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This memory was added on: August 26, 2010I'm 40 now and to this day whenever I am asked what the best present I ever received was I tell them it was my Green Machine. Being a girl and rockin' that thing down the street, slammin' the controls to whip the back end around and make gravel spray was even cooler. My male cousin got one the same Christmas - we had to wait until April for the snow to melt and then we raced those machines like maniacs.There was an unwritten rule about leaving my large U-shaped cul-de-sac, but I remember one warm summer evening I just couldn't resist and rode it all the way to my elementary school a couple blocks away and back without my mom ever knowing. Such a rebel… two whole blocks out of "the zone".One other afternoon, I was zig zagging down our street lazily. Since you sat so close to those noisy plastic tires it was impossible to hear anything unless someone else was riding next to you yelling at the top of their lungs. I was cruising along (for what seemed like a long time later) heard a funny squawk, shoulder checked and behind me was a police cruiser inching along behind me because they couldn't get past. I was so mortified and they told me to "drive on the sidewalk". I was choked at my mother who was sitting on the neighbor's front porch - I guess even if she had tried to yell at me to get out of the way I wouldn't have heard her over those tires.I can't remember if I rode it until it broke down or if my legs got too long to ride it anymore, but I wish they'd make one for big girls. I'd slam on those brakes and whip my 40-year-old ass around all over again!!!AdrienneEdmonton, Alberta, CanadaBorn 1969 - had Green Machine when I was probably about 7/8 yrs oldThis memory was added on: August 26, 2010I vividly remember the Christmas of 1978, in Bethlehem, Pa.. My little nephew, Anthony, had just gotten the Marx made Green Machine that morning. I got the bright idea of pulling him down the street with my sister's 3 speed bike, using a rope. As we neared the front of her house, I did a sharp U turn, which promptly yanked the bicycle out from under me, as I crashed to the street my little nephew slid in an arc and slammed into the driver's side door of my mom's parked Caddy. I will never forget the horrified look on his face, his jaw was dropped and his eyes were as big as saucers.A couple of months ago I bought a Huffy brand Green Machine, and found its newer, metal frame design, easily supports my 180 pound, 5' 6" frame. I built an axle to accommodate an aluminium rim, pneumatic tire. This makes it more of an exercise machine. I flip flop between both axles for spin outs or a quiet, smooth, ride. I bought a second Green Machine for my wife, same deal. I have such a blast, tearing up my neighbourhood on an almost daily basis. Hail to the Green Machine!!jatraThis memory was added on: February 21, 2010Living on a corner lot with with a bit of down slope and several interconnected driveways with gates meant we had a twisty course setup for Big Wheels, trikes, bicycles, and even a Honda Kick-N-Go. I'd ride the Big Green Machine like it was and F-16 with afterburners. The trike with the neighbor kid was first out of the hole, but if you grabbed just the right amount of left handle as you went into the first corner under the awning....keeping on the pedals to claw through the turn...you could rocket out the back straight down the full length of the RV pad.Going into that corner hot was always sketchy though because it was downhill and you had to LEFT!, RIGHT!, LEFT! just right to make it through two gates. Hook a wheel and you were tossed into the shrubs and had to suffer the indignity of a 7 year old laughing as they pedaled their Big Wheel by.But get ahead of the field you could set into a good pace and eventually lap everybody again....except the big neighbor dog that would cut through flowers and lick your face.Man, growing up in the 70's with the BGM was the best!Matt W.Tri-Cities, WAThis memory was added on: January 8, 2010I was the only one in the neighborhood that had one. It was soooo much better than everyone else's Big Wheels! I completely wore it out! My Dad finally took it to the dump and my life was permanently scarred! When the new ones came out...about 2000? I quickly bought one for my neice..who was only two at the time. Warning: Do not try to relive your youth on these. At 60 pounds...you slide around easily and you are on top of the world. At 125...not so easy. I ejected myself from the Green Machine and slide down the pavement! Either way, it was still GREAT! Green Machines! Best Toy Ever!SabrinaGreenville, AlabamaThis memory was added on: June 26, 2009Today I am creating a memory book for my son who is turning 40 years old this June (born in 1969). His favorite toy was his green machine. At age 8 or perhaps 9, he was known to head downhill, crank a sharp turn into our driveway and SPIN...........Funny, today he still prefers to turn a few donuts in a shopping mall parking lot. Some memories die hard. Thanks Green Machine for the best riding toy ever!JoanThis memory was added on: December 22, 2008First of all , I love this page.I got my Green Machine when I was about ohhh 7 (about 1974?). I wanted it so bad. I woke up on Christmas morning and that baby was gleaming like a Martini at an AA meeting in my eyes. I jumped right on with my zipper PJ's and all, feet sliding off the pedals and I tore up that asbestos tile floor for hours on it. Of course there was snow on the ground so I couldn't take it outside right away. I was a girl and didn't know if Santa would bring it to me, I mean look at the ad for God's sake " for guys". Well , I went against the grain, and no I am not lesbian. I still remember them tires all chewed up and it didn't stop me. God rest my Green Machine with the Wacky Ad stickers all over it. I loved ya !!Robyn RoystonThis memory was added on: December 22, 2008The Green Machine was the $#!t!I would tear down the alley and hit maximum speed and skid out to a stop. The hardest part was pulling it back up the alley.It was awesome at turns, I remember lining up trash cans in the alley to make a speed track to weave in and out of.I went from Inch Worm to Big Wheel to The ULTIMATE Green Machine. The 70's were awesome.Ken1974This memory was added on: November 26, 2008I remember my green machine. EVERYONE wanted a ride but nope… They couldn’t touch it. I rode that thing until I was too big for it and was riding my bike. When my younger brother (5 years younger) was big enough to ride I threw the world’s biggest fit about it and squeezed myself on to it and took off. When we finally moved away, II still didn’t want to give up my green machine, but didn’t have the room to take it, so I gave it to a kid down the street who didn’t even have a big wheel. Last I saw of my best toy was another kid riding away with the world’s biggest smile……. I miss those days. Now I want to get one for my nephew, my own boys being too old and too big for one, I hope I can find one soon!Walter Wilson1985This memory was added on: October 7, 2008It was 1979. I was 6 years in the making. It was a nice summer day and I decided to go for a little ride.As I was riding down the driveway an idea came to me as I saw my Irish Setter run across the yard. I decided to use him (Zeke) as my mode of propulsion."Here Zeke!"....I said, and in response he said "Woof!"....as in "Sure mate!". So I hooked him up to the shifter, and then my vision became reality. "Mush Zeke! Mush!" I chanted. It was a great feeling. The wind in my hair, the thoughts of reckless abandon racing through my head, and then it all came to an end. The bastard ripped the shifter off my Green Machine. I cried. I loved that Green Machine.CaseyLafayette, IndianaThis memory was added on: May 20, 2007I 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. =)RyAnne1974This memory was added on: May 14, 2007I 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 suckedalex young1992This memory was added on: May 8, 2007I 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 machinewilliam1972This memory was added on: May 8, 2007That 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!Lisa1966This memory was added on: May 5, 2007I 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.Curt1969This memory was added on: April 26, 2007When 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.rich1974This memory was added on: April 20, 2007I 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.1974This memory was added on: April 4, 2007This 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 Harper1974This memory was added on: March 27, 2007i 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 Payne1995This memory was added on: March 17, 2007I 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.Serge1972This memory was added on: March 13, 2007My 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.Darrell1968This memory was added on: February 23, 2007Oh, 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.Lincoln1969This memory was added on: February 15, 2007I 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-Bill1974This memory was added on: February 15, 2007This 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?Byron1971This memory was added on: February 4, 2007I can make it on a Big Wheel, I don't need no Green Machine!Flash Gordon2012This memory was added on: January 31, 2007It 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.Matt1978This memory was added on: January 15, 2007I 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!1972This memory was added on: December 26, 2006Retro 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 Self1970This memory was added on: December 17, 2006by 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.Brian1966This memory was added on: December 9, 2006My 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 nascarDeanie Johnson1971This memory was added on: December 1, 2006As 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 Bornia1968This memory was added on: November 25, 2006I'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.Mike1969This memory was added on: November 20, 2006The 1970's were great!!!!! All those trips down Murphy's Hill on my Green Machine!!!!!Todd M., Sun Prairie, WisconsinTodd Meister1968This memory was added on: November 7, 2006those were the dayze!!!!DEADSY1971This memory was added on: November 2, 2006The 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.Scott1962This memory was added on: September 19, 2006Wow. 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...Al1970This memory was added on: August 26, 2006My 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...lolJohnny E. Sampson1971This memory was added on: August 8, 2006What'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 samePhillip1971This memory was added on: August 8, 2006Deadly toy. Big hills, loose neighborhood dogs, lacked the stability of the Big Wheel, stitches and road rash - no fond memories here.Joe L.1964This memory was added on: July 25, 2006Im 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.cheesebeer1969This memory was added on: July 14, 2006I 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.SWalker1969This memory was added on: July 10, 2006Ahh 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!James1975This memory was added on: July 7, 2006My 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!!Kim1972