GI Joe - A Real American Hero: RAM - Rapid Fire Motorcycle (Hasbro, 1982)

Two of my childhood toys: My old Rock & Roll action figure riding the RAM!

In 1982, I loved GI Joe toys!  Getting my first two GI Joe figures (Short Fuse and Grunt) was a major event in my childhood.  At the time, I couldn't imagine cooler figures that the first wave of GI Joe: A Real American Hero.  I also loved the file cards and the comic books.  For the most part, I was much more interested in the action figures than the vehicles, but several exceptions to that rule were vehicles found in the first wave of GI Joe.

The box for my 2nd childhood RAM

My first GI Joe vehicle was the Rapid Fire Motorcycle (or "RAM" for short).  It was (and still is) easily one of my favorite toy vehicles ever.  Some elements of the design and the removable 20mm Gatling Cannon on the side may have been a little bit silly for an otherwise fairly realistic military toy line, but by wave 2, reality had been thrown out the window.  In comparison to the later waves of GI Joe, the RAM was relatively realistic.  I loved this toy and I'm amazed it still looks so good after years of being my go-to GI Joe vehicle...and decades of being stored in a humid basement!

Grunt, one of my 1st two GI Joes, riding the Rapid Fire Motorcycle!

Although I played with a lot of toys throughout my childhood, GI Joe stands out.  My father traveled a lot for work, but if he was home on a Saturday, we would often have lunch together and then go to Lionel Leisure City, the big toy store in our area.  He would bring a book and read while I struggled to decide which two figures I would get that day.  It sometimes took me an hour to decide, but he never complained.  My father had been in the army and I think in the early years of GI Joe, he enjoyed these toys more than some of the other lines that I had liked before.  He would offer up details about the figures, weapons, gear, and vehicles that weren't printed on any of the accompanying paperwork.  It led to me asking him dozens of questions about his time in the military and the toy line became something that he and I could really talk about.

Back of the GI Joe Rapid Fire Motorcycle Box (Hasgro, 1982)

The Rapid Fire Motorcycle and the box in these photos was my 2nd RAM.  My father and I went on a vacation to New York City.  I got sick and we had to spend one entire day of our trip stuck in a hotel room.  I think it was late 1983, so the Real American Hero line had already been out for more than a year and we found this RAM somewhere in NYC for $2.99.  I spent the day in the hotel playing with this awesome motorcycle.  I guess because GI Joe was already on to wave 2, it seemed amazing to find this set in the store.  My original RAM was one of my favorite toys, but it was damaged when I left it out one day and my dog chewed on it.  The combination of finding it on the trip to NYC with my father, it being one of my favorite vehicles, and coming across it after I thought they didn't make them anymore made this a particularly special toy for me, so I kept the box (which I thought had particularly awesome art!) as well as all of the paperwork.  I think this, more than any other GI Joe piece, brings back very specific memories from my childhood and I was very glad to find it in such good condition in my parent's basement last weekend!

Grunt rides the GI Joe Motorcycle into action!

Did you have any of the first wave of GI Joe action figures when they first came out in 1982?  Who was your favorite GI Joe character?  Are there any toys from your childhood that spark specific memories?  Tell me in the comments!

Also, if you collect toys, you should know about Toylanta, the best toy show in the Southeastern United States held annually in Georgia.  Visit Toylanta.com for more information.

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