Classic Ad Watch: Buy Cheerios, Get Johnny Lightning Double Trouble!

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classic ad watch, 1960s, cheerios, hot wheels, johnny lightning, toys

Buy Cheerios, Get Johnny Lightning Double Trouble!

Back in the late 1960s, the Topper Johnny Lightning cars just couldn't compete with their Hot Wheels rivals. Still, the Double Trouble (yours free via some not-clearly-explained Cheerios-related mechanism) was pretty cool, and nice ones fetch halfway decent money today.

12:30 PM on Fri Feb 15 2008
By Murilee Martin
566 views
7 comments

Comments

impreza at 12:58 PM on 02/15/08
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DOUBLE TROUBLE

A title like this demands another commercial.
lascauxcaveman at 01:12 PM on 02/15/08
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Ah, memories. That is exactly how I got my Double Trouble. Monkee Mobile too.
thatguy01 at 01:21 PM on 02/15/08
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How could you tell the difference between a Double Trouble and a Monkeemobile? JLs were vaguely car-themed chunks of zinc alloy.
PatFromGundo at 01:46 PM on 02/15/08
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@thatguy01: Some of them were okay. They did a nice Toronado. That said, they made some weird stuff...remember the Pipe Dream?
Novaload at 05:44 PM on 02/15/08
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@Murilee - The Cheerios related mechanism is you collected proof of purchase seals or whatever they wanted you to cut off the box; then you mailed them, almost invariably to Battle Creek Michigan, and then you waited about a year for your little toy to arrive in the mail. By then you had forgotten all about it so it was a nice surprise. Until you opened it and were disappointed again, this time by the cheapness and tiny size of whatever gizmo you had gotten "free."
GrandmaSideways at 05:43 PM on 02/16/08
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Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
MotownWonker at 05:38 PM on 02/17/08
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C'mon, guys. The cool part about JL's was the notch underneath that worked with the JL ractrack hook/catapult. The cars may have been lame, but at least you could RACE 'em without having to rely on gravity.