frase
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Retro Thread
- Thread starter frase
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GTP
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Yeah, I had a scalextric set. Also had the Dual Track HotWheels set.
Unfortunately things like this never lasted long in my house when I was kid. Mum would either destroy it "because you bloody boys cant stop fighting over it" or it would get destroyed out of spite etc...
I'm still amazed to this day that I've still got some metal toys I got for Christmas in 1966. How they managed to survive I don't know.
Speedo still works though stays in the red.
Red light on the bonnet swings side-to-side and flashes when toy is pushed (and batteries inserted)
Police signs are missing from the roof light (which still works when a couple of "C" batteries are inserted in the bottom of the toy.)
I think my older Brother stole them after his went missing!
My older Brother broke his propeller and asked me to give him mine.When I refused he broke mine in spite!
Unfortunately things like this never lasted long in my house when I was kid. Mum would either destroy it "because you bloody boys cant stop fighting over it" or it would get destroyed out of spite etc...
I'm still amazed to this day that I've still got some metal toys I got for Christmas in 1966. How they managed to survive I don't know.
Speedo still works though stays in the red.
Red light on the bonnet swings side-to-side and flashes when toy is pushed (and batteries inserted)
Police signs are missing from the roof light (which still works when a couple of "C" batteries are inserted in the bottom of the toy.)
I think my older Brother stole them after his went missing!
My older Brother broke his propeller and asked me to give him mine.When I refused he broke mine in spite!
Toys never lasted long in our house when I was a kid either, but for different reasons; I was obsessively curious and took everything apart, including my sister's toys (I have just one older sister; no brothers). When I got a little older I learned how to put them back together again, but for years I had drawers full of broken toys that I'd hidden away from my parents.
Scalextric was one of the toys that fell victim to my curiosities. It probably lasted about a month before I got bored and frustrated with driving little plastic cars around a loop that would fly off the track at almost every bend. For me, the real fun began when the screwdrivers came out. My Scalextric set donated its little motors, which I kept and used for many years in a number of projects/experiments, long after the rest of the Scalextric set had gone. Most of my Hornby train set met the same fate.
I had something similar; a police car that talked!
And yes, you guessed it, I took it apart. The way it worked was really cool though. Remember that this was the 70s, long before the advent of any sort of cheap digital recording/playback technology. Instead there was a sort of tiny plastic record player that spun and played a little plastic record/disc. Discovering that was so much more fun than playing with the car.
It was just like this (before it fell victim to a curious 6 year old with a screwdriver):
MichaelBits
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Anyone remember this?
Or this?
Egads!!! It's still available in the UK!!!
https://www.amazon.com/BBT-BIGTRAK-Bigtrak-Zeon-Limited/dp/B0035IZ85G
Evil Knieval, check, had that one.
Six Million Dollar Man with accessories, check, had that one too!
On a side note...
6 Million Dollar Man is the only show I wish they would actually remake. Except it would be 6 Billion Dollar Man.
Or this?
Egads!!! It's still available in the UK!!!
https://www.amazon.com/BBT-BIGTRAK-Bigtrak-Zeon-Limited/dp/B0035IZ85G
Evil Knieval, check, had that one.
Six Million Dollar Man with accessories, check, had that one too!
On a side note...
6 Million Dollar Man is the only show I wish they would actually remake. Except it would be 6 Billion Dollar Man.
YeOldeStonecat
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Yep. I loved my Bigtrak! (I eventually took it apart of course).
I actually own one of the later Zeon Bigtraks. Bought it a few years ago.
MichaelBits
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- Iowa USA
I actually still have my Armatron! Not working though...
I remember those helicopter toys. I didn't have one but a friend did. Don't think it lasted long hehe.
GTP
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I could never understand how he could lift cars with his arm but his legs never gave out...lol
MichaelBits
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His legs were also bionic. I'd wonder about his back hehe.
Looks like it will be nostalgia night.
https://www.nbc.com/the-six-million-dollar-man
Watching it tonight!
GTP
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Yeah, forgot that his legs were bionic, lol Only watched the show to see Farrah Fawcett
Galdorf
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- Ontario, Canada
Thats not retro this is...
This is the first computer i used lol you don't see punch card computers except in a museum.
OK, here is my story.
My Dad taught me to fix everything when I was a kid. Plumbing, carpentry, electronics and electrical, auto mechanics...I loved fixing and building. The earliest project that I remember was an airplane dashboard made out of wood and it was festooned with switches, buzzers and lights. My Dad designed it and we built it together.
Fast forward to 1977 when I got hired as a tech by DEC. We chip-chased back then with a scope. Addresses and vectors were set by soldering or removing jumpers. Then came the DIP switch which morphed into plug and play. Back then hardware was where it was at but the move to software started. Since I liked using my hands I stayed the hardware route when all signs pointed to a future, and money, in software.
I had it great until the early 90's. Phat pay check (salary with OT), company car, field service job working out of my house, no dress code. Well, there was a code (tie and jacket) but I wore jeans and a T shirt. I got written up a lot for that. Back then, they wanted us blue collar techs to blend in with the white collars we interfaced with. That is exactly why early tool bags looked like an attache case.
Those really were the good, old days! 10-15% raises at least twice a year. Full medical, dental and vision care for the family. Lots of time off. No drug testing back then. Liquid lunches.
Then the **** hit the proverbial fan. The PC killed the mainframe. DEC went from 140,000 to about 30,000 employees when they down sized me. Then came two more crappy, low paying jobs and two more down sizings. What else could an unemployed, middle aged mainframe guy do but start my own PC repair biz? Unlike you guys, I never touched a PC until I built my first one when I started my home-based computer repair biz in 2007. That's right, 30 years after my first computer repair job!
Here is the first computer I ever worked on. A PDP 11/34 with 1/2" tape drives, 8.5" floppies, 2.5 MB removable hard drive, 1" paper tape drive and a 16 bit processor with around 16-128K core memory.
My Dad taught me to fix everything when I was a kid. Plumbing, carpentry, electronics and electrical, auto mechanics...I loved fixing and building. The earliest project that I remember was an airplane dashboard made out of wood and it was festooned with switches, buzzers and lights. My Dad designed it and we built it together.
Fast forward to 1977 when I got hired as a tech by DEC. We chip-chased back then with a scope. Addresses and vectors were set by soldering or removing jumpers. Then came the DIP switch which morphed into plug and play. Back then hardware was where it was at but the move to software started. Since I liked using my hands I stayed the hardware route when all signs pointed to a future, and money, in software.
I had it great until the early 90's. Phat pay check (salary with OT), company car, field service job working out of my house, no dress code. Well, there was a code (tie and jacket) but I wore jeans and a T shirt. I got written up a lot for that. Back then, they wanted us blue collar techs to blend in with the white collars we interfaced with. That is exactly why early tool bags looked like an attache case.
Those really were the good, old days! 10-15% raises at least twice a year. Full medical, dental and vision care for the family. Lots of time off. No drug testing back then. Liquid lunches.
Then the **** hit the proverbial fan. The PC killed the mainframe. DEC went from 140,000 to about 30,000 employees when they down sized me. Then came two more crappy, low paying jobs and two more down sizings. What else could an unemployed, middle aged mainframe guy do but start my own PC repair biz? Unlike you guys, I never touched a PC until I built my first one when I started my home-based computer repair biz in 2007. That's right, 30 years after my first computer repair job!
Here is the first computer I ever worked on. A PDP 11/34 with 1/2" tape drives, 8.5" floppies, 2.5 MB removable hard drive, 1" paper tape drive and a 16 bit processor with around 16-128K core memory.
frase
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CD's weehooo - Scratch proof? I I want my $$ back!!
I believe the early production/prototypes were, or at least they were a lot more scratch resistant. I suppose the inferior quality CDs that made it into mass production used thinner, cheaper materials in an effort to minimise costs and maximise profits.
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