Tat Tuesday.

After talking about Micro Machines last week I remembered something. I remembered the only other car toys I cared about. Penny Racers.

 

Penny Racers were very simply coil spring pullback cars. Like most friction cars Penny Racers where one trick ponies. Almost. You see the thing about Penny Racers was that with the addition of a penny or two you could make your little car do stunts. Mostly they just ended up doing wheelies. It was a very simple gimmick but it worked. When I was kids penny's had just two uses. You either put them into you penny loafers or your Penny Racers. I chose the latter.

Penny Racers as I know them started out as a Japanese toy called Choro-Q. Choro-Q was a series of 3-4 cm long toy cars first made by Takara in 1978. Choro-Q cars where distinctive thanks to characteristic look. They had a cute deformed look. Which was a very Japanese aesthetic. In Japan the line continues to this day. It's popularity allowing in to move into video games and mini RC cars. For the most part the interest in this type of toy is relegated to the older collector type. Which is too bad.

You know I just remembered there was one more car toy I had as a child. Maybe I'll get to that next week.

YouTube
Wikipedia
Amazon

In case you are interested in the RC style Choro-Q cars check out the video below.