As you can see by the picture, eventually I found one. Over the years it seems to have lost its little transparent glass insert that formed the window glass, and the plastic dual surfboards on top. That’s understandable, as most of this car’s playing career involved it slamming into walls or furniture at high relative speeds. As far as why I wanted one so much as a kid, I bet these commercials were the key factor:
I like how it starts with an excited Abraham Lincoln, who normally only got that excited about President’s Day Mattress Sales. Also, there was a kid who looked like that bespectacled one in pretty much anything you’d see on TV in the early ’80s. I think it was a law or FCC ordinance or something.
Interestingly, the exaggerated design of the Penny Racers was very heavily influenced by one particular artist/cartoonist: Dave Deal.
You can see there the distinctive bonkers proportions Deal used to like to draw. And he drew these for all kinds of magazines and ads and even designed the 1971 NORRA Mexican 1000 race poster. Anyway, good morning from the crap on my desk! Anyone else know what I’m talking about? https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/FDgAAOSwLNtizX7s/s-l500.jpg BTW, they are still around! In Japan they are known as Choro-Q and have been in production in various forms since 1978. I know because at one point they made a Nissan S12 200SX and I’ve been trying to collect all the variations and liveries of it. The one car toy I wanted so bad as a kid, and never got was the Guzzler, which was a car that somehow ran on a 9 volt battery and water that you poured in with a tiny gas can. As a kid I was convinced they really ran on gasoline, which I thought was amazing. I still don’t really understand how they worked, and would love to have one. Of course they also made one as a beetle as well. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ideal-toys-electronic-guzzlers-vw-bug-3832122015
