Original subtitles

(wheel whirring) (upbeat music)

Wheels on toys have been around

for a very, very long time.

Wealthy kids in Rome are thought to have actually ridden

on toy chariots pulled by geese.

(geese honking)

Having wheels means freedom, escape.

They are a release from normal life.

She's skating!

[Narrator] Whether you wear them, ride them,

push them, or drive them,

some of the funnest toys of childhood are on wheels.

I still remember my first bike.

It was a Schwinn Pixie.

I put a lightning bolt on it, and it was this great feeling.

1985, I get a Power Wheel. It's a huge deal.

Shout out to my Auntie Mary Bess

who bought me the Power Wheel.

I love Big Wheels and had several of them.

[Narrator] And these big wheels

also drive in big profits.

Razor USA sold 5 million units.

Unstoppable.

[Ashley] By the 1990s, over 10 million Cozy Coupes

have been sold around the world.

[Narrator] But just how and where

did they get their start?

Jim Mariol realizes a "Flintstones" -like car

powered by feet might be a great idea for kids.

Yes, we're all in on the Cozy Coupe.

[Narrator] Now the surprising origins

behind some of the hottest toys on wheels.

I didn't make the emergency room,

but I should have several times.

(upbeat music)

(dramatic music)

(car whooshing)

[Narrator] When it comes to having fun on wheels,

one of the most iconic rides didn't begin as a toy.

So, the first bicycle comes along

and it's actually what we now call a velocipede,

meaning there's no pedals,

and it was kind of a scooter you could sit on.

Finally, in 1839, we actually add pedals,

and thus begins the modern bicycle.

Bicycle was originally used as a mode of transportation.

But as the car comes online

and everyone starts buying cars instead of bicycles-

- It soon became apparent

that bicycling was fun,

and it quickly became like this playful pastime.

And that's the moment when bicycles

go from vehicles for adults

to almost strictly toys for kids.

(bell ringing)

(cheerful music)

[Narrator] In the 1930s, one company in particular

capitalizes on this trend, Schwinn.

Schwinn just explodes the bicycle market,

making it much more fun, much more cool.

By the early '50s, Schwinn is dominating.

They own 25% of

this marketplace.

[Narrator] To stay on top, Schwinn continues to innovate,

even taking inspiration from their customers.

In the 1960s, Al Fritz is an executive with Schwinn.

He goes to California,

and all of a sudden he is

looking at kids on their bikes

and they're doing something crazy.

They're putting these banana seats on.

They're taking the handlebars and picking them up

kind of like on a motorcycle.

(upbeat music) (engine whirring)

[Narrator] Seizing on the potential

of these strange souped-up bikes,

Schwinn creates their own version.

They come up with a prototype.

Everyone looks at it and they're hysterical laughing,

(laughs) but Schwinn and Al, they like it

and they move it forward and they call it the Sting-Ray.

The Sting-Ray hits the market in 1963

and it sells for $49.95.

Kids go nuts over this thing.

It sells like crazy. 45,000 in the first few months.

Schwinn can't keep up with the demand.

It is an instant classic and a total status symbol.

It opened up whole new worlds for kids to explore.

They're gonna build the ramps.

They're gonna jump over the curb.

It took individuals

who were aware of this,

like, hey, these kids

aren't just riding the bike.

They're having fun with the bike.

All of a sudden in the '80s,

you got these very cool BMX bikes.

[Narrator] Short for bicycle motocross,

BMX bikes are built for trick riding on and off road.

BMX was made for styling.

The stuff that you were gonna do with it was gonna be crazy.

You was gonna whip it around, do the whole nine.

And you see on TV people doing all kinds of crazy things

with those bikes.

(audience cheering)

(cheerful music)

Everyone wanted to do the BMX tricks,

and the closest I got was getting the pegs on the front

and on the back so my brother could stand up on the back

while I rode him around.

The pegs were useless.

I never did a trick.

I woulda killed myself.

[Narrator] While older kids have fun

on their two-wheelers, it's a big three-wheeled innovation

that lets younger kids get in on the action.

There was a man named Ray Lohr who worked for Marx Toys,

and when he was a kid, he would invert

the central bar of his tricycle.

He realizes having a metal frame is gonna present problems

in terms of cost, production, safety,

so he makes it all out of blown plastic,

makes a gigantic front wheel

about the size of a manhole cover.

The frame is super low- slung, almost race car style,

and kids love it.

It just feels faster, more dangerous,

and more exciting than a standard tricycle.

When you were on a Big Wheel,

you were in charge of the sidewalk.

I mean, you were racing down that street.

The adults are jumping out of the way.

That is your highway, baby.

Turning hard and skidding out

was definitely one of the fun

parts of having a Big Wheel.

It was really me with a bunch of boys on our block

and we would just race them, quick turn, spin 'em out.

The best part? This thing is 8.99.

The Big Wheel ends up selling 40 million trikes

since its inception.

40 million.

The Big Wheel is in the National Toy Hall of Fame.

I understand there is a bar

crawl in Colorado Springs

where grownups ride Big

Wheels from bar to bar,

and even if you get really tipsy

you don't have far to fall.

(upbeat music)

(lively music)

Our next wheeled toy skates into history in 1863,

thanks to doctor's orders.

So, James Plimpton is 32 years old.

His physician suggests he take up ice skating

as just a means of getting fresh air, getting exercise.

So he wants to figure out a way

to skate on land year round,

and he creates something called the parlor skates,

essentially two-by-two wheels made of boxwood

that fit over the wearer's shoes.

Plimpton did a very savvy

thing with roller skates.

He kept control of

them by making sure

that they were for rent only, not for sale.

He created the world of roller rinks.

I mean, his notion that there should be a rink

and there should be rentals,

we still basically have that.

[Narrator] Over time, roller skates transform

into the version we know and love today.

The wheels get lighter, the boot more supportive.

And then the colors, I mean they're everything.

[Narrator] Then one company puts their own spin on them,

turning skates into a toy phenomenon.

In 1984, Fisher-Price came

out with these roller skates

that were adjustable that you

could put onto your own shoe

and you were ready to go.

I had my own children in them.

They were awesome.

[Announcer] Fisher-Price just reinvented the wheel.

[Daniel] It was perfect for kids three to six.

The skate actually gets larger,

so it grows with your child's feet.

She's skating!

So they could learn to first scoot

and then really get the hang of it and roller skate.

And they felt safe to parents, too.

This little switch lets you set them for beginners.

Just like the mom in that commercial,

you didn't really have to worry about your kids falling.

These skates did not go very fast,

but it was a great way to get them started.

They sell the exact same

Grow-with-Me skates now.

[Narrator] Quad skates remain the standard

until the early '80s when two brothers from Minnesota

completely changed the game.

Scott and Brennan Olson, they were brothers,

and they both love ice hockey.

But we have a season that ends

and they're trying to figure out what they could do

so they can continue to practice in the summer season.

They understand the physics of the ice skate

they use for hockey.

Now they're gonna create it by making four wheels

in a single line on the skate.

It's a cool concept and it works and people love it.

[Narrator] The Olson brothers dub their new skates

the Rollerblade.

They're a sleek, sexier version of the roller skate,

but they invite us to explore beyond the roller rink.

This isn't an indoor

activity anymore.

This is something that

you can take outdoors.

So rollerblades become bright and neon and colorful

and athletic and spandex,

and it's the '90s and

it's bright and cool,

and that's obviously

gonna trickle down

to every kid in America.

All my family came out

just to see me try 'em for the first time,

and then I realized I couldn't stop.

I'm like, "Oh!"

So I'm cruising down the street

and had to jump into bushes just to stop.

[Narrator] To this day,

rollerblading is a half billion dollar a year industry.

But there's another wheeled wonder with humble origins

that gets a facelift in the 1990s.

Legend has it that

sometime in 1990,

Dutch Swiss banker

named Wim Ouboter,

he wants to go to a bar for a drink.

Like most good things, it was invented by drinking.

He goes, "It's too far for me to walk,

but it's too short for me to drive."

He wanted something more efficient,

something small, sleek,

and ideally foldable.

And the design he came up with

was what would evolve

into the Razor scooter.

So Wim Ouboter thinks that he's designed the best

minute-distance mobility thing he can for adults.

Turns out he's wrong

'cause the Razor scooter is a toy bonanza.

It is the must-have toy of Y2K.

[Laurie] In the first six months, it sells 5 million.

What was great about the Razor scooter was the approach

that it took to the redesign

of something that had been around forever,

but he'd changed the visual aspect of it into this

stainless steel, futuristic kind of riding device,

which is why they had

become so popular.

Every office in America, somebody was cruising around

on a Razor scooter.

As nerdy or as weird as I thought it was,

when you saw someone with that Razor scooter,

there was still a part of you that was like,

"Let me try that thing."

And then you realized oh, it was kind of cool.

Yeah, it wasn't bad.

(suspenseful music)

[Narrator] Straight out of a sci-fi movie,

an innovative evolution of the scooter

becomes the hottest wheel trend of the 2010s.

Shane Chen, the American inventor,

decides that there needs to be something

to get people to work, so he comes up with the Hovertrax,

a self-balancing scooter.

He puts his idea up on

Kickstarter to help

raise funds for production.

Now while he's doing that, the Hovertrax catches the eye

of a Chinese manufacturer who then totally snakes him,

steals the design, and releases their own version

before he can.

(upbeat music)

You stand on it.

You use your own body weight to control it and propel it.

You don't need to build up speed.

You could just get on and go.

Which brings us closer to that

idea that we all have

been waiting for,

which should have been out already

according to the movie "Back to the Future."

Marty McFly, where the hell is it?

We never got one.

[Narrator] And it's not just for adults.

It quickly becomes every kid's must-have toy.

At this point, the exports are crazy.

This is $4.6 billion of industry happening.

It was kind of

dangerous though,

and I think everyone thinks

of that Mike Tyson video,

and he falls back and crushes his back.

That pretty much happened to so many people

in everybody's living room 'cause everyone gave it a go.

(people laughing)

But it worked.

It was cool. It's really cool.

(Hovertrax whirring)

And then just like that,

Hovertrax were gone. Why?

Well, Segway thought Hovertrax,

it's just like a Segway without the handlebars

and sued Hovertrax into oblivion.

That's why we don't see them anymore.

I personally don't think that Segway

has a case against Hovertrax

because Hovertrax were ubiquitous and successful,

and Segways are used by mall cops.

[Narrator] Rolling on tiny wheels is fun,

but toy companies know the real opportunity

is putting kids in the driver's seat.

In 1886, Karl Benz files

a patent for the first

gasoline-powered vehicle.

It resembles what we think of as a motor car

about as much as I resemble Shaq.

And just four years later in 1890,

they're making versions for kids.

The pedal car is maybe the oldest and best incarnation

of the first car kids could drive.

The pedal car was a luxury toy

for the few people who

were affording automobiles

at that time.

But with the advance of mass production,

the pedal car becomes much more achievable.

[Narrator] And by the 1930s,

pedal cars become a booming business.

Companies like Steelcraft became known

as sort of the miniature Detroits of the day.

They were a big market.

They were key items in the Sears Roebuck Wish Book catalog

that came out every holiday season.

These are made with industrial capabilities

in the '20s and '30s through stamped metal.

Really great, awesome technology.

But do you know what disrupts metal usage?

(plane engines roaring)

Wars.

World War II breaks out,

(bombs booming)

metal becomes scarce, and

production stops temporarily.

We need your pedal car for the war.

Hand it over, kid.

(upbeat music) (pedal car clanging)

The pedal car makes a comeback post-war.

But once plastic becomes the staple for toy development,

the pedal car becomes a niche collector's item.

[Narrator] However, it's soon replaced

by another toy icon still going strong today.

(person laughing)

Jim Mariol designs for companies like Chrysler

doing ornamental hoods,

hubcaps, stuff like that.

So he's in his office

and he's on an office chair that has wheels,

and he's just pushing the chair,

and that's his light bulb moment.

(car clanging)

He realizes that a "Flintstones" -like car

powered by feet

might be a great idea for kids to enjoy.

- He makes a prototype. It's really cool.

He takes it to Little Tikes.

They fall in love with it instantly.

[Narrator] Soon the little red car with the yellow roof

is out in the world.

By the 1990s, over 10 million Cozy Coupes

have been sold around the world,

and soon it becomes known as the bestselling car in America.

Beep, beep.

(upbeat music)

[Narrator] For children of the '80s and '90s,

there's only one kid car that truly has the power,

but its motor started revving decades earlier.

An Italian company in the 1940s called Peg-Perego,

who up until this point

has almost exclusively

made baby carriages,

decides they want to get into the kids drivable car market,

and they decide to create

the first battery-powered kids car.

They use a gel cell battery,

they put in a little tiny motor,

and they actually created a car that kids could drive.

They bring it to America,

they sit back, they wait.

(clock ticking)

Nothing happens.

Around 1983, they sell it to a company called Kransco.

So now they revamp this whole thing.

First thing, name change, Power Wheels.

Well, it turns out that what

you gotta do to get the kids on

board is you gotta market it.

I was definitely outside the age group

that was intended for Power Wheels in 1986,

but it's that theme song that

really burrows into your brain

and won't go away.

♪ Pow-Pow Power Wheels

♪ Pow-Pow Power Wheels

♪ Power Wheels

♪ Power makes it go

I'd want that so bad.

I remember these ads, by the way.

If you look at them,

it's manly Jeeps and adventures for the boys,

and for the girls of course it was like,

"Let's go shopping in our pink Corvette."

- [Cameraperson] Go. - (Power Wheels whirring)

It did make you think you can go 50 miles per hour.

All those commercials back then

made it seem like you were the doing the coolest stuff.

I mean, they had cool songs.

You had the Barbie. You had Bigfoot.

I remember a kid, I saw him in the Trans Am one,

you know, in like "Smokey and the Bandit."

There was so many different

types that you can get.

It's important to note that when they were released,

their price point hovered between $69 and $199.

That is a massive amount of money,

especially for a middle class family in the 1980s.

Would look in these high-end catalogs

and see these really

expensive Power Wheels

that most kids would

never be able to afford.

But you would circle that and, you know, just dream

that maybe Santa would bring you that.

There are about a million sales

of Power Wheels by 1990.

I thought the Big Wheel was cool,

but the Power Wheel was next level.

It was battery operated.

It made you feel like you had like a little car of your own.

You know, it made you feel cool as a kid.

I wanted that. I never had that.

I was on my bike.

(children laughing)

[Narrator] The Power Wheels brand

still dominates the market today,

but not all toy cars are rideable.

(cars whooshing)

It's the 1980s, and everything's going well

in the consumer electronics front.

We've had the Walkman for a couple years.

CDs are just coming out.

And the same thing's happening with remote control cars.

In the 1980s, Hobby radio- controlled cars released

the Grasshopper, the

Hornet, and Frog models,

but these took time to put together.

In 1986, Tyco's Turbo Hopper came out,

and that really changed the game for kids.

And what's special about that is nobody has to build it.

You take this right

out of the box,

put it on the floor,

you were ready to play.

(energetic guitar music)

It was faster and it took it out of that adult hobby

kind of mentality and made it accessible to all kids.

And it was very exciting and really changed the RC industry.

(cars whooshing)

Imagine being in control of something

that moves at what seems to you as a five or seven-year-old

at 9,000 miles an hour,

going off jumps, hitting berms, flipping, tumbling, rolling,

and then driving on again

for all 11 minutes that the battery lasts.

(car whirring)

(bleep) wanted it so bad.

Wheels excite everybody.

I don't care if it's a bike, a scooter, a car,

it transcends ages.

When you can go where you wanna go

at the speed you wanna get there in a cool way,

it was a bit of empowerment as a kid.

It just changes the dynamic and you feel more grown up.

You just ride, and you ride to parts of town

that you haven't seen before.

And from that come all of these great memories.

What do wheels mean?

It means a sense of freedom, a sense of adventure.

And that's what every single toy with wheels

means to children and grownups.

(upbeat music)