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.
Are you kidding? That’s the best part! 
I still remember the smell of the Vac-U-Form 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!
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.)
Tom’s of Maine sells their toothpaste in metal tubes.
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.
Ah yes, a gateway drug…
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:
That so sounds like the name of a high-school punk band. 
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!
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.
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.
I definitely remember that, and I really wanted one!
Haven’t seen Tom’s in a metal tube for a few years. All the ones we buy are in plastic.
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.
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.
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 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 with that name now.)
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.
Discussion on these started at post 232. https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21153882#post21153882
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, 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.