Art & Inspiration Remember the toy car promotions offered by dealerships?

How about the Edsel.HRP

 

Used to get a "Promo" car once in a while. I remember in the early '60s I got a '32 Vicky model kit from the Ford Dealer. I'm pretty sure it was by AMT but the box had special graphics about Ford history and stuff.
Anybody remember these?

 

Had an Edsel convertible friction powered promo given to me when I was a kid by a neighbour who had at one time purchased the 1/1 car.. Wish I knew what happened to it! Still have a '56 Ford 4dr hardtop (no box) and a '76 'Vette (in it's plain white box) as promos. Small potatoes compared to collectors with hundreds!

Dave

 

Another Ford. HRP

 

Another great memory, I looked forward to each September as a kid. That's when the new cars came out. They kept them a secret . Then they would have an unveiling with free drinks and food. They had girls all dressed up on the show room floor. All the new makes an models of new cars. But the best part for me was the model cars. If you were to buy a new car they would give you a free model of it. But that was the expensive way to get one. lol But for a dollar you could just buy one. At the time I thought they weren't as cool as the $1.49 kits from the hobby shop, or from Auto World. Because their hoods didn't open, and they didn't have a mill in them. Who knew that the promo's would be the most valuable ones in the future. I had a older lady give me her promo as a kid too. The only problem was she bought a Nash Rambler. When I was a kid who liked Vettes. lol I still have that little Rambler in a very played with condition. Hope to here some more stories. And Thanks Ron...

 

My Dad worked for Chrysler for 37 years and he used to take my brother and I to the new car unveiling shows. We would receive a free promo car model. I used to have a couple of 1964 Barracudas and a bunch of others, but I only have these three now....

 

Ron, you bring back memories. The local car dealers, there were two one Ford and one Chevy, would put brown paper on the inside of the showroom glass. Salespeople worked thru the night to get the new cars on the floor and set up for the new buyers and "tire kickers" to arrive. This was usually on a saturday when most people were home. Early the next morning they would remove the paper and allow the customers in. They usually had coffee and donuts and tons of brochures to hand out. Those give away cars became quite collectable! I sometimes see them for sale at Hershey and some of the prices are up there.

 

The '32 Victoria was offered through Ford (who knows what they thought they were promoting??) considerably before it was released as a regular store kit. Maybe 1964?? Ford seems to have had some sort of AMT hookup in the early 1960's. I remember actual-store bought kits, not promos, of Fords and Falcons somewhere in there coming through with molded writing on the bottom pointing out all the features that were advertising points at the time... all advertising type lingo like "never grease ball joints" and "norusto mufflers", whatever terminology Ford was flogging at the moment. Anybody have an example to show?

 

AMT started out as Aluminum Model Toys. Then progressed to plastics. There was a sister division called SMP, I think Scale Model Products. Those Chrysler promos were JoHan. Promos were molded in a different type of plastic from the glue kits. AMT used to sell unassembled promo kits too. I think they called them Craftsman series. And some kits were sold in different box art, like the 32 Vicky.

 

Yes indeed,I remeber my Dad taking to Reedmans in langhorn PA. to see the new 58 Chevys.They had a big band playing and a women singing,and they were giving apples to everybody.It was a big deal in those days.My Dad liked the new Impala a lot and he did buy one later that year,it was his first new car and he was 42 years old and I was 7. I learned to drive in that car.

 

In 1966 my dad got mom a 66 Mustang for christmas. My brother and I each got one of these as part of the deal. We both still have them.

 

No I don't remember toy promotions. We never had enough money to go to show rooms and buy new cars. We always had used cars. I still don't buy new cars. I usually buy a low milage certified used car because the warranty is better.

Gary

 

Little Nash. HRP\\

 

I had a 52 Ford convert and a 54 - 4 door. They were plastic, perfect scale and detail, and the dealerships used to display them in the showroom.

 

And this one

 

............This '61 Starliner is a dealer promo that I got from Jefferson County Motor Co., Dandridge, Tennessee in 1961.

 

I have a big box full of them in the basement.

 

I've never seen a '54 Ford promo car,that's pretty cool. HRP

 

you also have a big box full of $$. I collected a lot of the Gm ones, mainly Corvette '72 and older.

 

AMT (Aluminum Model Toys) was started by attorney West Gallogly in Troy, Michigan to make promos of diecast aluminum circa 1948. Plastic injection molding machines came out the next year so he converted to that and changed the name to just AMT 'cause they weren't aluminum any longer. Scale Model (SMP), Product Miniature Company (PMC), Lindberg, Product Miniature Company (PMC), National Products, and Ideal Models, which later changed its name to Johan, Monogram, among others were in products the market too. Revell never got into that business, they concentrated on making toys and ship, plane, etc., models. SMP actually came up with the 3-in-1 kit but AMT acquired them soon after and expanded the idea. All the model companies soon got into the kit making business since the promo market was drying up and to build on AMTs kit success. Promos were cast with parts trees anyway so all they had to do was beef them up with a few more trees of detailed parts and they had their kits.

 

Wow! You could buy one for $2! Of course $2 was a lot more money then than it is now. If you could buy stuff like that from car dealers today for $2, I'd be there every year.

 

Another trip down memory lane...... The Local Ford dealer (Fred Sayre Motor) in my hometown of Ripley, WV, when I was young (same dealer that my Neon Ford signs came from) had a glass display case on the wall in the showroom with all of the current model year promos in it. At the end of each year, Mr. Sayre would invite me to choose one from the case!!!!. I've got T-birds, Galaxies, Mustangs, Falcon, etc. I can still see that case vividly in my memory whenever I look at the promo models.

Jim

 

That's kinda what I have. I'd actually have to go to the toy room and take a look around. I had some over the years but not sure what's left. My box is 70 up vette stuff. I never think about them, figurin they ain't worth what they used to be.

 

Good info. Promos came before the first kits and some are worth large bucks now. I don't know if they still do them. Gary

 

here's my limited 49-50 Chevrolet collection. I only buy them when they go for cheap. for some reason you will see ten 1950 models for every '49. the convertible is the 49.

 

I had the 66 and 67 Mustangs when I was a kid and still have the 67 but its rough,did pick up a nice 66 and 67 off ebay a few years ago.

 

We lived in Idaho in 1958...I was 10 years old, and I talked my dad in to taking a test drive at the Edsel dealer in Twin Falls, because somehow even though we lived way off the grid (if there even was a grid in Idaho in 1959), I'd heard the dealer would give the kids a free promo model if the folks would take a test drive. My dad always had a colorful way with words, and after the test drive, he said he wouldn't have an Edsel in his ass if he had room for a steamboat. The model was cool, though...a turquoise and white 2 door hardtop with a friction motor. Wish I still had it.

 

That's a Wen-Mac 'Stang. They also made a 67 fastback. They were battery operated but a .049 gas engine could be bought from Wen-Mac, and installed, in place of the electric motor.