I live in England & I’m 59 & I had the exact same one & I loved it! It was my favourite toy! It must have been I’ve been searching for the name of it for years thank you 🙏 now I can try to find one for my grandson
@@ToyKingWonder I remember having a police car and airplane in the 1960s that ran on 4 size D batteries. The police car had real smoke come out of its tail pipe!
That U-Drive-It really brings back memories. I used to have one of those back in the '70s and it was my favorite toy. I loved that thing! It's amazing how simple toys were back then, but when you're a kid, they seem almost magical.
This surely brought a lot of fun times for many boys back then. This is the grandfather of Gran Turismo and NFS and all the other driving/racing sims out there.
I had a U-Drive-It as a kid! I played the hell out of it and loved every single minute. The other two are pretty cool, too, particularly the Matchbox one with the vacuum-formed tracks.
Yes, Sean, the Matchbox one is actually kind of mind bending, The illusion really can fool you into thinking the car is moving. When I was a kid I would see these advertised in like the Sears Wish Book and I could not for the life of me figure out how they worked!
@@rockettcustoms6266 Yes, the car stands still, except for moving side to side. The forward and backward movement is an illusion based on the road moving.
Very cool Toys. I am 55 and I remember seeing them. These are pre RC times. They did had slot cars when these were around. Toys back then were much better than today's toys.
I had a Matchbox version from the mid to late '70s that could be used with any Matchbox or Hot Wheels car.(included self-stick magnets that attached to the bottom of the car).The vac-form driving surface had larger peaks than the '60s version and the steering wheel was thicker but the concept was the same.It also had a pan and tilt feature that increased the driving challenge.Very cool!
Thanks, I was wondering if I had only imagined the existence of Matchbox Steer-n-Go. Amazing how the mechanics of the toy in my memory match the original form! I think the rotating landscape has influenced my interaction with the world and perspective on travel! Ha. Very cool to see this.
This was a toy that I would see in the Sears Catalog or other place and wonder, how does that work? There were a few toys like that, and or course, they still retain their magic all these years later. The Matchbox Motorway was another one, which I have but I must get better springs for it.
Wow, this is just fantastic! I've never thought there was this kind of toys, It was like the 3d real entertainment before video games. Each time had their own magic things, before electronics there was this creative mechanical and analog toys. Lovely :-)
It´s like Gran Turismo 0.1 I had this red annoying loud steering wheel thing with this tiny screen as a kid. I loved this thing. As an adult it is absolutely boring. But as a kid I played I am a Busdriver and my little brother is the annoying old passenger who argued with my mother one day cause we were too loud. He always died in a terrible bus accident. That is where the fun comes in.
@@Kellerkind80 haha, yeah for sure! That's a nice anecdote, I feel fortunate that I've enjoyed "the last decade" of cool analog toys if can say that way, there was also video games as I'm from the 90s, but I'd never change the magical environment that I was able to create as a child playing with my toys instead of video games. If I had the chance to choose between a 1/18 Bburago and a Nintendo (any version) or PS , I'd had always take a Bburago or so. My passion for diecast collectibles began with the old school toys of my Father that he let me play with, lovely cars made by GAMMA Toys, Schuco, Corgi, Matchbox, Arnold, Tonka, Polistil... , most of them with cool and mechanical features such turning wheels, suspension, horn, gears, etc. That was the toys paradise for me, a bit uncommon in a time of quite modern things too, but those little car toys had me playing delighted through my chillhood, I was careful while playing with diecast replicas as much as I could, knowing that they were not for playing, so most of them had survived... I just couldn't resist driving them by their steering and staring at the dashboard decals. That was such a preciuos experience. :-) Kind regards.
@@galptube211 Dating myself terribly, but I got the FIRST SET of Hot Wheels that his Denver Colorado (OK, the first batch of sets) and my parents got me the original Drag Set with the Firebird and the Cougar. I still have those cars. The Hot Wheels phenomenon was amazing....no one had ever made cars like this that would fly around at those speeds. I would play with them for hours. All based on gravity, talk about analog. And what fun times.
I used to stare at the steer and go in the Matchbox catalogue. It wasn't to be though, but at least now I know that it was as good as it looked. Thanks for posting.
That’s amazing.....I had a steer and go ......I was disappointed with it at first .....I wanted a scalextric......but once I started it up I was hooked and played it for months .....brilliant toy in the 70’s
Wow memories ! I also had a steer n go back in the late 70's. It was a challenge in the dark with the little torch light underneath. I rem it used to eat EVER READY batteries and then the motor burned out so i ended up using the road way as a huge frisbee. Thanks for posting
My brother and I had the Matchbox one and apart from the cars we also used the ROCO 1/87 minitanks, with a piece of magnet glued underneath. What memories!
For me the winner is the Matchbox toy, though it sounds you might be needing a new water pump or the bearing on an idler wheel is coming apart. (Fun. Thanks for the video.)
For me in 1970 the Steer and Go was the Holy Grail of Christmas gifts, sadly my dream of driving what I thought was the coolest thing I had ever seen would never be realized, no matter how much I asked it was not to be, great memories of those times anyway ty for posting this.
A great illustration of how Mattel have dropped the ball when it comes to toys. UA-cam is on a bender again stuck on my homepage in 2025. I bet it's served up to a whole lot of others as well.
Wow, I had the steer and go. One of those thing that I had completely forgot about but as soon as I saw it great childhood memories came back. I loved that game.
Been waiting forever for a U-Drive-It video. I barely remember it from the 70s and wasn't even sure it actually exists! The best I could find was a simple black and white advert. Here it is ... in all its glory! Thank you!
That Steer-n-go is fantastic. The little MG1100 - a variant of the ubiquitous Austin 1100, an English classic. The lengths they went to create that driving experiences is just admirable... and related to the earliest flight and driving simulators.
Just stumbled across this video....OMGosh I always wondered how this Matchbox Steer-n-Go worked! Saw it for years in the Sears Christmas catalog. Loved and still have many of my Matchbox cars & Trucks but this was too expensive for my Christmas wish list back in the early 70's. Many thanks for the detailed description of how it works and the great camera angles to show all the action. (I'm a video producer) Really appreciate this video and your time to go into the specific details. I finally now know the magic behind this great toy! Thank you Thank you!
Ah, so THAT'S how those toys worked. When I go them, I always thought they were broken, or something. Now I wish I still had them. Dang it. LOL Guess I'll head to ebay, and see if I can't find them. Had them back in the 60s, and 70s. Thanks for sharing this.
12:59 - As a kid, I inherited the "U-Drive-It" from family. Of course, it had been broken prior to being given to me, so as a 4 year old I just played with steering wheel and shifter. If I recall correctly, the rotating arm had cracked, so I was always curious how this toy looked when in operation. Thanks for sharing this video.
Absolutely brilliant! I'm in UK and I think it was the Matchbox one sold here that I have memories of. They are going for £400 on Ebay!!! Great channel. Subbed👍🏻
Thankyou for posting I saw matchbox steer and go in 1968 matchbox catalogue I cannot remember seeing them here in New Zealand new in the shops but did see one in a toy auction boxed in 1990s always wondered how it would work as I always wanted one!😀
10:37 that is a good angle for a commercial. I didn't know all this stuffs existed, these are very clever. I'd kill to have one of these in my childhood.
Got the U Drive It set for Christmas, 1974, my cars were both purple. Later I took some N scale cars from my train layout to use as "traffic" to maneuver around.
I LOVED my Matchbox Steer n go!! It oly came with one scenery disc tho. But it also came with a Matchbox VW Bug with racing stripe. I liked playing in the dark cus the headlights worked so well. I recall the timer/counter worked well and you could always try to better your last score. One of THE BEST toys I ever got For Christmas. :-)
Wow. A friend of mine used to have the Matchbox drive toy. I absolutely loved it and have been looking for one forever. So glad I've found your channel. I can show friends this every time we end up talking about how great things were when we were kids. Thanks.
Remember seeing the Matchbox Steer n Go advertised on TV at Christmas early mid 70s. Everywhere had sold out. I got a Scalextric instead and soon forgot about the Steer n Go till just. Looking on ebay I see one's going for £175.00
Great video and presentation! ... I remember that we had such a "Steer-n-Go" from Matchbox in the kindergarten in the late 70's! But this one there was a later edition from the Matchbox-Superfast-Era with a red Dodge Challenger... I remember playing this one made a lot of fun! ... maybe today those games will never again find there way into a kindergarten, because of the electricity, batteries etc. ... too dangerous for the kids of today... ;)
I wanted a play dashboard so badly as a kid but I guess it didn't seem a right toy for a girl at Christmas, I got a Chatty Cathy instead, bleecccchhh lol
i had the matchbox steer n go as a child in the late 70's as a gift from an auntie and uncle i loved it , it was the bees knees in its day, can't remember what happend to it though. wish i still had it as i would have passed it down to my own kids now as long as they looked after it. they do pop up on ebay every now and then but cost a fortune. i keep telling myself one of these days i'm gonna get myself one as i nice child hood keep sake nice vid mate.
Thanks ToyKingWonder for this cool video! I had a driving game similar to this but do not recall which one I actually had. I was a child in the 70s born in 1970 so I probably had one of these around 1978-1979. I remember the car was held on on the road surface similar to this with a magnet. Thanks again because I completely forgot about these toys which were amazing!! I am so very happy I grew up when I did!
I can remember wanting something like that when I was a kid. That last one is exceptionally good. I wonder did they provide extra moving discs with different roads and terrain. You must have some collection !
Very neat toys indeed, there is also one called Driving Test by Merrit from the UK thats similar to the first one but uses a gearstick to move the cars on the board that sits in a box. It had pieces you can place on the board to make moving the cars on the roads more difficult. As kids we used to place bets on each person if they hit an obstacle they had to pay up.
Im pretty sure i had the mattel driving school and that matchbox one, got them from a flea market, and of course they went in the trash when we moved like alot of my toys lol
I had one of them, i got it in 1975 for my birthday.. I managed to break it within hours.. but I thought it was a coolest thing ever, it didn’t matter it was broken my matchbox cars all joined in.. thanks for the memory.. 4:15
I am not sure when Matchbox started making these, there were a number of different models. One gent told me his actually tilted! I think they started around 1969 perhaps into the late 70s. Yes, they were awesome days, glad I lived through them, and I expose my two sons to as much of the magic as possible!
I used to have the U-Drive-It as a kid around 1973. I remember the "engine" felt pretty powerful but I was disappointed that the car had zero detail, and that the landscapes were "flat" and you can just drive over anything. Still had some fun with it tho'. The Matchbox Steer-n-Go looks like fun, especially since you can switch cars, I'm surprised I didn't get that because I was always a Matchbox collector, and still am (reg. wheels and Superfasts). Maybe I'll have to hit ebay soon. Great vid!
Thank you sir. I don't know why I didnt bug my parents for this either, I was the right age. I have no idea...I collected Matchboxes and Hot Wheels, and I would drool over the two catalogs and pick out what I wanted next. I also had a handful of Corgis. I would have thought this would have been a natural thing to get. I also never got any of the battery operated parking garages. The one thing I did get was one of the fold up, vinyl "city" play scape, but I was pushing 13 so graduating out of that kind of playtime....
Matchbox Steer-n-Go reminds me of that out of body experience I sometimes get driving long car journeys: the one when you start to feel that the car is standing still and the world is moving around you (I know it actually is but you know what I mean).
As soon as I saw "Driving School" I remembered having that. I probably thought Steer'n'go was a step up for me so I nagged my Mum and Dad for it, but never got one (boo-hoo!). Thanks for bringing back another long forgotten childhood memory. I love UA-cam!!
Well I never thought I'd see another Steer'n'Go working. I had one in the 70s, the UK version had a fake 'radio' where the batteries lived and you only had forward/backward controls. I played it to bits though, no idea what happened to it. ISTR my main car was a green VW Golf Mk1 though I had pontiacs and other Matchbox cars you could just clip the magnet to. Great memories.
The Matchbox had the most imagination spark with me (3-D terrain, gear shift, brake handle) and the Shopper 'U Drive It' had the best, albeit complex, design and play value. The Mattel was sadly too primitive and would probably been junked in about 1 week post-Christmas.
Keep in mind the Mattel was earlier than the others profiled, likely mid 1950s. The construction is very similar to their Jack in the Box toys (Interestingly, you can find a video of early Mattel on youtube, showing them making the Jack in the boxes). My toy came in must a plain brown box. So kids that were used to the toy technology of the time like enjoyed this. It is a very strange toy, I don't play with it much, as I am afraid if anything breaks on the inside, it would be a very difficult repair.
Wow, Philo, had never seen that one. I did see another Matchbox version that did not have the car "fenders" underneath the playing surface but just a small housing that came out containing the spinning axis. That one did not appear to tilt like you described however, so sounds like there was at least 3 versions of the Matchbox unit!!!
@ToyKingWonder Yes! The U Fly It I had as a kid was made by Transogram Canada too! Now I have one I bought on eBay (Instructor set, just like I had as a kid) and it's a Schaper. I don't remember if the U Drive it I had was marketted by Transogram Canada, as the box was exactly like yours, but it probably was since I remember having french instructions with it (I am french canadian).
I had a U Drive It when I was young, up here in Montreal, and the two cars were the same models as yours, except they were clear purple plastic! Quite nicely stylized I would say. I can't seem to find those on eBay, always the yellow and red ones...
ToyKingWonder around the early 70's when Mattel released the VertiBird coptors they also had a Biplane that I think was called a Barnstormer something or other..it had a more intricate but delicate tethering attachment than the Vertibird and flew better. Do you have any information on one of these, video or pictures? I got one that had been played with and was torn up around 1972 or '73.
I sure do my friend. You are talking about Mattel's Dareplane. What you are thinking of is one of the sets was the Barnstormer set. There were a few sets and also a few designs to this. The first one was the type with the delicate tethering attachment. Later, they came out with one that was a little more robust but not as much fun. My uncle had the original, and whenever I went over there I played with it. It was really fun and worked well. There were rumors that these were all recalled, but we never heard about it.
ToyKingWonder Correct I did a search because someone mentioned a Hairy Canary on another Vertibird video and an old set of Foam wings were on eBay and they called it Dareplane...they updated it some years back with an electric motor because the original ones were hand crank powered.
I live in England & I’m 59 & I had the exact same one & I loved it! It was my favourite toy! It must have been I’ve been searching for the name of it for years thank you 🙏 now I can try to find one for my grandson
I am so glad you enjoyed!
I'm in England too! Was it the Matchbox one you had? The one that used matchbox cars?❤
Man, boomers had some of the best toys. That driving school blew my mind. So precious toy.
I am glad you enjoyed. So many of these toys blow me away, that is why I have to share them! See Operation Orbit as a good example.
he deserves to have the boomer tag removed
@@eu_xn5749 It wasn't in a derogatory way.
@@ElverGalarga-sp7se ik
@@ToyKingWonder I remember having a police car and airplane in the 1960s that ran on 4 size D batteries. The police car had real smoke come out of its tail pipe!
That U-Drive-It really brings back memories. I used to have one of those back in the '70s and it was my favorite toy. I loved that thing! It's amazing how simple toys were back then, but when you're a kid, they seem almost magical.
This surely brought a lot of fun times for many boys back then. This is the grandfather of Gran Turismo and NFS and all the other driving/racing sims out there.
I hate when theres no more games like this anymore ):
Wa5tar
@@lohikalalaxd4513 Giojbbgg
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... Grandfather From 10,000,000 B.R & B ( Before Reginald & Babette) They're Very Very Quite Olde... Walking Stick 8:11
My cousins had the Matchbox Steer and Go and I remember spending many hours playing with it. I'm so glad I stumbled upon this.
4:13 The Steer-n-Go is rather ingenious for the time!
thumbs up for your channel
RaceGrooves she
Thank you sir!
funny vid: Rock'em Sock'em Robots
ua-cam.com/video/277Sby8AsMQ/v-deo.html
Cool !
I had a U-Drive-It as a kid! I played the hell out of it and loved every single minute. The other two are pretty cool, too, particularly the Matchbox one with the vacuum-formed tracks.
Yes, Sean, the Matchbox one is actually kind of mind bending, The illusion really can fool you into thinking the car is moving. When I was a kid I would see these advertised in like the Sears Wish Book and I could not for the life of me figure out how they worked!
Me too
@@ToyKingWonder The car isn't moving? It sure looks like it is, I mean its turning etc
@@rockettcustoms6266 Yes, the car stands still, except for moving side to side. The forward and backward movement is an illusion based on the road moving.
Very cool Toys. I am 55 and I remember seeing them. These are pre RC times. They did had slot cars when these were around. Toys back then were much better than today's toys.
I had a Matchbox version from the mid to late '70s that could be used with any Matchbox or Hot Wheels car.(included self-stick magnets that attached to the bottom of the car).The vac-form driving surface had larger peaks than the '60s version and the steering wheel was thicker but the concept was the same.It also had a pan and tilt feature that increased the driving challenge.Very cool!
Thanks, I was wondering if I had only imagined the existence of Matchbox Steer-n-Go. Amazing how the mechanics of the toy in my memory match the original form! I think the rotating landscape has influenced my interaction with the world and perspective on travel! Ha. Very cool to see this.
This was a toy that I would see in the Sears Catalog or other place and wonder, how does that work? There were a few toys like that, and or course, they still retain their magic all these years later. The Matchbox Motorway was another one, which I have but I must get better springs for it.
Wow, this is just fantastic!
I've never thought there was this kind of toys, It was like the 3d real entertainment before video games. Each time had their own magic things, before electronics there was this creative mechanical and analog toys. Lovely :-)
It´s like Gran Turismo 0.1
I had this red annoying loud steering wheel thing with this tiny screen as a kid. I loved this thing. As an adult it is absolutely boring. But as a kid I played I am a Busdriver and my little brother is the annoying old passenger who argued with my mother one day cause we were too loud. He always died in a terrible bus accident. That is where the fun comes in.
@@Kellerkind80 haha, yeah for sure!
That's a nice anecdote, I feel fortunate that I've enjoyed "the last decade" of cool analog toys if can say that way, there was also video games as I'm from the 90s, but I'd never change the magical environment that I was able to create as a child playing with my toys instead of video games. If I had the chance to choose between a 1/18 Bburago and a Nintendo (any version) or PS , I'd had always take a Bburago or so. My passion for diecast collectibles began with the old school toys of my Father that he let me play with, lovely cars made by GAMMA Toys, Schuco, Corgi, Matchbox, Arnold, Tonka, Polistil... , most of them with cool and mechanical features such turning wheels, suspension, horn, gears, etc. That was the toys paradise for me, a bit uncommon in a time of quite modern things too, but those little car toys had me playing delighted through my chillhood, I was careful while playing with diecast replicas as much as I could, knowing that they were not for playing, so most of them had survived... I just couldn't resist driving them by their steering and staring at the dashboard decals. That was such a preciuos experience. :-)
Kind regards.
@@galptube211 Dating myself terribly, but I got the FIRST SET of Hot Wheels that his Denver Colorado (OK, the first batch of sets) and my parents got me the original Drag Set with the Firebird and the Cougar. I still have those cars. The Hot Wheels phenomenon was amazing....no one had ever made cars like this that would fly around at those speeds. I would play with them for hours. All based on gravity, talk about analog. And what fun times.
"I've never thought there was this kind of toys" how old are you? Are you new in the world? lol
@@ToyKingWonder I bet they were and a lot more sane for sure.
I just knew a few old school little Hot Wheels, they were pretty solid. Just cool toys!
I used to stare at the steer and go in the Matchbox catalogue. It wasn't to be though, but at least now I know that it was as good as it looked. Thanks for posting.
That’s amazing.....I had a steer and go ......I was disappointed with it at first .....I wanted a scalextric......but once I started it up I was hooked and played it for months .....brilliant toy in the 70’s
Wow memories ! I also had a steer n go back in the late 70's. It was a challenge in the dark with the little torch light underneath. I rem it used to eat EVER READY batteries and then the motor burned out so i ended up using the road way as a huge frisbee. Thanks for posting
My brother and I had the Matchbox one and apart from the cars we also used the ROCO 1/87 minitanks, with a piece of magnet glued underneath. What memories!
For me the winner is the Matchbox toy, though it sounds you might be needing a new water pump or the bearing on an idler wheel is coming apart. (Fun. Thanks for the video.)
Ahhhh I remember the Christmas I received the matchbox steerngo…my family encouraged my affinity for all things cars! Great memory for sure.
For me in 1970 the Steer and Go was the Holy Grail of Christmas gifts, sadly my dream of driving what I thought was the coolest thing I had ever seen would never be realized, no matter how much I asked it was not to be, great memories of those times anyway ty for posting this.
Murray, find one on eBay and set it up and enjoy. You are never too old for something like this.
@@ToyKingWonder Thanks for that, you are right!
Don’t know why this video was recommended to me in 2025, but I loved it.
My Mum and Dad got me this when I was a nipper in the early 70's, and I absolutely loved it. Takes me back, thanks for posting :)
You got it, glad you liked the video.
A great illustration of how Mattel have dropped the ball when it comes to toys. UA-cam is on a bender again stuck on my homepage in 2025. I bet it's served up to a whole lot of others as well.
Wow, I had the steer and go. One of those thing that I had completely forgot about but as soon as I saw it great childhood memories came back. I loved that game.
Been waiting forever for a U-Drive-It video. I barely remember it from the 70s and wasn't even sure it actually exists! The best I could find was a simple black and white advert. Here it is ... in all its glory! Thank you!
That Steer-n-go is fantastic. The little MG1100 - a variant of the ubiquitous Austin 1100, an English classic. The lengths they went to create that driving experiences is just admirable... and related to the earliest flight and driving simulators.
The matchbox steer and go looks really inventive! I would've loved one of these as a child
Just stumbled across this video....OMGosh I always wondered how this Matchbox Steer-n-Go worked! Saw it for years in the Sears Christmas catalog. Loved and still have many of my Matchbox cars & Trucks but this was too expensive for my Christmas wish list back in the early 70's. Many thanks for the detailed description of how it works and the great camera angles to show all the action. (I'm a video producer) Really appreciate this video and your time to go into the specific details. I finally now know the magic behind this great toy! Thank you Thank you!
You are so welcome and thanks for the compliments!
Check out my video of the Ideal Fighter Jet, you will love that one I bet...
these toys were on another level. just love them
Some of these are toys that only "rich" people's kids had back in the day.
Hi Thank's for this video ! I was a kid in the 70's. I think these toys would have turned me crazy !
Ah, so THAT'S how those toys worked. When I go them, I always thought they were broken, or something. Now I wish I still had them. Dang it. LOL Guess I'll head to ebay, and see if I can't find them. Had them back in the 60s, and 70s. Thanks for sharing this.
12:59 - As a kid, I inherited the "U-Drive-It" from family. Of course, it had been broken prior to being given to me, so as a 4 year old I just played with steering wheel and shifter. If I recall correctly, the rotating arm had cracked, so I was always curious how this toy looked when in operation. Thanks for sharing this video.
Absolutely brilliant! I'm in UK and I think it was the Matchbox one sold here that I have memories of. They are going for £400 on Ebay!!! Great channel. Subbed👍🏻
Thankyou for posting I saw matchbox steer and go in 1968 matchbox catalogue I cannot remember seeing them here in New Zealand new in the shops but did see one in a toy auction boxed in 1990s always wondered how it would work as I always wanted one!😀
I like the 3rd one the best. The accelerator pedal put it over the top for me!! Thank you for the video.
10:37 that is a good angle for a commercial. I didn't know all this stuffs existed, these are very clever. I'd kill to have one of these in my childhood.
I had the Steer-n-Go as a child. It was a great toy.
I had something similar in the UK in the 60's except you controlled the cars (or motorcycle) with a joystick. Man, I played with that a lot !
I had the Matchbox Steer 'n' Go in 1972. It was great for its era.
Got the U Drive It set for Christmas, 1974, my cars were both purple. Later I took some N scale cars from my train layout to use as "traffic" to maneuver around.
I LOVED my Matchbox Steer n go!! It oly came with one scenery disc tho. But it also came with a Matchbox VW Bug with racing stripe. I liked playing in the dark cus the headlights worked so well. I recall the timer/counter worked well and you could always try to better your last score. One of THE BEST toys I ever got For Christmas. :-)
Wow. A friend of mine used to have the Matchbox drive toy. I absolutely loved it and have been looking for one forever. So glad I've found your channel. I can show friends this every time we end up talking about how great things were when we were kids. Thanks.
Great stuff. The Matchbox one was the coolest because of the terrain. Makes me want to design something 3D printable like this.
Great video! Love the fact that they incorporated the real sound of a typical MG/Leyland transmission into their toy!
Remember seeing the Matchbox Steer n Go advertised on TV at Christmas early mid 70s. Everywhere had sold out. I got a Scalextric instead and soon forgot about the Steer n Go till just. Looking on ebay I see one's going for £175.00
i love the second one, i might get one for the pure sense of enjoyment as a kid again
This Matchbox toy is much better than modern ones by any company 😮
Great video and presentation! ... I remember that we had such a "Steer-n-Go" from Matchbox in the kindergarten in the late 70's! But this one there was a later edition from the Matchbox-Superfast-Era with a red Dodge Challenger... I remember playing this one made a lot of fun! ... maybe today those games will never again find there way into a kindergarten, because of the electricity, batteries etc. ... too dangerous for the kids of today... ;)
Very cool toys, man. Thanks for sharing.
I wanted a play dashboard so badly as a kid but I guess it didn't seem a right toy for a girl at Christmas, I got a Chatty Cathy instead, bleecccchhh lol
That Matchbox one was really cool.
i had the matchbox steer n go as a child in the late 70's as a gift from an auntie and uncle i loved it , it was the bees knees in its day, can't remember what happend to it though. wish i still had it as i would have passed it down to my own kids now as long as they looked after it. they do pop up on ebay every now and then but cost a fortune. i keep telling myself one of these days i'm gonna get myself one as i nice child hood keep sake nice vid mate.
the MATCHBOX one looks awesome!!!
Forget Need For Speed just play this game all day!
Well, it is easier on your PC specs.
Play this video with LOTUS 3 soundtrack
I had a U Drive it. Loved that thing. Thanks for the memories!
I believe that here in New Mexico they use that driving toy for their actual drivers test.
Arizona uses the old "Jalopy showdown" game.
Lol
My brother got the Matchbox Steer and go one year for Christmas. We played with it and had fun. Kids today would look at it and laugh.
Thanks ToyKingWonder for this cool video! I had a driving game similar to this but do not recall which one I actually had. I was a child in the 70s born in 1970 so I probably had one of these around 1978-1979. I remember the car was held on on the road surface similar to this with a magnet. Thanks again because I completely forgot about these toys which were amazing!! I am so very happy I grew up when I did!
You are welcome!!!
genius, just plain genius at that time. lovely toy.
First time i hear of these and they seem fantastic!
I can remember wanting something like that when I was a kid. That last one is exceptionally good. I wonder did they provide extra moving discs with different roads and terrain. You must have some collection !
Very neat toys indeed, there is also one called Driving Test by Merrit from the UK thats similar to the first one but uses a gearstick to move the cars on the board that sits in a box. It had pieces you can place on the board to make moving the cars on the roads more difficult. As kids we used to place bets on each person if they hit an obstacle they had to pay up.
Superb video. Loved looking at these classic toys .shame today's kids wont want to play these instead of xbox
Im pretty sure i had the mattel driving school and that matchbox one, got them from a flea market, and of course they went in the trash when we moved like alot of my toys lol
very very cool .. good stuff ... big thumbs up
I had one of them, i got it in 1975 for my birthday.. I managed to break it within hours.. but I thought it was a coolest thing ever, it didn’t matter it was broken my matchbox cars all joined in.. thanks for the memory.. 4:15
I didn't expect these to be so imaginative and ingenious.
I had DIGITAL DERBY (1979) from Japan. But there's nothing digital about it. The game taught you correct gear choice. I still have it, somewhere. 😁
I saw the steer and go and just had a trip down memory lane.
I had the steer and go as a kid and played with it for HOURS and HOURS and HOURS. Great toy.
I am 23 years old and would love to have one of those they look awesome!
Now u are 30??? Still alive? Jk how r u
Thank you for this. Extraordinary!
I am not sure when Matchbox started making these, there were a number of different models. One gent told me his actually tilted! I think they started around 1969 perhaps into the late 70s. Yes, they were awesome days, glad I lived through them, and I expose my two sons to as much of the magic as possible!
I used to have the U-Drive-It as a kid around 1973. I remember the "engine" felt pretty powerful but I was disappointed that the car had zero detail, and that the landscapes were "flat" and you can just drive over anything. Still had some fun with it tho'. The Matchbox Steer-n-Go looks like fun, especially since you can switch cars, I'm surprised I didn't get that because I was always a Matchbox collector, and still am (reg. wheels and Superfasts). Maybe I'll have to hit ebay soon. Great vid!
Thank you sir. I don't know why I didnt bug my parents for this either, I was the right age. I have no idea...I collected Matchboxes and Hot Wheels, and I would drool over the two catalogs and pick out what I wanted next. I also had a handful of Corgis. I would have thought this would have been a natural thing to get. I also never got any of the battery operated parking garages. The one thing I did get was one of the fold up, vinyl "city" play scape, but I was pushing 13 so graduating out of that kind of playtime....
The last one is the one I remember! I wasn’t fortunate enough to have one, but I was fortunate enough to get to play it 🎉
One of my coolest toys as a kid was a Matchbox Motorway! :)
I had a Steer 'n' Go when I was a child and I played with it all the time, I simply loved it and I wish I had one now to play with.
The matchbox looks like good fun.
That's incredible. As I played with that track was 10, now I have 50years. I still have the car. Live in Argentina
The first one is one I’ve always wanted and was before my time. Just seems like a cool toy
Matchbox Steer-n-Go reminds me of that out of body experience I sometimes get driving long car journeys: the one when you start to feel that the car is standing still and the world is moving around you (I know it actually is but you know what I mean).
I had the U Drive-It toy; it was a blast; it eventually broke then I took it apart and played with the bits left over.
As soon as I saw "Driving School" I remembered having that. I probably thought Steer'n'go was a step up for me so I nagged my Mum and Dad for it, but never got one (boo-hoo!). Thanks for bringing back another long forgotten childhood memory. I love UA-cam!!
You are welcome sir!
I always wanted a Matchbos steer and go when I was a kid. Glad I didn't get one now!
Well I never thought I'd see another Steer'n'Go working. I had one in the 70s, the UK version had a fake 'radio' where the batteries lived and you only had forward/backward controls. I played it to bits though, no idea what happened to it. ISTR my main car was a green VW Golf Mk1 though I had pontiacs and other Matchbox cars you could just clip the magnet to. Great memories.
Wow, I had this toy as a kid. I absolutely loved it.
This is how my wife learned to drive...& still does .
.🇬🇧😳
"A little noisy on 2nd".Describes a lot of REAL cars too! 😜
I remember the Matchbox one well which was an ingenious design
Had one of these for Christmas 👍
such awesome toys. today you can't even buy a game at full price and have it actually work without patches and updates.
I remember my brother got the matchbox driving game and we spend so many playing with it. Good memories
Amazing man. Great little toy 👍
The Matchbox had the most imagination spark with me (3-D terrain, gear shift, brake handle) and the Shopper 'U Drive It' had the best, albeit complex, design and play value. The Mattel was sadly too primitive and would probably been junked in about 1 week post-Christmas.
Keep in mind the Mattel was earlier than the others profiled, likely mid 1950s. The construction is very similar to their Jack in the Box toys (Interestingly, you can find a video of early Mattel on youtube, showing them making the Jack in the boxes). My toy came in must a plain brown box. So kids that were used to the toy technology of the time like enjoyed this. It is a very strange toy, I don't play with it much, as I am afraid if anything breaks on the inside, it would be a very difficult repair.
Wow, Philo, had never seen that one. I did see another Matchbox version that did not have the car "fenders" underneath the playing surface but just a small housing that came out containing the spinning axis. That one did not appear to tilt like you described however, so sounds like there was at least 3 versions of the Matchbox unit!!!
the fact you could take any matchbox car and attach it to the Drive-n-Go is pretty cool
Had a U-Drive_it in the 70's. Loved it and my whirli bird thing so much.
Whirlybird was a heck of a lot of fun =)
@ToyKingWonder Yes! The U Fly It I had as a kid was made by Transogram Canada too! Now I have one I bought on eBay (Instructor set, just like I had as a kid) and it's a Schaper. I don't remember if the U Drive it I had was marketted by Transogram Canada, as the box was exactly like yours, but it probably was since I remember having french instructions with it (I am french canadian).
I had a U Drive It when I was young, up here in Montreal, and the two cars were the same models as yours, except they were clear purple plastic! Quite nicely stylized I would say. I can't seem to find those on eBay, always the yellow and red ones...
They should remake it but with stronger components and an moden layout
ToyKingWonder around the early 70's when Mattel released the VertiBird coptors they also had a Biplane that I think was called a Barnstormer something or other..it had a more intricate but delicate tethering attachment than the Vertibird and flew better.
Do you have any information on one of these, video or pictures? I got one that had been played with and was torn up around 1972 or '73.
I sure do my friend. You are talking about Mattel's Dareplane. What you are thinking of is one of the sets was the Barnstormer set.
There were a few sets and also a few designs to this. The first one was the type with the delicate tethering attachment. Later, they came out with one that was a little more robust but not as much fun. My uncle had the original, and whenever I went over there I played with it. It was really fun and worked well. There were rumors that these were all recalled, but we never heard about it.
ToyKingWonder Correct I did a search because someone mentioned a Hairy Canary on another Vertibird video and an old set of Foam wings were on eBay and they called it Dareplane...they updated it some years back with an electric motor because the original ones were hand crank powered.