Small Electric Cars

M

munk

Joined
Mar 22, 2002
Messages
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I mean toys. I just got the 30 pounder a little electric 'atv' at 50 bucks. It can hold 65 pounds.

I looked into a larger one for the middle kid. This gives you an idea of where the market is for these- they come in two basic types, the 65 pound payload and the 130 pound payload. If you get the larger carrying capacity, you also get BS like an FM radio and digital clock. I'm not kidding. There is a minature Hummer and a Cadilac 'Escalanti" (or whatever- I don't keep hi end SUV names in mind.) You get the idea though- these things cost 300 bucks and up and would look best in little Johnnie Yups yard.

Another thing- there was a jeep for 200 (msrp)- still had the radio- do your 3 to 6 year olds listen to a lot of FM? When I found the actual models at Walmart and Toys R Us, though, they were marked up to 270.

I looked into golf carts and electric utility vehicles- 3 to 8 thousand bucks. I saw an electric ATV reviewed for 8000 in American Rifleman.

In Green Valley where my parents live- where the oldsters go to the desert to live out their final years- there are actually golf cart lanes in the main highways.

While a think a Barrett 50 mounted on a Golf Cart in Green Valley would really issue a statement, I don't have the bread for the cart, and the 50 remains a dream for any time real cash money comes my way. Not likely.
If I can find a electric toy ride-on for 200 I'll get it. If they insist upon 300 I'll have to pass.

The middle guy could use something special. The older has had his turn- he got a MT bike and a .22 over the last 3 years. But 200 is more than enough.

I remember when there was a single Radio Flyer wagon per block and everyone took turns on it. Today's Radio Flyer is not worth it's patented paint job. REally- you can bend todays model with your bare hands- and I'm not strong.

I remember playing with rocks and sticks, but Yangdu told me that's all the kids in Nepal have.

>>>>>>

I hardly watch or read the news anymore. I see the Yahoo headlines from major outlets on my home page. One was interesting- Studies show Barbie often mutilated.

Well, gee, who would have guessed that? You hope the 'study' didn't cost us too much money. I hope this doesn't start a wave of 'doll awareness'.

I'm sure by now the cat's out of the bag- about the indiscrete poses little Brothers leave Ken or GI Joe and Barbie in kfor Sister to find.

Who can forget a childhood of naked Barbies? For that matter, all dolls eventually stripped naked, the clothes long lost, maybe missing an eye or a leg....traumatic childhood, eh?

I don't suppose the Reviewers have 'discovered' the melted army men yet, have they? Get Johnnie the minature Hummer at 3 to 500 and he'll be 'above' the fray....and know what time it is too.


munk
 
20+ years ago, I wanted a Power Wheels jeep. I never got it. Instead, my folks got me a green metal army jeep that was was petal driven like those on a tricycle. I loved that thing. Tough as all get out and only ran out of steam when I did. Really cool toy that could be driven, pushed, or riden down a hill. I played with that thing from the time i was 3 or 4 all the way until I was 8 or so. By 8 i was way too big for it, but it was more of a crash vehicle by then. I wasn't pretending to be a soldier, it was just heavy and metal and piloted down our huge dirt hill, crashed, and was ready for another go.
My little brother who is adopted got a real Power Wheels Chevy Silverado last Christmas. My dad bought it for him, and i offered to put it together and store it at the office before Christmas. He was 4 years old, and so excited when he got it (my brother...not Dad). However, the power supply is now faulty, the frame is cracked from multiple bang ups, and he has lost interest in less than a years time. Strange how things work out.

Jake
 
I thought about the push carts, but there are so many mining tailings everywhere...the road surface of Eastern Montana, that I didn't think it would work well.


munk
 
It always amazes me. You can buy your kids something really nice and they will spend endless hours playing in the cardboard box that it came in.
 
Lion's Roar said:
It always amazes me. You can buy your kids something really nice and they will spend endless hours playing in the cardboard box that it came in.
Click to expand...

Yup!;) :D
When my cousins and I were kids we really loved it when somebody put down new linoleum, about once a year or so.
We would take the hollow cardboard tube and play with it for weeks or until it rained and ruined them.
If we could have ever figured a way to make them fire they would have made a helluva real cannon, once.:eek: :eek:

Once upon a tyme my uncle and old man burglarized an old explosives shack getting several pounds of black diamond powder. They took an old dual action tire pump, took the guts out of it, loaded it up and put a huge ball bearing down the tube and then fused the outlet for the air hose.
Grandma was doing the wash on the back porch and when they set the thing off it knocked her off the porch from the concusion.
The steel ball bearing went flying, landed on the roof of an older man they didn't like, probably a good and honorable person, the bearing went through the roof and the ceiling and landed beside the man's easy chair.
Grandma verified the story so I know it's a true one, you couldn't always believe the old man although my uncle was generally truthful even if he was a thief and worse things.:(
 
I also remember the old pedal cars. Most of them were really hard to pedal but when you did get one moving it would go pretty good. They were pretty dangerous if there was a hill around though and no one was watching us kids.
The pedal mechanism could really put the hurt on your ankles if you got any speed at all up coasting down a hill, they turned over pretty easy and often too the best I can remember.
It's a wonder more of us kids weren't really hurt bad or even killed as we had no head, shin, knee, and elbow protection like today's kids have.:eek: ;) :D
 
Lion's Roar said:
It always amazes me. You can buy your kids something really nice and they will spend endless hours playing in the cardboard box that it came in.
Click to expand...

This is so true. I was an only child, and while I was not hurting for toys I was not spoiled in the least. My mom and dad got me stuff on Christmas and birthdays and for special things every great once in awhile. Other than that, the woods and hills were my toys and playground. My father working in the construction/swimming pool industry was the best thing that could have happened to the kids of my neighborhood. Every few weeks my dad would bring home some of the extra sand to refresh the sand pile. Not a little box, and actual mountain of sand:) We had so much fun in that pile. It was a good thing he brought sand home on a regular basis. We had a bunch of cats, and they liked to leave us little presents that lurked just under the surface.:barf:
Also, my dad would bring home some pretty big boxes that we would play in or go sailind (more like tumbling end over end) down the huge dirt hill left over from the time when my dad built our pool. A sand filter box was just big enough to cut in half, retape, and provide two kids with a chariot of summer time fun.
It's funny. I'm only just shy of 25 years of age, and I can tell you for a fact that kids don't have fun like that nearly as much as we did:( They are "safer" now, but what good is being "safe" if it means you get doughy and fat and are at risk for a heart attack by the time you are in your late 30's? I for one would rather have an active kid that might take a spill or two, split his lip, or get peppered with street rock from a bicycle wreck than have a doughy, whiny little piggie that doesn't know the value of good fresh air and exercise.

Jake
 
When I was little I had a pedal driven tractor, and later my brother had a pedal driven fire truck. They were great, couldn't break them. I was playing with two older boys from the neighborhood one day, cowboys and robbers. I was the bad guy and they were going to hang me. Threw a rope over the swingset, stood me on the fire engine and put the noose around my neck. Of course the fire engine rolled out from under me and they got scared and ran. Fortunately Mom was looking out the window and saw me bug eyed and purple faced, and came out and grabbed me.

When my daugter was little, the rage here in the suburbs was the Mattel "Big Wheel", the plastic tri-cycle. We live on a big hill and 4 or 5 of them would get at the top and race down. When they got to the bottom they would jam their feet on the pedals and slide. Eventually it would wear a flat spot on the plastic front wheel. Didn't slow them down a bit. All day you could hear Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump while they went down the hill, followed by 3 minutes of laughter while they walked back up.


Steve
 
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