Model 60 22cal rifle with a scope. I think it was about $70 or so. She purchased it from Otasco, (Oklahoma Tire and Supply), if you are regional to Oklahoma and the surrounding area back in the day it was a great store chain, but now long gone.

That was really my first observation about saving up to buy something.

I still have it, thanks Mom. I will never forget.

There was an OTASCO store just 2 stores down from our family store. I loved that place, and the people that ran it.

Metroid on NES.

Metal or plastic body model cars, boats, whatever I could get my hands on to build...