“Max is a mean machine, but when you drive, it’s a pussy cat.”
Released in 1977, Max Machine was an “action van” driven by Telesonic remote control.
The sound-activated plastic toy weighed about two pounds and ran on two C-batteries. The brightly coloured van came with a sheet of decals to further detail the vehicle.
Children controlled Max Machine’s motion with the Command Base Control, a hand-held remote control. Pressing a button on the remote elicited an audible click and caused Max Machine to steer right, left, or straight ahead. The van had a turning radius of less than a foot.
A circuit board that powered all four wheels enabled Max Machine’s motion. An adjustment rod accessible through the roof allowed for fine-tuning the toy’s responsiveness to the remote.
Max Machine was part of Schaper’s Telesonic U-Drive-It Toy series, which also included Tobor, Max Machine Night Hawk, Ranger ATV, Vic, Baja Bike Scrambler, and Auto Race. The relative simplicity of the U-Drive-It soundwave operation made the line more affordable than some of its radio-controlled contemporaries.
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