ID old toy cars, info on old games

[ctc]

So;

Way back when.... around 78/80.... I used to get these weird little cars from the local pharmacy. They were like Matchbox cars, but the bodies were plastic. They came in little boxes, with a plastic sleeve (like an old matchbox) so that you could see the car inside, and there were little scenes inside. The cars were comedicly deformed; not like a Hot Rod cartoon, more like a comic strip. (They were kinda soft and squishy looking, and most were pained in bright pastels.)

Anyone heard of these? Have a name... know a site....?

Something ELSE I used to get at the same pharmacy were these little pocket games. They all came in the same sort of plastic case; clear top, coloured base.... but the games were all different. The one I'm looking for.... or looking for good pics of.... was "Steeplechase." IT was a 3D maze, and you had to roll a tiny ballbearing along the track, getting through the obstacles to the finish.

Anyone heard of these? I mentioned these a while back, and a lot of folks remembered them, but I don't think anyone knew the brand name.

I'm sure there's a website dedicated to both these things, but I can't remember the names to look 'em up.

Don C.

[mazinz]

The cars you are talking about sound familiar. However was this the type of game you are after? I know they had different ones. This one is baseball themed. I also think it was purchased at the drugstore? The date on the back is 1976 by a company called Bluebox and claims it was made in Singapore. This baseball one is called mini mate: lucky ball

I know my brother had one non sports themed and I think it still may be here some place

[livingdead70]

Cars aint ringing a bell for me either, but I remember those games well.
I had a couple of those, sports ones and I know I had one themed Red Baron, but I forget the point of the game.
trey

[mazinz]

Hey Don
I am getting a very faint memory of the cars you are after. Did they come on a green grass colored bass (with a square see through plastic shell as a cover), and were more like the Ratfink style of cars?

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

That COULD be one of the pocket games.... hard to tell how big it is from the pic; but the ones I'm thinking of were really small. 4" or so on the longest side. They had a big sticker on the back with the name of the game and the instructions.

>Did they come on a green grass colored bass (with a square see through plastic shell as a cover), and were more like the Ratfink style of cars?

Yeah! That's them! There were a lot of 'em, and the store had them stacked up on the counter.

Don C.

[mazinz]

hey Don,

the game shown in my pic is 5" tall and 2.9" long

[R.O.M.]

Don, I remember and had BOTH of those! I hadn't thought of those cars in ages, but your description brought them back so well! I vaguely remember having one that was tan or brown. They were like cartoon versions of Matchbox cars, and I think they were generally a bit smaller. I'll see what I can come up with......

[R.O.M.]

These are the closest I can find at the moment, at least to what I remember. Hallmark Road Rovers-


Road Rovers - a set on Flickr


They say they're about the size of matchbox cars, but diecast and even heavier. Also, I don't recall any of these from what I had. I also had the light plastic body ones, but they were similarly cartoonish like these.

[ctc]

>I vaguely remember having one that was tan or brown.

The one I'd like in particular is the old station wagon one.... with the panelling. And it was tan AND brown. Coincidence....?

>Hallmark Road Rovers

That COULD be them! Same look, anyhoo. I don't recognize any (although the police car looks familiar) but that's the style. I remember there was a zillion different ones. And I'm pretty sure they were plastic and not metal.

>the game shown in my pic is 5" tall and 2.9" long

I THINK that's a little big.... but it's been a long time and I was a different scale back then. I think the cases were a different shape too: yours has corners rounded across the top, whereas the ones I remember had the edges rounded across the short sides. (But that could have been just the one.) I could be wrong, 'cos that one is very close to what I remember, and there were so many different ones.

Don C.

[ctc]

NYAHAHAAAAA!!!!!

Apparently the games were made by Tomy:

VINTAGE 1976 TOMY SHOOTING GALLERY PLASTIC POCKET GAME - eBay (item 370250013371 end time Aug-31-09 15:24:43 PDT)
TOMY vintage handheld CLOWN CATCHER pocket arcade GAME - eBay (item 120329130832 end time Aug-31-09 1848 PDT)
1975 TOMY TIC-TAC SCORE POCKET GAME~WORKS - eBay (item 330354226372 end time Sep-21-09 09:35:23 PDT)
Vtg TOMY Pocket Game Lot 2~LETTER LOOSE&BI-PLANE BATTLE - eBay (item 110424087825 end time Sep-12-09 12:56:20 PDT)
TOMY POCKET GAME DICE TRAP Vintage 1976 - eBay (item 390076760188 end time Aug-31-09 00:23:42 PDT)

Sadly, no steeplechase.

The mini-mates are apparently the same idea, but from different companies:

FREE SHIP! 4 Pocket Pinball Games 70s Tomy Marx Bluebox - eBay (item 250440549779 end time Sep-06-09 13:56:39 PDT)

Don C.

[ctc]

Heee heeee!

Steeplechase:

Japanese TOMY Pocket Games

And them little cars ARE Road Rovers:

http://cgi.ebay.com.hk/ws/eBayISAPI....fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

Those are definitely the boxes I remember. Now I just gotta find a site that lists all of them.

Don C.

[R.O.M.]

Check this out, though.....I think they may be Wallace Berrie Funkymobiles. VERY similar, but not heavy and diecast. They came out in the mid-'70s and were in similar boxes. This is the only boxed pic I've found so far-

[R.O.M.]

Here's one more pic of the Funkymobiles-




These look more like the ones that I had, but none of them specifically. The double decker bus does ring a bell, though!

[ctc]

>These look more like the ones that I had,

THAT'S THEM! There's the station wagon I was lookin' for!

Don C.

[R.O.M.]

>These look more like the ones that I had,

THAT'S THEM! There's the station wagon I was lookin' for!

Don C.

Cool! Yeah, the more I look at it, the more that seems to be the brown/tan one that I had imagined in my head. I DEFINITELY had the double decker bus! I seem to also remember a police car, but haven't found a picture of one yet.

It's hard to find anything about them. Here's one site with a couple more at the bottom of the page, with more Road Rovers, too. She mentions they are hand-painted, which is very cool and makes sense. One of the eBay listings also said they are plastic-bodied, so there you go!

Hallmark Road Rovers

I'm intrigued now, and want to find out how many there were and stuff. I'm a car nut, so these would be a neat challenge to collect.