Forgotten toys of the USSR: cars

You can talk as long as you like about whether the communist regime lived well or not. But hardly anyone will argue with two things. Firstly, the USSR was a great state. Secondly, the products in those days were made for centuries. The history of the Soviet Union is divided into several epochs, each of which is directly connected with rather tragic events of a global scale. First of all, these are wars, so it is no wonder that all the forces of the state were directed at strengthening the army and military power.

Goods of mass demand were also produced, but their assortment was meager, and some of the lots were almost boxed. Especially scarce were considered high-quality and interesting children's products: clothes, shoes, girls' dolls and boy's cars. Toys of the USSR - this is generally a separate topic for conversation, because they got it with great difficulty. Therefore, they were valuable for children and adults.

The queue, "blat" or ... nothing

The basis of the Union's economy was strict centralization. Upstairs, in the ministries, all the issues were solved. The instructions concerned absolutely everything. So, the officials made decisions about which republic, which factory and template would make furniture, textiles, tableware, clothes and even children's typewriters. Toys of the USSR were also produced on schedule and on agreed sketches.

Among them were cheap products for the broad masses of workers. But on sale there were also quite rare, collectible models. If the dolls and puppets were not anything outstanding, then the iron cars are the toys of the USSR, which collectors from all over the world are still dreaming of getting in personal bins. To replenish the stores of toy cars of those times has always been a difficult and costly affair.

Limited series, as well as a relatively high price, became a serious obstacle for children and parents, so toys were not bought often, but if the child was being given such a gift, he would save his jewel as the apple of his eye.

Children will not understand

Modern children living in the era of a developed market economy, when the shelves are bursting with an abundance of different goods for every taste and purse, it is very difficult to understand how the children living in the last century could spend hours looking at the store window of a dozen cars and for years dreaming of collecting this collection . In the "Children's World" and in the toy department of supermarkets it was always possible to buy inexpensive plastic machines.

Toys of the USSR did not differ in brightness and functionality. They were simple, reliable and strong, made with the expectation that the child will play with them for more than one year. There were also several interactive games in the assortment ("At the wheel", "Young driver"), in which the player controlled the car with the help of a rudder, in addition, there were models with remote control.

The peak production and prevalence of these toys fell during the exploration of outer space, and therefore among them were a lunar rover, planet-flyer and futuristic cars. The USSR toys were also rich in various variations of machines with an inertial mechanism. Among them, racing cars, off-road car "Barhan" and small copies of real Muscovites, Uziks, "Volga" were very popular.

Dream

The most coveted toys are typewriter-autoligends of the USSR, exact copies of their older brethren, only on a reduced scale. They were modelers, 43 times smaller than real cars, but their pride was the highest quality and beautiful appearance.

These toys are now the largest financial value in private collections. During production, the cost of such machines fluctuated around 10 rubles - the amount by which a family of 3-4 people could quite live for a week. Prototypes of these toys were the already rarified cars brands IZH, VAZ, "Moskvich", UAZ, ZIL, ambulances, police, emergency services, rare cars "Victory", "Volga", "Seagull". In them everything was good, decisively everything: a strong metal case, swinging doors, a hood opening, a trunk, and sometimes even glowing lights.

Not children's games

These are wonderful toys of the USSR - cars that were proudly displayed by children among schoolmates, and even the fathers of families were happy to twiddle their dreams in their hands, albeit in a much smaller version. It was the metal modelers that were most often collectibles and were rarely carried out for mischievous games in the yards. Thanks to this, a lot of them have survived to this day.

In flea markets and auctions for such a machine will have to pay a lot of money, especially if in its original appearance there were no changes. Cars in perfect condition, in which all the parts in place, the factory painting, or even the packaging, is preserved, can be sold at specialized trading floors for 3-4 thousand rubles. Their less fortunate brethren, rusted or with other defects, are offered for more acceptable 1-1,5 thousand.

Toys from a tree

But many forgotten toys of the USSR - cars made of wood. Now sometimes you can meet small trucks with wooden cab and body. These are rather angular, heavy machines, but their plus is strength and endurance. What can I say, the children often saddled such specimens on horseback and rode them along long corridors.

This disrespectful attitude could not withstand even the most reliable metal toys, so now on sale they are extremely rare. Other wooden amusements of the times of the Soviet Union were beautifully decorated chickens and roosters, wheelchairs and rocking horses.

Heavyweights

No less favorite toys in the USSR are trucks. That distant country was rich in both heavy trucks and dump trucks of very different caliber and composition. Most often they were made of tin and plastic or in their combined combination (a cabin of solid plastic, and the body - metal).

Up to now, there have been a lot of such toys, not only small trucks for home games, but also models designed for a trip to the street. For the boys there was no greater joy than dragging a heavy metal car on the road, while loading it with stones and sticks found in the yard.

A little prose

But, of course, the most affordable, and therefore popular in the USSR, were inexpensive plastic toys. Among the machines made of plastic, a variety of trucks, tractors and other toy farming and construction equipment were sold in stores (even a combine harvester, a concrete mixer, a crane) could be found.

Unlike metal counterparts who were not rich in finishing, such machines were equipped with glass, headlights. Sometimes electromechanical models with remote control were sold.

Distinctive features of plastic toys of that time were pretty faded colors that did not fade with time, and extreme resistance to shocks and wear, which made them almost unbreakable.

Pedal cars

The dream of any child was the pedal toys of the USSR. Cars, photos of which are presented, are not copies of any certain cars, designers designed free-design toys. Nevertheless, they quite vividly demonstrate the machine-building fashion of the last century.

This pedal machine was equipped with a wide and comfortable seat, the steering wheel and, in fact, a pedal mechanism. Overclocking, she took a small one, but with proper skill the driver could go at a speed of up to 8 km / h, which at a considerable weight (about 15 kg) was quite impressive and dangerous. Such cars were a rarity in children. Produced in small quantities. But even despite a decent price (25 Soviet rubles), they sold out very quickly.

Until now, there are not many such machines. But those that are, many owners are restoring. Then expose to auction, helping out for old toys a lot of money.