The one thing I’ve always wanted for those times as a kid is driving a little car I can sit in. I’ve seen other kids with them, typically battery powered ones that zip along the ground with simple steering wheels and stripped down plastic seats. Some of them even have working headlights or buttons that play sounds. They tend to walk slowly and only on smooth surfaces, such as a pavement or short grass. I never had one, never had the opportunity to drive it.

They’re not the sort of toy cars you push along with your hands, in other words. These are cars that you sit in, and kick and steer. Some of them have pedals; others simply move forward when you’re pressing a button. T hey are typically for young children, two to six or so I would expect. Most are plastic, and they’re molded to resemble actual cars, just on a very small scale.

I would have no clue what it was like to step inside one, grip the wheel and make it go where you need it to go. I’ve only ever seen it from the outside, or watched other kids drive them. I never requested it, nor was it ever anything that I dreamed of having. It just never came up.