Teenage jealousies revisited

I’ve just brought one of these, it’s a toy and I’m heading for the senior end of adulthood:

BIG TRAK / bigtrak is a programmable toy electric vehicle created by Milton Bradley in 1979, resembling a futuristic Sci-Fi tank / utility vehicle. The original Big Trak was a six-wheeled (two-wheel drive) tank with a front-mounted blue “photon beam” headlamp, and a keypad on top. The toy could remember up to 16 commands, which it then executed in sequence. There also was an optional cargo trailer accessory, with the UK version being white to match its colour scheme; once hooked to the Bigtrak, this trailer could be programmed to dump its payload.

WikipediA

Here’s what the original listing said:

Item probably does not work. I recall attempting to fix corroded terminals years ago and it’s still not working. I do not have D cell batteries to test now.

EBay

I was just browsing around as I do and this popped up on my timeline, the wife is going to disown me for bringing such junk into the house, however for a split second 14 year old me was in the house and a flood of memories, not all good came back to me. These toys came out in 1979 when I was aged 14. My friend over the way from me was brought one of these for Christmas and I experienced one of my first ever episodes of Jealousy. Back in 1979 I believe they retailed for approximately £39 Gbp, and my parents weren’t about to part with hard earned cash to invest in developing technology like computing – “It’ll never last, it’s just a fad” (Famous last words).

I made every excuse possible to go around his house to play and even offered to look after it for him when he went on holiday, he never let me though and I believe at that moment my friend realised what the term obsessive meant, as he was experiencing it big time with me.

Now I own one, however this is the later version from 2010, it only cost me £9.99 Gbp and its probably a wreck, but I’m really going to treat this like a proper full sized car restoration and I want this to work, crikey I’ve even found out I can buy the original decals from Australia, so it’s patently obvious the obsession is still there.

I can’t say I have genuinely looked so forward to a parcel arriving as much as this one. I sincerely hope I have no regrets…. And I have all fingers crossed.

This is going to be a labour of love and I can’t wait.

I will keep you updated.

Head over to the repair page here: Big Trak CE3962 restoration it was a pleasurable experience