Toy cars have always been fun to play with, from the tiniest Micro Machine through Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars right up to much larger radio controlled affairs. Some cars you have to be content with just pushing along yourself, whilst others (particularly those dream filled supercars) are really intended to be ornaments rather than playthings. Others may be battery driven, or there’s always the good old friction driven pull-back-and-go ones.
Wrist Racers were a popular brand of toy car during the 1980’s, and as the name suggests the gimmick with these was that you wore them on your wrist. Doesn’t sound that much fun does it? Well, it was more fun than you might think.
The Wrist Racer car itself was about the size of the average Hot Wheels car, but where it differed was that it contained a little wind up motor. Once fully wound, the car was inserted into a holder (which you wore on your wrist like a gigantic watch), and could be covered with a transparent plastic lid to keep it safe.
When you felt the Need for Speed, so to speak, you flipped up the lid, pulled out a little ramp from the holder and placed your wrist down on your chosen racing surface. Pressing a button on the back of the holder released the little car down the ramp so it went zooming along at a fair old speed.
During the Eighties the range consisted of both fairly generic car designs and a number of licensed vehicles, including the pictured KITT from Knight Rider, the A Team’s black van, and the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard, among others. These are now fairly rare, so if you have one lurking in the attic somewhere, lucky you.
Warning: Declaration of Social_Walker_Comment::start_lvl(&$output, $depth, $args) should be compatible with Walker_Comment::start_lvl(&$output, $depth = 0, $args = Array) in /homepages/40/d211339488/htdocs/childofthe1980s/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/social/lib/social/walker/comment.php on line 18
Warning: Declaration of Social_Walker_Comment::end_lvl(&$output, $depth, $args) should be compatible with Walker_Comment::end_lvl(&$output, $depth = 0, $args = Array) in /homepages/40/d211339488/htdocs/childofthe1980s/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/social/lib/social/walker/comment.php on line 42
I had some of these!!! I had the DOH one for sure…. and a generic silver sports car…. I may have had the Knight Rider one too, but that may be my mind playing tricks…..
I remember having a generic one too, I think it was a red sports car, but I can’t remember now. I would have loved a Knight Rider one though…
I just dug out my brothers Micro Machines Mini wrist racer with 7 cars. All is great working order, do you know anyone who would like to buy them? I can’t find any info on them on the net.
I forgot to mention it’s from 1969
Wow, I didn’t realise Wrist Racers dated back that far. Interesting to know.
Yes it says it on the back…I can send pics. Any idea where to sell?
Other than the usual response of eBay I really don’t know, but if they are sixties models then you might want to try and contact a specialist toy collector who might know if they are worth anything. Sorry though, couldn’t suggest anyone.
thks!