What Did You Own As A Kid You Wished You Still Possessed

A Bonanza mini-bike with a 3 1/2 horse Briggs and Stratton engine, my brother and I would race down the driveway. Even did some hill climbing with it, fell a lot. Foot brake was a joke, though. Lucky for us, it was a quiet street. Also, my 1961 Ford Falcon two door station wagon, my step-father and I rebuilt it and got it running, sold it to my barber for $200. I was an idiot at 16.
 
I traded my 1958 Gibson ES-225 electric guitar for a fancier one and I traded my M-2 Springfield, .22RF for something I didn't need.

Too bad I can't get you guys to kick me in the butt as punishment!

Consider yourself kicked in the butt...but I've done dumber things in my life, so we're square.
 
When I was twelve (sixty-seven years ago) a family friend who had been a WWII infantry office gave me a virtually immaculate Walther PP in a military flap-over holster with the owner's name penciled inside the flap. It had checkered wooden grips, a light-colored wood like beech. He had taken it from a German officer who, he said, "no longer needed it". I think that was in Italy, could have been North Africa.

When I was fourteen someone who knew I had it broke into our house and tried to steal it. My mother took it to a pawn shop and sold it for fifteen bucks.

Man, I wish I had that nice pistol back!
 
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Apparently you are right both times. Abebooks has both Volumes, 1 and 2, and the book was published by both Macdonald and Doubleday. Double day seems to have been first in 1965, and the Macdonald that they have listed in 1968. Could be an American and British publishing house??

Best Regards, Les
I believe you could be right. Going on the dust jacket art, I assumed they were MacDonald. I got all of mine from the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry bookstore.
 
I grew up in the 80's so where do I start. I had hundreds if not thousands of Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars, those would be nice, but some if not all of the Star Wars toys I had, the original ones. Heck I could sell them and buy a nice new gun for what I had then.
Then there was the Dukes of Hazzard stuff, I had the lunch box, but it wouldn't be mint. I had more than a few toys from then.
But what I liked to play with most, was the stuff I had my Dad gave me when he was a cop. He gave me one of his old PD holsters that he cut down to fit a toy wooden gun I had, stuff like that I really remember.
But the best toy I ever played with that I wished I had, was him and that white Plymouth Gran Fury I rode in with him sometimes when he was working. My fondest memory was going with him to get the car brand new in Plattsburgh, NY and helping him put the decals on the doors in our own driveway. The car was shiny white with a gold badge decal on either side. I still remember going with him to brush fires and things like that. Our town was little so no one cared if I went along, I was 6-7 years old then. Those are things you can't buy at the store.
 
:D:D

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The stamp collection my grandfather started me on, we worked together on it. The time with my grandparents, wish I would have appreciated it more.

Beloved ex-wife moved out and stamp collection of over 30 years was gone but I still have the memories of building it.
 
You guys just brought back a painful memory. My dad let me have his Stihl chainsaw to cut wood one summer for school money. I don't recall the model# but it was a dandy. We didn't cut much wood so I pawned it. It might as well have been stolen. Poor judgment, again. It hurts to this day!
 
Like a lot of folks here, growing up I didn't have a lot of toys, gadgets, or anything else. Never bothered me much that I recall. While it is true I didn't "own" them, I did have my Mom and Dad, and several pets during those years - and that is what I miss most now.

Even as an adult you never realize how much you "depend" on your Mom and Dad until you no longer have them.
 
Not that I owned it but I would like more time with both sets of grandparents.

I was extremely lucky and did not start losing my grandparents until I was in my early teens. We visited them down in the Rio Grande Valley a few times a year up until my teens. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting at my maternal grandfathers knee watching Alabama play, coached by Bear Bryant. Those black and white checkered hats stick in the mind. Grandad came from Selma, Alabama. He drove a grader in WWII and for 20 years after that in South Texas. My paternal grandfather was a carpenter who worked in the Brownsville shipyards during the war.
 
My hair and my 34 inch waist...... :(
This jumped out at me. Parents and their parents long gone. Had a comfortable childhood as last of 6 kids. Did not have a lot of stuff, but never felt like I missed out. Had a paper route, bought a Schwinn Sting Ray, sold it when I turned 16 so another kid could enjoy it. I do miss the Lawn Boy magnesium deck mower I bought when I was 16. I earned a lot of money cutting lawns. I gave it to my brother when he bought a house and he threw it away when it would not run. I was mad at him for that.

I did get hooked on something I didn't own then, but which I have now. Horsepower and manual transmissions. When I was 16, it it was my brother's 1968 Tiger Gold 4-speed GTO convertible with hood tach. Now it comes in a Honda V6 with ABS, Bluetooth, and airbags.
 
My mind... ;)

The one most significant thing that comes to mind from my childhood was my single shot .22 rifle. I don't remember the make/model, but it was bolt operated with manual cocking. It had a reddish painted wood stock that with use became very scratched up. I sanded that wooden stock, and found it had a very nice grain which really came out well with varnish. I have no idea what happened to that rifle...and it would have sentimental value to me today.

I don't recall having toys, collections, or anything else that was extremely memorable. I mean, I had bikes, toys, and other things that most children do, of course...but what stands out is that rifle, perhaps because I had refinished the stock, and as I recalled it, turned out very well.
 
i miss my old neighborhood.
it no longer exists anywhere.
lower middle class, well kept homes.
on the far corners were a drug store, bakery, butcher shop, grocery, bar n grill.
a few blocks away there was a pizzeria.
everything you needed in walking distance n kids could play outside after dark n walk to school by themselves.
 
I think I'd have to say... a future that was still filled with hope and promise. Of course, that's said with the magical benefits of hindsight. Have you ever wondered if you had never smoked that first joint where you might have ended up? ;)
 
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