Ok, now I feel old...

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TapBusiness5341@reddit

Loved those things, had to beg for months to get one.

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Had a little brown Datsun Stomper, still remember the sound and smell as it crawled along the pizza-colored high pile carpet at my childhood home. It ended up being more fun than my R/C Jeep because Ni-Cad batteries barely lasted a half hour in the 80s, and that's all my dad would buy for the Jeep - a single set of C-cells that took 8 hours to charge.

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UpstairsCommittee894@reddit

A local bar used to have a stomper pull night. I was way too young to be in a bar, but my dad would take me anyways. I did ok in the stock class, but they had a modified class that was crazy. If a 3d printer was around in the 80s I would have been king.

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oxnardmontalvo7@reddit

Modified class?!? DO go on!

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UpstairsCommittee894@reddit

I was young so the details are vague, so bear with me?

Stock class was they sold stompers at the event. You bought a new stomper dropped the battery in and that was that.

Modified class they could do anything they wanted to the stomper as long as the body still fit on. The body fitting was pretty ambiguous, I remember a lot of tape being used. Most people changed tires, motors, batteries (9v fit well), and gears. Radioshack had bins on parts and pieces back then, so i'm sure thats where most of the upgrade parts came from.

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oxnardmontalvo7@reddit

OMG that’s amazing! I loved Stompers as a kid and would 100% do this now. I say we start a Stomper Pulling Association today.

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UpstairsCommittee894@reddit

I would love that, but with the cost of vintage stompers it would be expensive to start cutting them up. Maybe we can all write tamiya and ask them to remake the stomper. They make 4wd "slot car" already, it shouldn't be hard to make a slower 4wd vehicle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eSLpjWsD4g

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oxnardmontalvo7@reddit

Who knows how to start a petition?

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JAMHOVDOS@reddit

LOVED my gray BRAT Subaru!

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Effective-Ad-2015@reddit

I had the Silver Subaru Brat

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KNT-cepion@reddit

You might want to go back and grab those. Check out what that Jeep Honcho is selling for on eBay. Jeep Honcho Stomper

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Unlucky-Resort-2121@reddit (OP)

Holy crow! Yep.. I may have to go back.

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bobroscopcoltrane@reddit

Always look at the “sold” price. Half what’s listed here. Still a tidy profit, but not $500.

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KNT-cepion@reddit

Please go grab those now!!! $500 for Honcho new in package

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mr_alfaro@reddit

I remember Penny racers. Loved those things.

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Icy_Ad7953@reddit

Was it a dream, or did these have a switch to make them 4wd and 2wd? And the 2wd was faster?

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Unlucky-Resort-2121@reddit (OP)

That rings a bell, but I can't remember

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GunMD1@reddit

And to think, they provided hours of fun without the aid of WiFi connectivity!

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GunMD1@reddit

Loved those things!

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BebopTundra76@reddit

Stompers were so cool!! I can still remember the smell and how fast the batteries died

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Mediocre-Life-4784@reddit

I got one stuck in my little sister's hair on the way to school one day and her teacher had to cut it out. They probably got taken away after that.

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RanchWaterHose@reddit

I just found one of those in my old stuff!

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Brooks_was_here_1@reddit

Loved these!!!

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WeAreOurDeeds@reddit

We had a science teacher in sixth grade (1980-81) that would help us wire our Stompers up to take a 9V battery instead of a AA. You couldn’t put the tops back on, but they would seriously haul ass running on a 9V!

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Visible_Structure483@reddit

Wonder if 'kids these days' would be into such things?

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Dogrel@reddit

Short answer: Yes.

My 4 year old LOVES toy monster trucks of all shapes and kinds.

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Visible_Structure483@reddit

Then there is hope for the future.

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Manita2020@reddit

Never seen these

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gimpydingo@reddit

How could I forget these? I had the Subaru Brat. Now I have to go down a rabbit hole. Ohhhh that's expensive!

How about Zoids? Key Cars? Wrist Racers?

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Unlucky-Resort-2121@reddit (OP)

Oh man! Now you're unlocking some memories!

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jefftatro1@reddit

One of the few toys who's commercials showed how the toy actually worked. Unlike most Hot Wheels, "Snake Canyon" type toys. These little trucks were so much fun, and only needed 1 AA battery.

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zombuca@reddit

I loved these. Would probably still love these.

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TheColdWind@reddit

Were these the ones that had the stiff foam tires?

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Unlucky-Resort-2121@reddit (OP)

I don't know. These were understandably locked up

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TheColdWind@reddit

Oh, ok.

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tacomeat247@reddit

Foam tires?

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Unlucky-Resort-2121@reddit (OP)

I don't know. These were understandably locked up

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yurinator71@reddit

How much did they cost back in the day?

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UpstairsCommittee894@reddit

1983 sears wishbook had them listed at $5.99

https://archive.org/details/1983-sears-christmas-wishbook-catalog/page/564/mode/2up

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Unlucky-Resort-2121@reddit (OP)

That's a good question. I know I had several so they couldn't have been to much. We were poor. LOL

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yurinator71@reddit

Me too. I want to say $10

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HK-Admirer2001@reddit

I remember those being $4.50 each at KayBee Toys.

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yafuckonegoat@reddit

You've never lived until you get one of these stuck in your sisters hair and have to run for your life

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Markaes4@reddit

Yikes $100 now? I wish I had all my stompers and playsets still... Had tons of fun with them. I really liked the Water Demons and the Mega star ones too. My favorite was the big mega water demon and the mega star ROC. I still have those on display at least.

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RIPsaw_69@reddit

They are expensive af. I’m a junk dealer. When I find these, jackpot!!! 💰

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WolfieFett@reddit

Core memory unlocked

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packetmon@reddit

I think I had the orange one! I was adamant to get one (sorry Dad) but I remember having fun with it (thanks Dad).

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wonderbeen@reddit

I always wanted those, but sadly, never got any.

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iderpandderp@reddit

They're great for getting stuck in hair

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Inevitable-Rip-4340@reddit

I can smell the tires from here

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geddylee1@reddit

Weren’t they foam?

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Worth-Canary-9189@reddit

You could buy tires for them. They had both foam and leather.

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kwjyibo@reddit

I was just remembering that smell as well .

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MichiganGeezer@reddit

I had about a half dozen of them back when they were new. I also had the tractor pull kit for them. It would be fun to 3d print a new chassis to hold a couple CR123 batteries and a brushless motor and see what that could pull. 😎

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Freewheeler631@reddit

I used to build “off road” courses on the floor out of anything I could find laying around and tweak it until I could traverse the whole thing. Countless hours were spent. It just crossed my mind the other day how fun it was.

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Stardustquarks@reddit

I did love me some stompers

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geddylee1@reddit

Same same.

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Stinkydadman@reddit

I loved Stompers

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Ok_Dragonfruit7353@reddit

Of course, just because what someone asks for on EBay doesn’t mean what someone is actually willing to pay for it.

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kaelaria@reddit

We all had the Rough Riders!

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patpanda8@reddit

And then asking dad to get all the carpet fibers out that got wrapped around the axles

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lajaunie@reddit

Oh my!!! I hadn’t thought about those in decades!

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Ok_Dragonfruit7353@reddit

I think we even had a stomper playset.

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Hot_Rock@reddit

Loved these things but they weren’t the best quality. Rode my bike to the store and spent my allowance on one. Got it home and it was DOA. Rode back to the store who promptly refused the return because I didn’t keep my receipt. I slammed the thing to the floor, stomped my little feet to the toys, grabbed another off the shelf and ripped it out of the package, stomped out of the store and rode away. That one worked just fine.

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