Top Vintage Toy Favorites - 1950s 1960s 1970s

I have had many requests for these toys, I do not email when they are in stock.

Goes Forward or backward, turns left & right. Arms open & close, he can bend over to pick up items & carry. Originally came with "Garloo" medallion, wrist chains, cardboard tray, shoulder pads, palms pads & leopard print loin cloth.

I remember one of the original commercials showed Garloo carrying a glass of water to the kid. I thought that was just the greatest thing! Boy, did I want him. My mom wouldn't buy him though, because she thought he was too ugly!

Klackers, Click Clacks, Klappers, Klik Klaks, etc. Known by many names. But basically all the same. Two acrylic balls, usually about 1.5" in diameter connected with a string. Made in late 60s to mid 1970s. The idea was to hold the string, ring or paddle, and get the balls klacking each other - to eventually get the balls to travel in an upward arc to hit each other at a 12:00 position. Pretty hard to do! Taken off the market due to accidents with kids hitting each other with the hard balls.. or the acrylic chipping and flying off into kids eyes. A newer version came out that was basically hard plastic balls that won't chip and they were about 1/2 the size of the originals.

* I have had requests for Glass Klackers. They were NEVER made out of glass. Acrylic looks kinda like glass and breaks apart like glass after heavy use. That's why they discontinued them!

Zippy the Monkey or Chimp. 16" tall. Originally had red & white hat. Shirt with "ZIP" printed on front. Red Corduroy pants with suspenders. Black plush body with rubber face, hands and shoes. "Rushton Co" printed on bottom of shoe. No Banana. His arm squeeked too. Zippy was re-introduced to the market in the 1970s again, by the Rushton Co. He looks the same as the original 1950s version.

Zip the Monkey stuffed animal was derived from the famous real tv chimp of the 1950s. He made many appearances including the Howdy Doody Show.

Zippy's girlfriend was Tippy - she looks just like him except her fur is white and she wore a dress.

Another popular 1950s - 1960s monkey was Mr. Bim. He came in 2 sizes. He holds a banana.

Johnny Reb Cannon by Remco. 1961. Big 30" Civil War type plastic cannon. Fires plastic cannonballs 35 feet when lanyard is pulled. Originally included 6 cannon balls, Rebel flag & ramrod. Was introduced during the year of the Civil War Centennial.

Inchworm or Inch Worm Ride On Toy by Hasbro. 1970s. Approx 3 feet long. Child basically bounces up and down on it to make inchworm "inch" forward. Makes a clicking noise when wheels turn. Wheels will not go backwards - it was a safety feature.

Magnetic Doll House by Child Guidance. 1964. Large masonite board with paper litho. House had plastic walls you assembled. There was a clear plastic roof. 4 Plastic corner legs. Originally came with 5 people with magnets under them. There was also a non-magnetic sitting woman and a plastic car with a magnet on front axle. Two plastic wands were included with magnets on them which would allow you to move the people and car about the house. Set included stickers you would put on the walls to depict 1960s decor. Over 45 pieces of plastic furniture in various colors came with the house. There were two different versions that I know of - One with the clear plastic roof and the other without.

There was also another set called the Mary Mag Powrs Magic Dollhouse Doll House, which was basically the same but also included a dog and cat with the family. Most people think it is spelled Mary Mag Powers.

Another popular Magnetic Playset was Thimble City by Remco "Cars & People Move Like Magic"

Early 70s cars with "ripcord" pulls that make the wheels go super fast. The smash up derby set had ripcord racers that also smashed apart upon impact & then were able to be put back together each time.

Larry the Lion - Chester O'Chimp - Bernie St. Bernard - Crackers the Parrot - Mattel Yackers Pull String Talkers. 1962 - 1965

Plush animals say several cute phrases when strings are pulled. Crackers had his own perch! Their mouths would move when they talked. Mattel made many more dolls and stuffed animals that were pull string talkers, such as, Mrs. Beasley and Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Tree house is tin and plastic 3 story round house. Elevator, swing, built in beds, cabinet, table, 2 chairs and 2 cheese slices. 2 twin mice. Mr. & Mrs. Mouse House was a two story house, with beds tables, chairs and the Mother & Father mice with night gowns. Sorry, I don't have a decent photo of the M&M Mouse House.

One of the many cool toy inventions by Marvin Glass. 22" tall. Battery Operated. 3 D cells in his shoe. Mechanism in hand allows him to skate forward when you press switch. Also, if you attach his special hat in the same hand and throw a coin in it - the electrical circuit is completed and he will skate forward. He originally came with 2 metal coins - which were plain metal "slugs" about the size of a half dollar coin. He will also work with quarters or dimes. His head turns side to side when skating forward. One problem with Clancy, When you find one that "works" it doesn't necessarily mean he will walk/skate forward. He has a special part in his leg that makes him actually skate forward, but over time, this thin rubber part would disintegrate and crumble - and he won't go forward (he will just skate in place). I have a replacement part that works and will never disintegrate. So all Clancy's purchased here will actually WORK!

"Easily changed disguises create thousands of pretend friends, disguises fit on Hugo as well as youngsters" - Kenner ad. 12" upper body figure. Vinyl - he comes with a blue denim shirt and the following accessories: 2 Glue Sticks, 2 Sideburns, 2 Eyebrows, 2 Noses, 2 Chins, 4 Scars, 4 Warts, Eyeglasses, Eyes, Eye Patch, Fangs, Goatee, Head Bandage, Mask, Mustache (2 pcs), Sunglasses, Wig.

Helicopter is attached to 21" rod which goes in central spinning hub, & takes 4 "D" cells. You would use the controller to fly the copter around in a circle and have it swoop down to retrieve items or figures with the hook beneath the helicopter. Mattel made several versions, mostly with a rescue theme.

The best selling boys toy of 1964! Seven guns in one, which included: Grenade Launcher, Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher, Anti Bunker Missile Launcher, Armor Piercing Shell, Rifle fires 10 Bullets, Slide Bolt Action Machine Gun, Detachable Cap Pistol which fires shells. Detachable Stock & built in Bi-Pod. Over 3 feet long!

One of Ideal's cool "battery operated animal series" toys. Another cool toy invention by Marvin Glass. Gaylord will walk forward when his leash is pulled once, stop when pulled second time and go backwards when pulled again! He also was designed to walk up shallow stairs. He came with a leash and bone. His nose has a magnet in it which would allow him to "pick up" the bone when his nose is by it.

The most popular 1960s 007 toy made and one of my favorites. I still have my original gun from the set I had as a kid. Black plastic briefcase measures 18" x 12". Contains shell-firing pistol with attachments: stock, scope, silencer - which all converts into a rifle. Secret message decoder, code book with booby trap, wallet, passport, currency and business cards. These is a hidden dagger that slides in the one side. Latches are combination type. Case can be booby trapped to explode (fire a cap) if opened incorrectly - and it will shoot a shell when you press secret trigger.

The 007 Attaché Case, Sixfinger, Six Finger, Secret Sam Case & other cool spy toys such as Man from U.N.C.L.E & Agent Zero M would be on the Toys 3 pg.

I've had so many people tell me they were scared of this guy when they were kids! He can be pretty intimidating. He comes with 4 colorful balls. The object is to roll the ball in the center of him. If you hit it right in the center - he rolls toward you, if you miss - he backs up and starts "razzing" you - showing his big red tongue. One of the many cool toy inventions by Marvin Glass.

Odd Ogg would sometimes lose a leg or arm. And usually the balls are missing. The worst is when you lose his battery cover, since its a weird shape and he won't work without one. A handy person, though could fabricate one.

Another cool Monster type toy from Ideal was KING ZOR. He would shoot small yellow balls from his back and you could shoot darts (with gun provided) at his tail to make him change direction.

When in stock, Odd Ogg or King Zor can be found on the Toys1 page, 1960s section.

Large 32" long and 23" tall Battery Operated Ride On Horse. Tony The Pony is one of the best! Turn his head to

change directions - Go forward AND Backwards. Wow. 12Volt Battery is needed and can be purchased at any Radio Shack. These are the large lantern type batteries. A door under him swings open for the battery "shelf". With any of these old Batop Ride Ons, you can also use the rechargeable batteries available at toy stores, you just need to add little clips to the end of Tony's wires. Another great Ride On by Marx was the:

Replica of 1914 Stutz Bearcat. Very Large Measuring 42" long. Works on the same principle as Tony. Forward & Backward control with a steering wheel. Nice design & details. Crank in front, fake gas tank & tool box. Very cool.

These were cars that you wound up and let go - when it crashed against something, you could just put them together and start all over again. They came in the smaller 3" junior version - or the larger 7" version as shown in my photo.

Ok, so maybe not your normal toy - but a great way to get a kid to take a bath! Not sure of the chemical makeup of this stuff, but we are still alive - so I guess there were no adverse effects. Get the soap wet, let it sit a few days, the air makes him grow a fungus like? fur. Then use it again and again until you get down to the middle where there is a surprise inside. I remember Rat Fink charms, not sure if there were different surprises inside.

I remember this circus type box and there were 5 different animals available: Cat, Poodle, Bear, Lion and Monkey. The back of the box had a press out area to use as a stand. There was also a color photo box they came in. Another great bath soap was Crazy Foam - made in the 1960s, 70s and still today.

"The Amazing Mike Controlled Robot." Large 20" tall Battery Operated Robot. You could use the remote control (remember: the 60s remotes were actually attached by a wire - No radio controls yet!), that was shaped like a microphone - either manually or with "voice activation." Robot Commando moves forward and fires missiles from his head and throws balls from his arms. His eyeballs rotate. Another one of the many cool toy inventions by Marvin Glass.

Jimmy Jet - TV Jet - Deluxe Reading 1960 - 24" x 22" x 14". Moving flight simulator screen, silhouette of plane shows on screen and can be controlled by steering wheel. Sold only in grocery stores.

Fighter Jet - Ideal 1959 - Neat cockpit with radar type screen that lights up when you are "on target". Images project out of the back of toy and you can aim and fire darts that are on top of console.

Flying Fox - Remco 1959 - Dual control simulator. You can control throttle, steering, right & left turns, takeoff and landings. Plane has lights & moving propellers. Measures 18" x 18" x 11".

Pan Am Dual Control Jet Cockpit - Remco 1969 - Allows Pilot & co-pilot to both "fly" and they can communicate through the two headsets. Toy also features neat engine sounds.

Haunted House by Ideal 1962. Trap doors, secret passages on the way to the jewel in the attic.

Green Ghost - Transogram 1965. Glow in the dark game with creepy snakes, bones, bat wings.

Mystic Skull - Ideal 1964. Mystic Skull determines which voodoo dolls get the pins.

Which Witch? Milton Bradley 1970. Travel through the witch's house without turning into a mouse.

Firebird 99 - Remco 1958-1962 - Featured motorized wiper blade, beeping horn and directional signal lights. Approx. 13" wide. Came with a key and drivers license. Glove box door broke off the hinge easily. Powered by 2 "D" batteries.

Playmobile Dashboard - Deluxe Reading 1961 - Much larger than the Firebird 99. Very detailed. Battery powered. Working motor, 2 wiper blades, sun visors, directional signals & horn. Gauges and key for ignition. Large windshield has a tendency to warp from age.

Crusader 101 - Deluxe Reading 1960s - "Remote" Control Battery Operated 28" long Car with Driver inside. Car was a very impressive size. It can go forward or backward - turn left & right. Inside the trunk - spare tire & jack.

Johnny Speed Jaguar - Topper Toys 1966 - "Remote" Control Battery Operated on 6volt lantern battery. 22" long - 9" wide. Very cool looking. Forward, backward, left or right control. Accessories could be purchased.

U Drive It - Schaper Toys 1974 - Battery Operated Tabletop Driving Toy. You steer to maneuver car over rolling road with obstacles. Foot pedal accelerator/brake.

"Launch & Fly your own space craft with no wires or connections." Neat Air powered device that maneuvers your spaceship around the room. Hard to get the hang of at first - takes some practice. Battery operated Control Center with a fan attached on the end that you can move with control stick. You can also control the power or thrust of the fan.

Originally came with the Control Center, Launching Station, 3 Space Vehicle Balloons, 2 Under carriages, Astronaut and Capsule and Space Vehicle Template. You could also buy a molded plastic lunar landing base accessory.

Topper Toys also made the portable version that you could carry around - Johnny Astro Explorer.

Very cool record player with a tv screen to view slide movies. Record Player plays 45 or 33 rpm records. Also played slides from Picturesound Program sets which were records and slides telling various children's stories. While the record was playing, the slide would move up to the next scene. Many different Picturesound sets were made: Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, History, Science, Religion, Disney, later Sesame Street, etc.

The record player came in different colors and versions. Later, Child Guidance also manufactured a record player much like the show n tell.

Suzy Homemaker - Topper Toys 1966-1970's - Susie, Suzie. Topper Toys made many different cooking toys under the name Suzy Homemaker. Toys that worked just like Mom's! Most items plugged into the household outlet to operated lights such as the oven, dish washer, grill, or the corn popper which really worked. With the sinks and dishwasher - you could actually pump water through them! Smaller items such as mixers, and hair dryers used batteries to operate them. Also, the kitchen appliances such as the ovens and washers came in 3 sizes.

Easy Bake Oven - Kenner 1964 - Now. - The most popular of them all - ever - and still! Kenner's Easy Bake oven. Original issue was turquoise blue and later included other colors. Set came in large box which included cake mix packages, trays, mixing bowls, utensils and cookbook. It really cooked! Very safe too. The secret was the 100 watt light bulb that got the job done. I can still remember baking our first cake and icing it. Yes it was small but yummy!

Toot Sweet Tastitoy Tootsweet Candy Whistle Maker - Mattel - 1968 - Inspired by the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." This is a very desirable and highly sought toy. Make real candy whistles with Tootsie Rolls. Set includes 8 molds, a mold making machine, instructions and of course Tootsie Rolls. Of course, you can still buy Tootsie Rolls today to use!

Chocolate Factory - Emenee 1960's. Nice large set includes many molds including holiday molds. Make candy with melted chocolate bars using the molds and machine provided.

Pretzel Jetzel Pretzel Factory - Transogram 1965 - Large factory looking toy with conveyor belt. You make the pretzel mix and shape it into the molds on the conveyor belt, turn crank slowly to allow pretzels to cook in the "oven" with light bulb. Set came with mix, paper holders, utensils, mustard container shaped like a man and instructions.

Mr. Mixit Drink Mixer - Ideal Toys 1960s. Press down on mans hat to mix contents of cup. Ovaltine, Chocolate Milk drinks, etc. Put your straw through his mouth to drink. 9" tall.

Marx was famous for it's fabulous, detailed play sets! They made many dating back into the 1950s up to the 1970s. Cowboys, Space, Army, you name it - they made it. Terrific sets with tin litho buildings and miniature figures, weapons and vehicles. It would take pages to describe all the wonderful sets they made, so I will just feature MY favorite.

The 1965 Marx Troll Village. This set originally came with over 75 pieces. Relatively small box measured approx. 8" x 10". Colorful graphics on the box. Pieces inside were: 1 Paper Play mat, 12 - 1" Trolls, 10 animals, 12 trees-bushes and hedges which included coconuts you attached on the palm trees, fishing pole, 2 gray small barrels, 3 kegs, 2 tree stumps, 2 brown fences, 4 blue walls, "wild horses canyon" sign, gray table, wagon, 16 rock formations, house, hut and 2 part cave.

The set was hand painted by artists and made in British Crown Colony of Hong Kong.

Kenner made some great toys but one of their most popular was the Give A Show Projector. It was battery operated and used short strips of cartoon cels with narration written on them, set in cardboard so that they could slide in & out of the front of projector. The light was behind the slides and you could focus the lens in front. Slides were of popular cartoon & tv characters of the time.

Super Give A Show 1962 - Larger version of the Give A Show with accessories - also was electrically operated.

Super show Projector - This was a projector that you used to project images from books and such on the wall.

Easy Show Movie Projector 1967 - Used a movie film in round canister that you could pop in and crank by hand to see moving pictures.

One of the all time favorites from the 1960s & 70s. Marx first introduced this set in 1966. It came in a large display box with a boxing ring scene insert and score cards. Ring measures approx. 15" square. "Red Rocker" & "Blue Bomber" were the two robots names. Later in the 1970s Marx re-introduced the robots. They were the same ring and robots but in a smaller box. You had to put this set together yourself.

Recently this toy has been re-introduced to the toy market.. but the ring and robots are much smaller.

The Magic Window was about 10" diameter plastic frame 3/4" thick. Inside consisted of a type of sand, “MILLIONS OF MICRODIUM CRYSTALS.” The cool thing about this toy was that the two colors of “crystals” would not mix, but stayed separated somehow to create “magic action,” “lacy flower patterns,” and “foaming, swirling effects!”
You could create moving changing pictures with fascinating "Volcaninc Action".

Plastic lemon is connected to a plastic tube and ring that you put around your ankle. "Swing It - Swirl It - Spin It - Twirl It - Hop - Skip" Get A Lemon Twist!

A similar 1960s Toy was Jingle Jump which also connected to your ankle but had a jingle bell inside.

Large battery operated motorized car wash. Originally came with 2 cars, cloths, cans of wax, signs. Chain would pull cars through the wash. The water tank above had a switch hanging below it - the passing car would move it & release the water. Sponges on the rollers would usually disintegrate over time.

Large Tin Litho & Plush Dinosaur measures 22" long and 11" tall. Battery Operated Mechanical Toy takes 3 "D" batteries. Dino goes forward & when he bumps into something he backs up and turns around and keeps going. Dino's neck moves as well as his tail, head and mouth! Fred rocks back and forth while holding reigns as Dino moves, so it looks like Fred is actually controlling him! Toy makes a cool whistling noise too.

Phantom Raider - 1963 - Ideal Looks like a normal cargo ship but flip the switch, it extends from 28.5" to 38" into a battleship. Depth charges & missile firing. Battery Operated.

Mighty Matilda - 1963 - Remco Large 33" Aircraft Carrier Battleship. 2 working elevators, moving radar antenna, Battle Alarm, Plane launcher, Crew. Motorized forward movement. Battery Operated.

Barracuda Submarine - 1962 - Remco Large 36" Long. Missile firing, Rocket Launchers, Crew, Motorized forward movement with alarm. Battery Operated. Clear plastic cover usually warped from age.

Creepy Crawlers was the first Thing Maker set made by Mattel in 1964. Set consisted of die cast metal molds. You filled these molds with different colors of a liquid substance called "Plastigoop." Then, heat the mold on a open electric hot plate - which was included in most sets. When the mold cooled you would have a neat rubbery figure. I can still remember what the cooking plastigoop smelled like - very distinctive!

Other sets included: Creeple Peeple, Fighting Men, Fright Factory, Jillions of Jewels, Incredible Edibles, Fun Flowers, Mini-Dragons, Picadoos.

In 1963 Mattel developed the Vac-U-Form set which molded items by heating thin sheets of plastic and then using a vacuum pump to form and cover over the molded forms. Different items could be made, vehicles, animals, figures, etc. Vacuform.

Another cool Heat Machine toy by Mattel was the 1967 Strange Change Machine.The Lost World. This included a molded plastic mountain to hold your Heat Machine/Compression Chamber Apparatus. The set came with Plastic cubes called Astropod Capsules. When you inserted them in the heat chamber, slowly a creature would emerge. After you finished playing with them, you would heat them again and then compress them back into a flat cube.

When in Stock, Thing makers & Vac-u-forms, etc. can be found on the Building Page.

Very innovative toy for the time! When assembled, measures over 5 feet wide. Has battery operated, motorized mountain lift track to carry your 3 skiing animals (rabbit, bear & monkey), to the top of the mountain. Animals ski down the track (with the help of steel wheels under their skis). Track includes a 360 degree loop, curves and a switchable track to stop them by the ski hut or to ski continuously.

The information on this site may not be reproduced, or mirrored on another website without the written permission of the author.

Index

Toys

Girls

Boys

Building

Games

Cartoons

Vehicles

Pop Music

Cowboy Space

TV/ Movies

'64 NYWF

Misc.