Hot Wheels
Hot Wheels cars were first created by Mattel in 1968, and have continued to be a very popular American toy, even with adults. The types of cars produced has evolved over time, and the majority of the 1980's brought was collectors call the "Blackwalls Era" (tires no longer had red lines in them). The 80's brought us iterations like color changing paint, crash panels, and jack ups.
In addition to all the cool cars was all the cool sets and tracks. Of course you could connect track together and launch the cars using a motorized wheel (like the Turbotrax), but there were also sets that required your imagination, such as the truck stop, mechanics garage, city set, cargo plane, railroad freight yard,