# Culture artifacts that ...maybe not ONLY you remember....but its getting close. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 15, 2018, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633 "2018-08-15T03:00:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 21
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/401 "2018-09-01T14:28:34Z")
In the late 60s or early 70s, my parents gave me this Hot Wheels Factory. The way it worked was that you’d heat up these little rectangular blocks of plastic until they melted, and then inject the melted plastic into molds for various car shapes, while also inserting axles/wheels into the sides of the molds. It actually made decent cars, but the heat was ferocious and the smell of the melted plastic probably toxic. > **[Hot Wheels Factory by Mattel - Sam's Toybox](https://www.samstoybox.com/toys/HotWheelsFactory.html)** > > Hot Wheels Factory by Mattel and RoseArt. Make Hot Wheels from melted plastic. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/402 "2018-09-01T17:14:03Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I hope we can assume that the upcoming live action \*\*Dumbo \*\*movie does not include the racist stereotype crows. > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXqd5d-zHMQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXqd5d-zHMQ) Are you kidding? That’s the best part! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/403 "2018-09-01T23:59:50Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > …It actually made decent cars, but the heat was ferocious and the smell of the melted plastic probably toxic. I still remember the smell of the [Vac-U-Form](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCvgvWiZNe8) I had as a kid. Whenever I’m around certain plastics when heated, mmmmm… The heating element doubled as a Thingmaker and Creeple Peeple cooker. I was just thinking the other day, with Vac-U-Forms and Woodburning Kits and soldering irons, it’s a wonder I never got a bad burn! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/404 "2018-09-02T00:29:23Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Any brand names? This sounds vaguely familiar. > > Also, does Raisin Bran count? No; raisins are just dried grapes, not dehydrated ones. Dehydrated, as in _ **Amazing new space-age food—like the astronauts eat.** _ As I recall, the kind I had was corn flakes with blueberries. The berries were supposed to rehydrate in milk and get soft, but they never made it past chewy. Don’t remember the brand name—don’t think it was Kellogg’s though. Maybe Post? (I was 10 or 11 at the time … 1965 or '66.) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/405 "2018-09-02T03:54:33Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Adhesive bandage strips and other first aid items in small metal boxes with hinged lids. > > Toothpaste in metallic tubes. > > Aftershave in glass or ceramic bottles > > Things used to be heavier Tom’s of Maine sells their toothpaste in metal tubes. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/406 "2018-09-02T03:56:11Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > In the late 60s or early 70s, my parents gave me this Hot Wheels Factory. The way it worked was that you’d heat up these little rectangular blocks of plastic until they melted, and then inject the melted plastic into molds for various car shapes, while also inserting axles/wheels into the sides of the molds. It actually made decent cars, but the heat was ferocious and the smell of the melted plastic probably toxic. > > [Hot Wheels Factory by Mattel - Sam's Toybox](http://www.samstoybox.com/toys/HotWheelsFactory.html) Was that a boy’s version of an Easy-Bake Oven (a toy that is now marketed as a unisex item)? 😛 How old were you at the time? Just the heat alone sounds awfully dangerous to me. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/407 "2018-09-02T04:35:02Z")
> [@bmoak](#): > > Super Elastic Bubble Plastic! Always a contender in the Most Dangerous Toys Category! Ah yes, a [gateway](https://teensleuth.com/blog/?p=31638) drug… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/408 "2018-09-02T06:52:27Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Was that a boy’s version of an Easy-Bake Oven (a toy that is now marketed as a unisex item)? 😛 When I was in second or third grade, I knew a girl who had one of these. One day, we tried making rehydrated beefaroni in it (the ingredients came prepackaged in tiny portions; all you had to do was add water and stick everything in the oven). The light bulb inside was supposed to produce enough heat to cook the food. It didn’t. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/409 "2018-09-02T07:05:37Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > rehydrated beefaroni That so sounds like the name of a high-school punk band. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/410 "2018-09-02T13:58:14Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Cereal with dehydrated fruit! The one I remember had freeze dried fruit (strawberries). Not the same thing as dehydrated. Apparently it was just called Post Corn Flakes & Strawberries. Re-hydrating them with milk created an odd flavor combination. And an even worse texture. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/411 "2018-09-02T15:09:37Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The one I remember had freeze dried fruit (strawberries). Not the same thing as dehydrated. Apparently it was just called Post Corn Flakes & Strawberries. Re-hydrating them with milk created an odd flavor combination. And an even worse texture. That’s it. Freeze-drying was indeed the _ **space-age** _ technology they used! ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/412 "2018-09-02T15:28:34Z")
I’m sure that here on the SDMB, I’ll get plenty of, “Oh, hells yeah, I remember that!” responses, but out IRL I typically get blank looks. [Big Trak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak) ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/413 "2018-09-02T19:41:21Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > In the late 60s or early 70s, my parents gave me this Hot Wheels Factory. The way it worked was that you’d heat up these little rectangular blocks of plastic until they melted, and then inject the melted plastic into molds for various car shapes, while also inserting axles/wheels into the sides of the molds. It actually made decent cars, but the heat was ferocious and the smell of the melted plastic probably toxic. > > [Hot Wheels Factory by Mattel - Sam's Toybox](http://www.samstoybox.com/toys/HotWheelsFactory.html) > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Was that a boy’s version of an Easy-Bake Oven (a toy that is now marketed as a unisex item)? 😛 > > How old were you at the time? Just the heat alone sounds awfully dangerous to me. Ha! In retrospect, yes it was indeed. I was 7 or 8…god knows my parents were lucky I never left that thing turned on, as it got hot enough to burn your hand. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/414 "2018-09-02T20:08:37Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > I’m sure that here on the SDMB, I’ll get plenty of, “Oh, hells yeah, I remember that!” responses, but out IRL I typically get blank looks. > > [Big Trak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak) I definitely remember that, and I really wanted one! ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/415 "2018-09-03T11:35:39Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Tom’s of Maine sells their toothpaste in metal tubes. Haven’t seen Tom’s in a metal tube for a few years. All the ones we buy are in plastic. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/416 "2018-09-03T12:05:37Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Did Uncle Floyd ever make it out of the NJ/NYC market? He was a UHS fixture in the 70s but back then I know he was only NJ/NY. When I saw him, it was the early 80s on WSBK, Channel 38, out of Boston. I figure it was syndicated by that time. So technically, yeah? But probably not the way you were thinking. > [@P-man](#): > > I normally didn’t care for building toys since they exposed how horrible I was (and still am) at putting things together, but I loved me > some Crazy Ikes. Oh man, Crazy Ikes! My mom (born 1943) had a small box of those from when she was a child, and my grandparents kept it for my sister and I when we came to visit. I ended up with it when they sold their house in the late '80s, but I think it finally got lost in a cleanup after a flooded basement sometime last decade. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/417 "2018-09-03T16:49:18Z")
I loved building sets as a kid, back in the pre-Lego days. I had several that have been mentioned so far or were common then. American Brick, Erector Set, Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys (a small can), etc. One of my favorites is not so well known: [Girder and Panel building sets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girder_and_Panel_building_sets) by Kenner. I had lot of that stuff and made quite large buildings, bridges, “turnpikes”, etc. Remember those gray plastic “road” pieces? (There’s a company unrelated to Kenner that makes [things](https://www.amazon.com/Girder-Panel-School-Building-Set/dp/B007CNZJ9A) with that name now.) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/418 "2018-09-03T18:36:46Z")
I had both Erector and Meccano but I never really figured out what to do with them. I preferred Legos. And that was in the mid-1970s, when legos were all just different dimensions of rectangles and maybe a couple of wheels. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/419 "2018-09-03T18:57:36Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I loved building sets as a kid, back in the pre-Lego days. I had several that have been mentioned so far or were common then. American Brick, Erector Set, Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys (a small can), etc. > > One of my favorites is not so well known: [Girder and Panel building sets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girder_and_Panel_building_sets) by Kenner. > > I had lot of that stuff and made quite large buildings, bridges, “turnpikes”, etc. Remember those gray plastic “road” pieces? > > (There’s a company unrelated to Kenner that makes [things](https://www.amazon.com/Girder-Panel-School-Building-Set/dp/B007CNZJ9A) with that name now.) Discussion on these started at post 232. [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21153882#post21153882](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21153882&postcount=232) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633/420 "2018-09-03T21:13:34Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Discussion on these started at post 232. [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21153882#post21153882](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21153882&postcount=232) Bah, didn’t see that. Well okay then. Anyway… To me, a lot of my culture is tech culture. E.g., today I needed to measure a cord and couldn’t find my metal ruler. But I did find my [IBM Flowchart Template](http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_690232), still in its original sleeve. I had to do flowcharts in high school and college. Taught Computer Science for decades and thankfully never once needed to teach students about them! Come to think about it, I have no idea what it’s still doing in my desk drawer. It’s less useful than my slide rule and I stored that away several years ago. Good ones seem to go for as much as $20 on eBay. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/culture-artifacts-that-maybe-not-only-you-remember-but-its-getting-close/819633.md?page=22)