By Murilee Martin
Because you need special shoes to stand on that gas pedal!
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Cars, Trucks, Bikes, Project Cars, DIY, Travel, Adventure, Podcast, Videos
Because you need special shoes to stand on that gas pedal!
Eric Rood 
Bradley Brownell
I could see Warren Oates wearing those with some classy sweaters.
Seeing this makes me kind of nostalgic. I wasn't alive then (my birth coming a decade later), but in a similar vein I remember sending away UPC tabs from cereal boxes for a Hot Wheels car or other toy. Remember that? You had to save up 5 UPC tabs (or some other random number designed to encourage parents to buy more of that brand of cereal) and fill out a form printed on the inside of the box, then send it away. In 6-8 weeks you got a package in the mail with your toy. In fact, I still did this in college, basing my cereal decisions on whichever one was offering the coolest toy.
A few weeks ago, while at the store with my wife, I grabbed a box of Frosted Flakes because it was offering a cool toy. I was disappointed to see that kids now fill out a form online (with their parent's help, of course). I wonder if they still have to wait 6-8 weeks. Wait, the US Postal Service hasn't gotten any better, so probably.
They did that back even in the forties — I have a bunch of old Superman radio episode sponsored by Kellogg's Pep, and they always had these promotions where you had to send in box tops.
Sorry, but all the childhood memories I get nostalgic about came before UPC codes. If I recall, they were invented around a week ago last Thursday.
When they re-mastered Star Wars you could get a free Mark Hamill/Luke Skywalker action figure with 3 UPC's plus p/h. I saved up UPCs and mailed them in. I'm still waiting for my god damn action figure….
Luke was a joke. You want to talk men worthy of action figures? Look no further than Han. (Me, objective? Of course!)
I still remember cutting out points on bags of Lay's 99c potato chips and mailing them into Planet Lunch for my sweet translucent purple digital pocket organizer that I still have!
http://www.mikegondek.com/canyouresist/ploids.htm…
Yeah, remember that? That was the only part of 5th grade that didn't suck!
I need to start saving PLOIDS!
I'm older than engineerd, so I remember sending in boxtops for premiums. I specifically remember sending in Cheerios box tops for a scale model of the all-new Ford Pinto. This was a substantial premium, and the wait was excruciating to me, a kid of no more than 8 or 9 years old. I remember it DID arrive, but after I built it, it didn't last too long. At least it didn't spontaneously combust after a collision with one of my Tonka trucks…
Did anyone else build model cars as a kid? Me and 'neerd are the same age, and I remember buying the old school model kits where you cut out the "golden wheels" (MPC was the brand) off of the side of the box. If you saved up, you could send them in to the company for various things depending on how many you hoarded.
When Marlboro Miles were hip, I never bothered to save them. Gave them away to whoever wanted them. I finally went through the trouble of saving up a bunch of them (I smoke like a chimney, unapologetically) and sent them in. What a bunch of crap I got back. Cheezy shit that looked fine in the catalog, but was junk. Except for the 12V air compressor. Still have it and use it although it takes forever to inflate a low tire. Anyway, I never bothered with that type of crap again.
I wish I had heard about this contest back then. Being six years old, the shoes wouldn't fit but selling the GTO would have scored me a lot of cool Matchbox and Corgi cars.
His-and-her's shoes to go with the his-and-her's transmission shifter!