What’s The Worst Car Toy You Had Growing Up?

Was a monster truck your nightmare toy? Photo: Aleksandar Jovanovic/Anadolu Agency (Getty Images)

For most of us, our first encounters with cars were either in the back of our family runaround or in the form of a chunk of plastic that we played make believe with all day, every day. And while some toys like classic Bond cars will always hold a special place in my heart, other car toys are just plain awful.

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That’s why today, we’re asking you for the worst car toys you ever played with while you were growing up. So, what have you got?

Did you have a Little Tikes pickup truck growing up when all you really wanted was Cozy Coupe? What about a slick-looking Hess Truck that turned out to be nothing more than a glammed up police cruiser? Both awful toys to have to deal with when you’re a car-obsessed five-year-old.

So whether it’s a fire station set that was all wrong, a hand-me-down Lego car with bits missing or even a Mazda plushie, we want to hear about the awful car toys you had when you were young.

For me, it was more the expectation that ruined the reality of this toy when I was a kid. I always wanted a Scalextric slot car set and came close, but instead ended up with a knock-off track that my dad had gotten free with his office supplies company. Apparently that’s a thing?

It was fun to unpack and set up, but then as soon as the cars were ready to race things started going wrong. Whenever you so much as looked at the controls for the cars, they would fly off uncontrollably under the sofa and smash into pieces. The destruction was fun, but it wasn’t quite the closely-fought on-track battles I’d hoped to recreate with a Scalextric track of my own.

What similar stories have you got? We want to hear your picks for the worst toy cars you had when you were growing up. So head to the comments section below and let us know the worst of the worst. We’ll round up a slideshow of some of the terrible toys next week.