Jan
Do you remember the Ready Ranger Pack?
About a week before Christmas, my son came home with an exercise for his Dad, yep…parents get homework these days! My task? Write about the best Christmas gift I ever received as a child. I fondly remembered a wonderful gift called the Ready Ranger Pack by Aurora. It was an amazing use of plastic in the mid 1970s and was my Red Ryder BB Gun (of course a reference to the film A Christmas Story).
After journaling about this toy, I performed a quick search online for information about this product and found a Spiegel catalog page (remember them?), courtesy of plaidstallions.com, and a comic book advertisement. I printed this information and included them along with my journaling. Definitely an overachiever and Dad would surely receive an “A” for his submission. And you can’t “shoot your eye out” with this gift. I have included these images and you can click them for a larger view.
This pack had a phenomenal number of features, at least for a boy of 9, including my personal favorites:
- Plastic poncho/sleeping bag with a felt liner – very thin as I remember and easy to roll/fold/tear
- Star Chart – a paper wheel that I could never figure out, but still way cool
- Periscope – at only about a foot in length, you could barely look over an ant hill, but using it to look around corners was pretty cool as I remember
- Compass – you know, the cheap/small kind where the needle bounces around like the head on a bobble doll with precision of around ±30°
- Bull Horn – non-powered bull horn would probably throw your voice about one foot further than not using it
- Alarm – could be used with a trip line to detect infiltrators or attached to the back pack so when somebody would try and lift your backpack, the alarm would ring – my favorite feature
- Signal Light – which could act as a flashlight and it attached to the top of the alarm
- Secret Compartment – which wasn’t so secret but still a great place to store notes, secret maps and a couple of coins so I could make a phone call for someone to come get me!
Sadly there was no kind of walkie-talkie included. This is the only feature I could think of that would make this toy more complete for the young adventurer on the go in the 70s. I already owned a set of walkie-talkies and am betting any other boy interested in this toy would have owned a set as well. Probably not a great omission; however, this would have made a very intriguing accessory. The title would even be cool and fun to say, “the Ready Ranger Walkie Talkie.”
As you can tell from the images, this $11 toy was the perfect gift for a budding gadget geek! I remember one day making a trek through the forest by lugging this thing on my back and heading over a mountain (actually a hill, but hey…I was 9) to visit a friend in a neighboring subdivision. It was great fun and was even a bit rainy that day to add to the “challenge.” I considered my solo trek that day an adventure that I would never forget – and I didn’t. And yes, I made it to my friend’s house; however, my older brother came to pick me up later that day. This day may have been a foreshadowing of my Army career now that I look back on it – nah!
Sadly, this toy died with the 70s and to my recollection there has never been another toy like it. Oh, but what memories. Anyone else remember this toy? Or what about another favorite toy that you owned? I would love to hear your fond memories. You can leave them in our comments section or send me an e-mail at giveusoneminute@gmail.com. Please remember that all submissions are subject to posting. If you wish to remain anonymous, just let me know in your e-mail message.
Tags: toys, gadgets, ready ranger, aurora
The ready ranger back pack was one of my favorite Xmas presents ever! I asked for it two years in a row. It was in the Sears catalog and when I didn’t get it the 2nd time, I broke one of my other toys just so I could return it and get a Ready Ranger backpack. My sister probably still has hearing trauma from the Bull Horn. I’ve been waiting to see one show up on Ebay.
In fact, now that I am thinking about it, my whole backpack just disappeared one day. My sister probably got tired of me rescuing her and using the periscope to watch TV….
Good Times….
February 19th, 2008 at 11:21 pmMy Ready Ranger backpack was my all-time favorite Christmas present ever - cooler maybe even than my brother’s Mattel Vrroom X-15. Matter of fact, my backpack was so cool that here I am at 43 years old googling for a picture of it and how I found this entry. Thanks for the pictures and the memories.
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:53 pmChris,
43 huh? Same demographic! Glad you enjoyed the trip down memory lane and as the previous comment suggests…
GOOD TIME INDEED!
Steven
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:38 am———-
Dr. Steven B. Combs
:: Give Us One Minute (GUOM)
:: http://www.giveusoneminute.com
:: giveusoneminute@gmail.com
One of my all-time favorite toys too…next to the Erector set and Perfect Chemistry set…and of course toy guns of 50 different varieties!
Surprising there are none on eBay.
February 28th, 2008 at 10:46 pmI’m about to turn 43…aug 24th.
February 28th, 2008 at 10:46 pmI too had a READY RANGER backpack. Not only was it a lot of fun many, many years ago.
All the kids in our town had a local club “Ready Rangers of Mapleton”
We had at least 15 of us (boys & girls) Our club got involved with the state forestry bureau, local community ,etc. we toured fire lookout towers, had first-aid classes, planted trees, at that time our local fire department was a bit jealuos because we had all these kids and where doing so much. We used the fire station to host a Smokey Bear visit for fire prevention week, etc. The FD soon than started a junior firefighter program and through time many of us joined and “took over” As we got older, some got careers in related services (fire, EMS, SAR, emergency management, healthcare) all from this “toy” and what we did because of it.
Me, I am into all that fire, EMS, rescue,caving, hiking, rappelling,etc. stuff .
In fact the 2 of us that where the original LOCAL Ready Rangers are(1) the Deputy director for our county EMA and me(2) the chief of our fire department.
Careful what gifts you get for your kids !!!!!!!!
March 14th, 2008 at 10:44 amI had one when I was 7, and I loved it. I have been doing a search for this toy for years, never any write up or pictures. Thanks you for finding, sharing your story, posting pics, and bringing back memories. I’ll bookmark so that I can view it often!!
March 24th, 2008 at 8:27 am[...] for a trip down memory lane? GUOM has seen much traffic to a past post from fellow 40ishers reminiscing about the Ready Ranger backpack (thanks for all the comments!). [...]
June 8th, 2008 at 12:06 pmI have this toy. Its actually still in the box with the manuals. (the toy is used though) but still in pretty good shape. the box has a 5 by 5 hold eaten out of it though (don’t ask….)
Is anyone interested in buying it?
July 5th, 2008 at 8:43 pm