Super cool thread... Many of my toys were hand-me-downs... we weren't rich, but not that poor... I think my folks had a different set of priorities than I did. I am the oldest kid of my generation, so they were quite young and less well off at the time and I was the prime target for stuff their siblings had outgrown. Don't like to relive those years in the second half of the 70's when I fit the pants many of my aunt's discarded... Mom was one of nine. Luckily I was tall enough by junior high that nobody else had anything that fit. I also killed my old pants every summer doing bondo and undercoating and whatever else was on my summer chore list... I was never allowed to wear school clothes to play in.
Some of my all time favorites...
had this set
The newer stuff was already going to plastic back in my era... this one was great. My set couldn't fit into the box there was so many additional items added over the years... other sets I assume...
I had one similar to this, but couldn't find the exact model...
1977?? I swear mine was before that... I distinctly remember rack and pinion steering and the pistons moving while you pushed it, but mine also had arches for fenders and spoke wheels... I don't recall a jeep option or I would have built it. It was the goto toy for me to bring anytime we visited someone... I could fieldstrip and rebuild that thing in a time that would have made almost anyone proud, except my folks who were really just interested in keeping me out of trouble.
Last seen the grim remains were still at my maternal grandmother's house for the cousins to play with... now the cousins children... wasn't much left of them or my matchbox/hot wheels cars... which once had paint and wheels.
I had a similar Erector set .. real METAL
The Lego-mobile, if 1977, was outside my formative years, so I missed out on that cool kit. I did the model cars from the era .. earlier in this thread I posted this Monogram model "montage" of the stuff I built from early 60's to about 1972.
