A cool job.
As a kid, I thought the coolest jobs were:
- Guy who drives the asphalt paver.
- Garbage man. (Because you got to ride on the back of the truck.)
As an adult, I’ve figured out that hot, smelly jobs really aren’t all that great.
A purple Corvette or a threeway with Ginger and Ellie May, depending on what day you ask me.
I just want to say that my boyfriend and I went last year, and while it is very overpriced, it was worth every penny, and so so much fun. If you have any kids, I wouldn’t go until they are old enough to walk all day though. We don’t have any and were able to speed through there and ride every single ride without anything slowing us down no problem.
I always wanted a white rabbit fur coat. Now they make me cry and I am so saddened for the rabbits, and I am allergic to them. I love my fake fur coat, though!
A Darth Vader head on my tombstone. I thought that would be the ultimate in cool. I have no idea why.
Oh, and fourteen kids of my own! They were going to be named Christopher, Walter, Philip, Charlotte, Gertrude, Judith, Charlie, Audrey, Independence, Geraldine, and I forget about the other four. How could I have forgotten the fourteen kids?
Michael Jackson L.A. Gear sneakers.
An Arky’s post reminded me: A Trans Am. In particular a 1979 metallic blue pontiac Trans Am with the huge engine and t-bar roofs - and an 8-track player. Big blue screaming eagle on the hood.
My brother had one and I coveted it so bad.
I actually looked at a similar one that was an 81 or 82 last year, just for nostalgia. But I just don’t want one anymore and even at only 15K it just wasn’t worth it, even for nostalgia. (Although I admit that when I got in it I felt like a kid again.)
A horse.
I’m never going to get one now, either, am I? 
Huge cliche, but when I was a little girl I would have done anything for a horse. Funny thing is, I was quite the tomboy and didn’t have any interest in other girly things but no, I was going to have a horse and braid flowers into her hair and call her Tinkerbell or some such. Actually, the horse to my mind was just a substitute for a unicorn (which would have been much cooler, but unfortunately didn’t exist). In the end I predictably got neither, and I don’t care anymore 
A Triumph TR7 (The Shape of Things to Come)
A moped (during those years when I was legally allowed to ride one but too young for a car)
As was stated upthread: a metal detector. I still think it would be pretty cool but I don’t really have a need for it.
Meg Ryan.
Oh wait- I was 40.
Visual porn, i.e. skin magazines and videos. By the time I was old enough and independent enough to buy my own without being embarrassed about it, I’d had enough actual sex that stereotyped visuals of unnaturally perfect, artificially enhanced, absurdly over-endowed strangers wasn’t that interesting.
Then I discovered erotica, where the best part is in my head, anyway.
When I was a kid we didn’t HAVE home or personal computers! (waving cane) All computers were business computers, and they took up ROOMS. Seriously. And the programs were written on paper tapes, which had holes punched in them. Yeah, I still wanted a computer, but they didn’t have games for them back in MY day. Or they didn’t have games that I knew of.
Computers for the average person and arcade videogames were just starting out when I graduated from high school. I remember seeing Pac Man and wondering what the hell it was. I received a calculator for my 18th birthday, and I was absolutely fascinated with it.
My parents finally got a computer, one of the first home models, after I had married and moved out. I was PISSED.
When I was a teenager, I wanted Val Kilmer. Now, not so much.
A live parrot that would sit on my shoulder when I walked around. I thought that was the coolest thing ever when I was five.
Sea Monkeys. I had no idea they were a total scam. The ads made them look like the coolest thing ever!
When I was in the 6th grade I wanted a parakeet like nothing else. There was a pet store a few blocks from home and I would go and just stare at the parakeets. I bought books about parakeets. My parents, thankfully, said no. I HATE birds now–they are messy and smelly and you have to clean poop constantly–no thanks.
Yeah, I really think so. When I was a kid, I loved deviled ham in a can, and could hardly wait to grow up so I could buy and eat all of that stuff I wanted. Nowadays, I wonder if they’ve changed the recipe or ingredients, or if my tastes have changed. Similarly, fast food just doesn’t taste good to me any more. Nowadays…blech. I can’t stand most fast food burgers and other offerings. Not even the fries are very good. Most mainstream candy is just not that tasty to me now. I’ve bought various candy bars, drooling in anticipation, and I can tell that they’re fresh, but they just don’t taste like they did. I have come to appreciate the premium chocolate, especially the dark chocolate.
I still love chocolate milk, though.
You can make a jacket out of one.
I’m 57 years old, and I’m beginning to think I’ll NEVER reach this milestone.
I just remember one: We were at a place that sold things specifically for cub scouts. I think we might have been getting a pinewood derby kit. Anyway, on the way out someone was giving a demo of a mechanical bank. Put a quarter in a dog dish, a dog came out of his doghouse, grabbed it and took it back in. I thought that was the coolest thing. I wanted one so bad.
I’ve looked at getting a mechanical bank more than once, but in the end never really care enough to buy one.
A clapper- you know, clap on, clap off, etc. Yes, I was a weird child. It’s not a thing, but I really wanted to take Martial Arts classes. My mom was afraid I’d get hurt though. I did end up taking a Kung Fu class in college, but didn’t care enough to stick with it.