The Small-Scale Toy that Brought ‘Night of Destruction’ to Family Rooms Nationwide

“How did I not know this existed when I was a kid?!” 

Those were the first excited words uttered when my eyes fell upon Smash-Up Derby in a vendor’s booth at Carlisle Event’s 2024 Spring Swap Meet in late April. Associate Editor David Conwill rushed over, as if I had found a bucket of freshly mined gold nuggets, while my mind raced back to the night my parents brought my brother and me to the local circle track to experience our first demolition derby. Hours of metal-crunching entertainment captivated us. So much, in fact, that the next day we commandeered Dad’s Stanley hammer and recreated the spectacle in 1:64 scale. I’m not sure if it was the metal-to-metal impact, our ceaseless laughter, or the combination of the two that drew my parents’ sudden need to investigate, only to discover a couple dozen $1 diecast cars in a barely identifiable condition. 

In hindsight, it was probably wise to hide Smash-Up Derby from our suddenly destructive minds. I’d be willing to bet that if I had counted the pages in the Sears Wish Book, I’d have found that one had been carefully removed—the one that promoted the toy I stood before at Carlisle. I had to know what I missed. 

It turns out that Kenner introduced Smash-Up Derby in 1970, released as a subseries to the company’s Super Sonic Power (SSP) line. The premise of the toy set was cleverly simple: Create a head-on collision between two scaled-down cars and watch the parts fly. Easy enough, but there was more to it than just forcefully flinging plastic against plastic. 

Let’s start with the set basics: Two already carefully mangled, multi-colored vehicles that featured detachable, spring-loaded doors, hood, wheels–—and in some instances—trunk lid; two ramps; and two ripcords. Combatants would position the ramps, populate the vehicles with its parts, and thread the ripcord into the vehicle through an opening in the roof. Rapid removal of the ripcord activated a single drive wheel, which protruded below the vehicle’s chassis. All that was left was careful aim for the anticipated midair collision. If done right, front triggers would release the spring-loaded parts.  

The first set’s vehicles—a blue 1957 Chevrolet Nomad and a red 1957 Ford coupe—sported small, easily discernable white triggers, but a perfect head-on collision was required to jettison the spring-loaded vehicle parts. Kenner quickly redesigned the triggers by both enlarging and incorporating them into front bumpers. The trigger redesign was carried into subsequent sets released throughout the Seventies, including Classy Crashers (released in 1972 with a decade-accurate Lincoln Continental versus a Rolls-Royce), Stars & Stripes (released in 1975 with patriotic-themed ’57 Chevy Nomad and ’57 Ford coupe), Les Cascadeurs (released in 1978 with a Citroen 2CV versus a Renault 4), and our featured set unofficially called “Buggem” due to the pairing of a Volkswagen Beetle against a GMC pickup. In 2015, a set was reintroduced featuring a yellow 1957 Chevy Bel Air and a red 1957 Ford Ranchero. 

Prices for the original 1970s sets vary from as little as $35 to as much as $125 online, and a network of Smash-Up Derby fans sell individual parts to help others make sets whole again.  

Smash-Up Derby

Asking Price: $35-$100 (Online)

Found at: 2024 Carlisle Events’ Spring Carlisle (Carlisle, Pennsylvania)

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