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Green Machine
by Marx
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Read memories from others. |
More memories from:
2003-2005
This memory was added on: May 20, 2007
I remember watching the commercials on TV and wanting a green machine so bad. I was probably 4 and very small for my age, and my parents kept saying they didn't think I could ride it. Christmas day, there it was, under the tree. I was SO excited, and spent the next few hours riding it up and down the hall, hating the snow. I couldn't wait for Spring. I remember I couldn't reach the pedals all the way, so I would take up the hill in front of my house and go flying down the hill, then peel out towards the bottom and slide all over. They make green machines again, and unlike most toys, the new ones are metal when the old ones were plastic... They even have the slide out wheels. Sometimes I wonder if I'm small enough to fit. =)
RyAnne
1974
This memory was added on: May 14, 2007
I remember when i was ridin fast then i turned quikly then my back axel comes off so im flipin then my steering brakes off it sucked
alex young
1992
This memory was added on: May 8, 2007
I remember driving my green machine at the age 8-9 years old and drove mine til the tires went flat,cause they were plastic tires. It was awesome ride,they do incredible donuts and til my son learns how to pedal, i want my son to have the experience the fun and excitement of the green machine
william
1972
This memory was added on: May 8, 2007
That thing could do the best spin outs ever!! I was the coolest girl in the neighborhood When the plastic seat broke my dad replaced it with one he made out of wood. What a Dad!
Lisa
1966
This memory was added on: May 5, 2007
I remember the kid across the street had a Green Machine. He was the kid with the divorced parents so he had a house full of the toys my brother and I wanted. Our parents never wanted to spend the kind of money that a guilty divorced dad would. To top it off, that kid was the most selfish sob you'd ever meet. He never let anyone even try his Green Machine, we had to settle for riding our Big Wheels.
Curt
1969
This memory was added on: April 26, 2007
When i was a kid i snuck up to the attic around my birthday and to my joy i found a hidden green machine. I was the envy of my brothers on my wicked cool big wheel.
rich
1974
This memory was added on: April 20, 2007
I remember when I turned 6 years old. I had just came out of Kindergarden. My Mother surprised me with a Greenmachine. It was the coolest looking Big Wheel Ever. I remember riding it fast and making sharp turns. it was awsome. Now that I have a son who just turned 3 years old. I am planning on buying him one too. I think He would enjoy it as much as I enjoyed mine.
1974
This memory was added on: April 4, 2007
This had to be the best toy that I ever had. I had a bike but I always wanted to ride the green machine. I can recall me and my brother racing, and spinning out. Wow...those were the days!!!
Wallace Harper
1974
This memory was added on: March 27, 2007
i wish that i can have a green machine for my birthday ! i wanted one for a long time but i want the old kind !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i wish that yall still made them but mama said that they didn't make my age group but she wants to by me clothes instead buutv i really want a old green machine for my birthday!!!!!!!! thats what i really want !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Caitlyn Payne
1995
This memory was added on: March 17, 2007
I was lucky enough to have not one, but two green machines. The original one and a "special edition" called the green machine "shadow". It was still green but had white and gold stripes and most importantly it had a huge rear wing. My best buddy and I used to play dukes of hazard with the other kids on our street. He was blond so he played Bo Duke and I played Luke. We each rode on a green machine. The other kids on our street had tricylcles; the where the police. I remeber my dad ordering replacement front wheels for both my green machines at least 2 times each. That toy was without a doubt, my all time favorite.
Serge
1972
This memory was added on: March 13, 2007
My friends and I would cut holes in the wheels of those green machines and fill the tires up with what we called "smokey dirt" You know that white powder like stuff. I wish I could find some tires for my truck that are made out of that stuff those green machine wheels were made of. They lasted forever.
Darrell
1968
This memory was added on: February 23, 2007
Oh, man the Green Machine was awesome. I got one for Christmas the year it came out and rode it all over the neighborhood. My best friend made his mother buy him one and we would recklessly skid around the whole neighborhood. The trick to the GM was you needed a good place to ride it, you needed some wide sidewalks or open streets. The one thing the GM didn't have was the "clicker" that was on a Big Wheel. Which was just as well since on my street there were two Dobermans that hated the sound of Big Wheels "clicking" past their drive way. I think I rode my Green Machine for two years before I just like riding my Schwinn bike. In the mid-1970s having a Schwinn bike was still the gold standard.
Lincoln
1969
This memory was added on: February 15, 2007
I remember my Green Machine. My Aunt Nancy bought it for me. It was the sweetest thing a skinny lil girl like me ever saw. It took me forever to be big enough to actually ride it, but oh man it was worth the wait. I remember I used to ride it down our long driveway In Circleville Ny and spin out just shy of Rt 302. Ive heard it described as dangerous, it probably was. And to think I never even wore a helmet! They dont really make cool riding toys like that anymore...even the big wheels seem to lack something of the 70's era toys.
Joannah Trimboli-Bill
1974
This memory was added on: February 15, 2007
This was the most bitter part of my childhood. I never had a green machine. I had, and loved my big wheel, but my friend with the green machine was just a little more cool than me. Maybe I'll get one now...do they hold 195 lbs?
Byron
1971
This memory was added on: February 4, 2007
I can make it on a Big Wheel, I don't need no Green Machine!
Flash Gordon
2012
This memory was added on: January 31, 2007
It was the early 80's and my cousins and I rode that green machine down hills, sidewalks and steps for hours on end. My grandpa kept it under the porch. We only stop riding long enough to eat watermelon and have seed spitting contests. My "Green Machine" memories are sweeter than that cool melon juice that ran off my chin those hot summer day. Man, I miss being a kid in 1985.
Matt
1978
This memory was added on: January 15, 2007
I saw the commercial and I had to have it. My parents and I went to the toy store (Children's Palace), my dad assembled it and I instantly became the ONLY kid in the neighborhood with the real GREEN MACHINE! FUN TIMES, FUN TIMES!!!
My neighbor's parents bought her a BATMAN reject Green Machine by another brand. We were the only young kids in our neighborhood and two of us would ride all day, in the middle of the street. I swear we'd reach speeds of at least 25-30mph when descending those hills (SOUTHERN HILLS). Hers was long destroyed but my GREEN MACHINE was still in the garage when I left for college.
I was the envy of all the boys in our predominantly white neighborhood. I was a girl, a black girl at that, AND I had a GREEN MACHINE!!!!!! My most favorite toy! --I stumbled upon this site while looking for another one to purchase, for myself!
d
1972
This memory was added on: December 26, 2006
Retro toys, what a great site! I was an only child and was lucky enough to have gone though two Big Wheels and one Green Machine, all of which I loved. But when I look back as a kid I preferred the big wheel. Granted when you first look at your new Green Machine sitting next to all your friends sun faded Big Wheels it looked like an exotic sports car but it had it's draw backs. Most kids had hills to ride down and that was fun with both BW and GM but pushing the GM up a hill was a PAIN. The BW was short and the handle bars were up far enough where you could just stand behind the BW and put your hands on the bars and push, very practical, but the GM was long and low and had no place to push, if you leaned over the back you would need to put your hands on the turning levers to push and if you did that with out keeping the same amount of force on both levers the GM would rapidly turn and could flip you over the side so I had to pick the back two wheels up and wheelbarrow the unstable thing up the hill. Also the seat was thin and flimsy so when the fat bully sat on my GM the seat cracked. So I went back to my sun faded flat spotted Big Wheel and had a blast!
Benjamin L Self
1970
This memory was added on: December 17, 2006
by far the koolest toy ever made! I had to buy one for my son and he loves it as does every other kid on the block.I still have my original green machine from the 70s and now my son has the new one. two generations of fun for one great idea.so many wonderful memories, however I am at least 150 lbs too big for this toy now and would consider selling it to any interested party.
Brian
1966
This memory was added on: December 9, 2006
My favorite memory about my Green Machine was, my mom told my sister and I to write our Christmas wish list. I put a Green Machine for my first choice. One day a few days before Christmas (i still believed in santa claus), my mom asked me to get a blanket out of my dad's closet in their bedroom, she was about to take a nap on the couch and when i opened my dad's closet door, all of my Christmas gifts were at the top of the closet and what stood out was my green machine. I was so happy to see it however, that meant their wasn't a Santa Claus. My bestfriend also got one as well for Christmas. We rode those Green Machine's as if we were racing at nascar
Deanie Johnson
1971
This memory was added on: December 1, 2006
As a Child is san francisco I had a green machine, taking such risk flying down the streets of s.f. Lived in the sunset in the hills of quantera and racing down hills and only praying to stop at the bottom without hurting myself. Sometimes it was a success and sometimes a disaster! The green machine was my best friend.....
Stacy Bornia
1968
This memory was added on: November 25, 2006
I'll never forget the Green Machine! I never even had one, but my friend did. I think I only rode it a few times, but dreamed of riding it all of the time. It was so much cooler than the Big Wheel.
Mike
1969
This memory was added on: November 20, 2006
The 1970's were great!!!!! All those trips down Murphy's Hill on my Green Machine!!!!!
Todd M., Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
Todd Meister
1968
This memory was added on: November 7, 2006
those were the dayze!!!!
DEADSY
1971
This memory was added on: November 2, 2006
The Green Machine was always the one everybody wanted to ride. My cousins had every rideable bike, trike there was. Which was great because the also had a very long driveway that wrapped around the house to a huge hill in the back. We'd start out at the top of the hill, pedaling like fiends, racing to the end of the driveway. There were some collisions and rollovers but we had a blast. We all became experts at spinning out at the end of the race.
Scott
1962
This memory was added on: September 19, 2006
Wow. I wound up here while searching for some old photographs of the original Green Machine. I never had one myself, but two of my best friends did. I remember how priviledged I felt being able to ride them. There were big wheels, and then there was The Green Machine. One of the few childhood toys that created life-long memories. In fact, the memories are so strong that "Green Machine" is what I call my green Neon--my grown up street-toy that I throw around in much the same way I did that '70s classic...
Al
1970
This memory was added on: August 26, 2006
My green machine was great!.....The thing they are passing off as a green machine today is bogus...lol...nothing ever compared to the trill of riding a green machine.Especiallt if you were the only kid that had one...Unfortunately Mine was stolen and my fun ended...Was never quite the same after that, but hey life went on...The Green Machine was one of if not the greatest childhood memory I had...By the way, do anybody remember the fake purple one that came out...lol
Johnny E. Sampson
1971
This memory was added on: August 8, 2006
What's a "Big Wheel"?
My green machine was my favorite toy of my childhood. I could go any place, I was mobile, and faster than all the other kids on the block. Remember the kids that had the flat sided tire on the big wheel and couldn't go anywhere because the tire had no traction??
My GM would just keep going.....until one day I parked it too close to the trash pick-up..........my GM was gone..............x-mas day i got a huffy.............
just wasn't the same
Phillip
1971
This memory was added on: August 8, 2006
Deadly toy. Big hills, loose neighborhood dogs, lacked the stability of the Big Wheel, stitches and road rash - no fond memories here.
Joe L.
1964
This memory was added on: July 25, 2006
Im pretty sure it was in 1976 when I got a GM for my birthday. I was envied by all of the kids on their gay big wheels. This was in Danville, Virginia. Shortly thereafter, our family moved to Richmond and we lived on a steep cul-de-sac. I could go down the length of that court and give her the lever slam and do about three 360s. All the other kids were amazed. Those were good times.
But what ended it for me was a rollover crash. I was really going fast on one run, faster than ever before. The end of the court was comming up and I had way too much speed going. People are talking about brakes, but mine had no such thing. The only way to stop was to put down your feet...And that wasnt working, so I went into the spin...and flipped over. I blacked out when my head bashed the street.
My much older brother had been watching me through a large window upstairs and saw it happen. He scooped me up off of the street and got me into the bathtub to clean off the blood and see if I had broken bones. We have had a closer relationship since that event, and I have some cool scars.
I donated my beloved GM to my cousin who rode it until the wheels fell apart. And if I could get another one, I would take it to that same street and do the spins.
cheesebeer
1969
This memory was added on: July 14, 2006
I guess it was around 1976 and it was Christmas eve. I was hoping to get a Green Machine from my Mom that night and it was all I had talked about. The time came to open gifts. They brought this big cardboard box out. I tore into it and on removing the contents found a long wooden 2x4 with a single wheel on front and two on the rear. It had a crude seat made of plywood. In bold letters on the side it read 'The Green Machine'. I just stared at it as they laughed. After a few minutes, they asked if I liked it. Once they had finished with their fun, they rolled the real deal into the room! (much to my relief) I rode it for hours that night.
SWalker
1969
This memory was added on: July 10, 2006
Ahh the green machine... all of my friends had big wheels but i had the coolest ride of all... while their front tire wore out from pedal stopping, my green machine tire was perect, due to the sweet sweet slide stops that were possible with the lever steering... wow i miss that thing!
James
1975
This memory was added on: July 7, 2006
My brother and I each had one and we kept them at my grandparents' house. We couldn't wait to get there and ride them. They had a dozen or so rock steps in the back that led to the lower level. My brother and I would get a big start from the driveway out front and go down those stairs. Such a blast! Here I am at 34 and I'm buying two for my kids! Glad to see they make them in the adult size now. I may have to get one myself!!
Kim
1972
This memory was added on: June 30, 2006
I had one when I was a kid in... hmm... '78... It was the hit of the neighborhood... I loved it. Incidentally, Green Machines did NOT have any type of "brake."
Tonus
1969
This memory was added on: June 30, 2006
The green machines were necessities with my five kids in five years...what a way to exhaust them, keep them healthy and happy...great memories...I NOW NEED HELP IN FINDING A WIGGLE-WAGON riding toy which was propelled by gyrating your body side to side as you pulled the handle bar left-right-left-right. The sculpted sitting base was a bit of a triangle with the handle bar at the front point. E-mail me at Gin-448@Juno.com I have some children with special needs who would dearly benefit from such a wagon.
Virginia Helgeson
1946
This memory was added on: June 29, 2006
The Green Machine---- without question, the absolute Shit! My mother wasn't so fond of the black marks I would leave on her carport after tearing down the driveway and spinning out just short of the brick wall (most of the time, anyway.) Ah, to have an adult Green Machine. If they make it, I'm on the waiting list! "If you build it, they will come..."
charters
1970
This memory was added on: June 17, 2006
To Wil - actually, they do make Big Wheels for adults now, LOL. I saw a website for them a little while ago, and they can hold up to 250lbs.
I had an Inch Worm, then I graduated to a Big Wheel, then when I outgrew that, my parents bought me a Green Machine. I was the coolest kid on the block for a while, we used to have races down the street; everyone else had Big Wheels and I had the only Green Machine. I loved how I could do 180's on it at high speed, just by slamming the levers :-)
Toni Oliver
1970
This memory was added on: June 16, 2006
The green machine reminded me of a three wheel toy i received in the early 70's. It was metal, blue and had a sitck you used to steer it. Any one remember this?
marty
nwr_contact
This memory was added on: June 11, 2006
I had a green machine when I was a kid. I used go as fast as I could down the street then hit the brake and SPIN! It was the greatest thrill! Too bad some bastard stole it. I wish they had an adult sized green machine. I think I might make one...
shaw
1974
This memory was added on: June 7, 2006
I had a Big Wheel. A hand me down one at that, but it did have the small storage bin behind the adjustable seat. BUT....the rich kid down the street had a Green Machine. That was the shiznizzle. He was a nice rich kid though and let me ride it all the time. Just last week I told my buddy they should make Big Wheels for adults and he said, "They're called bicycles." When I was a kid all I wanted was a kid version of my dad's Jeep. Now I'm almost 40 and I want an adult's version of a Big Wheel.
Wil Whalen
1968
This memory was added on: June 1, 2006
Did you ever have the thought..."If I could change something from the past, what would it be?" I often think back to the green machine! I had a regular old Big Wheel, but my little brother had the Green Machine. We used to love racing it around the pool, until he slid his rear tire into the deep end causing my older sister to dive in to rescue him (in the winter!) That's not what I wish to change though... seriously he's fine, successful and now is married and has 2 beautiful daughters of his own. It was shortly after the pool incident, that he and I along with a group of neighborhood friends were racing up and down the street. He was becoming bothersome and annoying as younger siblings do and hearing the sounds of the garbage truck turning onto the street I decided to make my move when he dis-embarked the Green Machine. That's right I tossed it a-top a garbage pail and off it went to the dump. If I only new it would become a nostalgic relic, and if we kept it in good condition his adorable girls could enjoy it today!
Amy
1974
This memory was added on: May 28, 2006
I would ride it from sun up to sun down in our cul-de-sac round and round I would go...The neighbors complained about the noise, so my folks added a liberal coating of silicon to the wheels to quiet the plastic wheel/concrete friction sound (that I loved to no end). The wheel treatment only lasted a few days, as I was frustrated with the amount to work it now took to pedal, and the new rubber coating eliminated the burn out potential so I peeled it all off!
-jimmy
1973
This memory was added on: May 27, 2006
THE GREEN MACHINE WAS AND STILL IS....THE SHIT!! My first encounter with the Green Machine was in 1979 ( I remember the year because I briefly lived with my grandma ...God Rest Her Soul). Grandma just bought me my first BIG WHEEL! It was a Spider-Man one Red, White, Blue, the works! When I got it home and showed the kids on the block, one of them said: "I got something way better" Sean ran into his parents' garage and voila! out came this monstrous contraption.....THE GREEN MACHINE! When I saw it, all I could do was say "Darnit, I didn't see that one in the store.." To make a long story short(er), I never got to actually own a Green Mchine, but the hours of fun I had riding Sean's (after sneaking into his parents' gagrage and "borrowing" it) made up for not having the coveted kids' ride the 70's.
Omar
1972
This memory was added on: May 18, 2006
The Green Machine is not crap. I remember my nephew playing with one and the secret behind the Green Machine was it's ability to lean into a turn. Just like a two wheeled motorcycle. Imagine, a three wheeled car capable of leaning into a turn getting motorcyle milage.
It could make the oil companies tremble in fear.
Phil
1952
This memory was added on: May 13, 2006
Whoa nelly--
I used to have a Green Machine and was telling a friend recently about it. I couldn't remember how it worked but I described it as having an 'octopus' movement to it. I remember wearing out the wheels and taping them up where the skidded out holes were. Good times....
1971
This memory was added on: May 11, 2006
See this? A seven stitch scar....High speed Green Machine collision...I'm still proud of it....
Mark
1960
This memory was added on: May 7, 2006
Oh my god. The Green Machine was the coolest toy ever back in the late 70s. I reckon i got mine when i was about 7 or 8 and living in Australia. I used to rip down streets that were hilly and pull one lever at the bottom and make the sucker spin round. I think i even rolled it a few times. What i would love to go back to those care free days. The green machine was classic. I think someone liscenced the name a few years back as i am sure i saw a new model green machine for sale somewhere here in the UK. (where i now live) Ashley Irons 33 year old ex Green Machine rider ;-)
ashley irons
1972
This memory was added on: April 13, 2006
To Chris Bretl---You are so right! on our Clay St. block, my daughter had a green machine, her brothers big wheels, and all the other kids had big wheels---Only one Green Machine on that block, and my daughter Queen of the hill! Christmas 1978
Kathy Recicar
1954
This memory was added on: April 10, 2006
my green machine was distroyed by bullies. does anyone remeber the gm rival red baron. our was that a figment of my imagination.
mike
1969
This memory was added on: March 30, 2006
i had my first experience on a green machine and loved every second of every powerslide on some very smooth surfaces even managed to spill a few times but got back up and off again, i couldnt help but notice a small lack of power and speed so am venturing out to modify a green machine with the addition of a go kart engine, bigger brakes, rubber slicks etc etc but am lacking original schematics to work from. any help would be much appreciated.
Mark
1985
This memory was added on: March 7, 2006
wow.... I use to have one of these rockets, loved it for about a summer until I wore it out....then I grew a bit and forgot about it for a while, then out of no-where i thought about it again....the all mighty green machine....i want one again....
Randy
1973
This memory was added on: February 22, 2006
OH! The mighty Green Machine. My Dad was a dragracer with a choptop 1957 funny car with the hottest paint job on the track. Naturally, I could only drive the best and the best was the Green Machine. I was the envy of all the little dirty drag racers children with beer tab necklaces and beer can tap shoes. Oh, what memories, if only those assets would work for me now.
Debbie
1971
This memory was added on: February 19, 2006
One of the best toys I ever had! I remember having to wait tell Christmas of 77, I do believe, to get it and then to find out we had to put the thing together. That wasn't the worst part though.. We ended up having to exchange it because it didn't have all the pieces. Finely, after waiting forever to get it together, I was able to ride it. And ride I did! There where two other kids on the block who also had one, and we became the GM threeow! I remember at one point my set broke off with all the three eighties I did, but that didn't stop me from riding it. I just took some small puffy pillow and used it as a set. It wasn't as comply, but some how I learned how to make it work with out falling off of it. I figured it just made me a better rider.lol I remember a couple years later giving it away when we had to move and didn't have room to take it along. Funny, because even with out the set, the kid I gave it to was very excited to receive it.
Diana
1968
This memory was added on: February 16, 2006
I never had a green machine, though I lusted after one almost every day of my life until age 8 or so. Every big wheel gang had 1 green machine. never 2 or 3 but only 1. The green machine's owner automaticly became the alpha male of the naborhood big wheel scene. if you strayed out past "the big road" into another gangs turf ... you dare not run into a green machine on the road. stories of green machine sightings would surface amoung the kids in my naborhood, but the only one we new existed for sure was housed in an apartment building basement. the kid who owned it was not allowed to bring it outside, so i only saw it in action a handfull of times. each one of those encounters is loged in my memory in vivid detail. MY GOD the glory of that machine. Power slides like you have never seen. I don't own a Ferrari, but if I did.... I trade it for an origonal Green Machine even steven.
chris bretl
1978
This memory was added on: February 10, 2006
They DO make them for adults. Sadly they are sold out often.
Anthony Munoz
1970
This memory was added on: February 8, 2006
Oh my goodness! The picture of this thing still haunts me to this day. I was riding behind my sister on her Green Machine and was probably 4 or 5 years old at the time. My foot was caught on the ground and dragging behind us so I am yelling at her to stop. What does she do? She pulls on the dratted handle so the thing spun around in a semi-circle with my foot trapped beneath/behind it. I still sport the scar on the inside ankle of my right foot. Thanks a lot for that one Tiffany and The Green Machine
KaTonya
1975
This memory was added on: February 6, 2006
As an adult some days seem just too hard, and then I thought about my green machine. I wish they made them in adult sized so that on days like these I could go screaming through the hallways and slide out in front of the CEO's office. Boy, would that make my day! PLEASE someone build an adult sized Green Machine...
Jennifer
1970
This memory was added on: January 26, 2006
The Green Machine was the greatest 3 wheeled vehicle ever created, and far superior to a Big Wheel by the way. I used to aim mine down hill and when top speed was reached----jam on the levers for an awesome slide/donut. I would get another one if I weighed 180 or less!!!
Scott
1966
This memory was added on: January 23, 2006
Back in 1978 our soccer team was named after the famous "Green Machine" big wheel.
Jeanine
1971
This memory was added on: January 12, 2006
I grew up in a family of 8 and was the only child to experience the joy of the g.m. my mom bought me one in 1976-1977 for my b-day.I had it for a few years,but it seemed like every time I had some type of riding toy my brothers would get ahold of it and they would shoot at it or blow it up with M80'S. About ten years ago I went back to my childhood home and found the complete back axle in the field next to the my old neighbors house. Just looking at that brought back good memories.I have a 5yr. old now and I would like her to be able to share the same old memories.
joe
1972
This memory was added on: January 8, 2006
I lived in Texas at the time, I begged my mom for it seemed like months for one. I finally got one about '78 or '79. I was ecstatic! I literally rode the wheels off that thing before a big kid on my block got on it and collapsed and broke the axle joint. But I never forgot it. Fast Fwd 25+ years: My son was 9 last Christmas and HE saw the commercials on t.v. and begged for one and Santa got him one for Christmas last year. It was the very first white Christmas I ever saw (in West Tenn) and he was riding around sliding on the snow up and down our driveway. He had that look on his face like I must have had back in the day. I just wish the G.M. I owned back then had all the improvements of today's. Especially the metal frame.
Clint
1968
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