The Energon Pub

Not sure what made me think of this, but I'm trying to find the name of some 80s toys that came out around/just before the G1 transformers. There were only 3 toys in the line, each one was a car that turned into a robot. They had little drivers that came with them, along with some other accessories. I know one of them had a head that looked like a video screen. They were also larger and more intricate than the G1 transformers, but that's about all I remember. Anyone have any idea what I'm thinking of?

That sounds like Diakron. There were nothing more than experimental US releases of the original Diaclone versions of Ironhide (who came in black), Sunstreaker (who came in red) and Trailbreaker (who was blue). The line was released by Takara, the current Japanese distributor of Transformers and original creator of the lines (Diaclone and Microman) that would become Transformers. It's interesting to note that Transformers would start mere months after Diakron was released.

You can read up on the US Diakron line here, or use this page to find out more about "Pre-Transformer" lines. Generation 1 toys up until 1986 came from a variety of Japanese lines.

Then again, that's just a small hunch.

Wow, and here I was so sure they were not Transformers. But after looking at the pics of them, those have to be what I was thinking of. I know I saw them at Toys R Us, and I was pretty sure the colors were red, blue and black. Very cool, thanks for the info.

pole position ????

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj55mHD2Pes

that what i thought of from your discription