Mattel X-15 - The Pain. Oh, The Pain

 

 The object of my early childhood dreams

I don't think I could have been any more clear with Santa when I told him, point blank on that late December weekend before Christmas in 1969 that I wanted a Marx Big Wheel. I even went so far as to tell him that there were other Big Wheels out there but the Marx Big Wheel was the one I wanted. 

 

 

Not the object of my childhood dreams 

 

So, Christmas morning when I found this fully assembled Martian tricycle under the Christmas tree I was most perplexed. My angst was two fold since growing up in John and Betty's fun-house, not showing extreme appreciation for something they did for us could get your head, feet and hands chopped off. Even on Christmas morning. What's more I knew that with this thing fully assembled, meaning my father had actually lifted a finger to do something and it being under the tree, there was no way I'd ever get my Big Wheel. My disappointment, as hard as I tried to hide it, was apparently palpable. "Well," said my mother incredulously as she took a long drag on her filter less cigarette and talking while blowing the smoke at me, "they were out of Big Wheels and the man said this was better because it's heavier since it's made of metal."  Although confused by her statement seeing that I asked Santa for a Big Wheel and not her, I was mortified and terrified at the same time. Through my tears I was able to squeak out a life saving, "Oh...it's cool!"  Save nothing for the fact that I knew then that Kris Kringle couldn't be trusted.

 

 

My X-15 looked very much like this one. I don't remember seat belts on mine; perhaps my father didn't install them. 

 

Late that Christmas day the X-15 sat gathering dust and my mother threw me out of the house demanding that I try it out. Obligingly, I carried the back breakingly heavy monster down our front stoop and onto the walkway. Fist thing it did was get stuck in one of the myriad cracks in the broken concrete slabs of our walk way. The bizarre rear steering of the X-15 doing little to help it get over the juts and ruts of that perilous ribbon of moon craters in the front of our house. The "joystick" slapping back and forth perilously close to my face and other personal equipment as I pedaled; I feared for my cheek bones and worse. What's more, a friend saw me pedaling this monument to weirdness and yelled, mockingly, to me, "Nice Big Wheel, Charley! Hahahahaha" My worst nightmares were coming true; I was drawing attention to myself and not the good kind. All I wanted to do was fit in and this thing was doing the opposite for me. The pain. Oh, the pain.

This X-15 looks like it was left out the rain one too many times

 

The Matell X-15 borrowed its name from from the NASA rocket plane that set numerous speed and altitude records in the 1960's. Like the Marx Big Wheel, the Mattel X-15 was direct pedal drive to the front wheel. The similarities ended there.

 

 

Rear steering for the sake of rear steering. There was no benefit.

 

Whereas the Marx Big Wheel is little more than a plastic tri-cyle and steered conventionally, the X-15's steering is by the rear wheels through a cantilevered A arm setup that banks the thing when you move the steering "joystick". The further you moved the stick the greater the bank. The banking increasing in proportion to the degree of turns helped to keep the rider upright.

 

 

My X-15 looked like this one because I never took care of it.

 

This thing flipped over quite easily at speed and that could be quite fun if you crashed onto grass from the sidewalk or street. Not so much fun if it was onto the sidewalk or street. Or a tree or a sign post. 

 

 

Ultimately, I have no idea what happened to my X-15

 

I never enjoyed standing out like a soar thumb riding the X-15 while everyone else rode their Big Wheels. I did appreciate, though how solid it was in comparison to the soft, flexible Big Wheel. However, once I found out how much fun this thing was to flip over on the big hill  behind my house, especially when it was snow covered, I was almost ok with the X-15. Almost.

 

I never did get my Big Wheel.

Parenting lesson taught; if your kid asks for something specific as a gift, nothing else will ever do.

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