It was the Christmas of 1978 and I found under the Christmas tree the
coolest plastic toy car that a boy could ever want! At least it was for
this boy. It was The Amazing Spider-Car!!!
Yes, Spider-Man owned a sweet ride back in the 1970s! This one, made by Mego, was much cooler than Spidey's Spider-Mobile
from the comic books, a red and blue painted dune buggy. Mego designed
the Spider-Car with superhero style and it was a perfect fit for the 8"
Mego Spider-Man action figure. Back when I was a kid, I had my eye on
this car for a year or two and I really wanted it for my own Mego
Spider-Man. It was always exciting when we got the newest Sears Wish
Book and the 1978 edition was chocked full of goodies. Between all the
cool Star Wars stuff, I must have circled a dozen items or more
including The Amazing Spider-Car.
From the 1978 Sears Wish Book
Christmas that year was one of my favorites from childhood. I got so many cool toys that year! (Check out my blog post on the Star Wars Death Star playset.) I pretty much did backflips when I opened my Spider-Car gift. As soon as I pulled the car out of the box, I remember running to my bedroom grabbing my Mego Spidey and putting him in the driver's seat. In no time, I was rolling the Spider-Car across our shag carpet and releasing the special spidernet. Watch out super villains, The Amazing Spider-Car is on duty!
About a week later we had a pretty good ice storm that created a nice blanket of glassy ice all over our driveway and road. I had the brilliant idea that it would be fun to play with my Amazing Spider-Car on the ice. I had a blast zinging Spidey in his Spider-Car over the frozen road. Boy could that car go!
I was having so much fun! I was out there for at least an hour or more
watching one of my favorite Christmas gifts slip and slide. Eventually I
got too cold and moved indoors with my Spider-Car in hand. Once Mom
fueled me up with some hot chocolate, I was ready for another round of
Spidey ice racing. It was not to be. I grabbed my Spider-Car and noticed
it was cracked in three or four places. Not small cracks, but big
cracks all down the sides. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Oh was I a bummed out little kid. My Spider-Car was broken. I guess it
cracked because of the cold or I pressed down too hard when I was
playing with it. Regardless, I had a busted up Spider-Car. My Dad tried
to mend it but my Spider-Car wasn't the same and it eventually was
thrown away. A few years earlier we had to replace my Mego Spider-Man
figure. The elastic holding his arms and legs together snapped. Unlike
my Spidey figure, for some reason my Spider-Car wasn't replaced. Not
sure why, but I blame Star Wars. The store probably didn't have a
Spider-Car at the time and I probably picked out a Star Wars toy
instead.
At least I had a few day with my Amazing Spider-Car and apparently I had enough fun playing with it on the ice to make a lasting memory!
At least I had a few day with my Amazing Spider-Car and apparently I had enough fun playing with it on the ice to make a lasting memory!
