Trip to the basement netted this Wyandotte trailer I picked up years ago at the goodguys swap meet in Sunny Arizona. It will allow me to display a full size Wyandotte tin car, when I find one. Not the greatest colour match. The hunt continues.
Picked this tootsie toy recently. I guess we could call it an 18 window bus, although it actually has 20. It looks to me like these were cast out of some sort of white metal. As I collect more of these I will have to inform myself a bit more.
'Australian Toys Manufacturing Co., Camperdown, 21 October 1940'; pics by R. Wolfe; ACP/CP/Pix Magazine; Mitchell Library/State Library of New South Wales
Those are some very awesome photos of how toy trucks were made . Thank You for sharing them. Wonder how many of the toy trucks survived?
The photos are dated 21 October 1940. The young workers: Australia announced it was at war at the same time Britain did in 1939. The net tells me that the Oz Army wasn't involved until 1941 but the navy and some pilots were involved before that. However, there would have been a lot of recruitment and training before 1941, so perhaps there was a shortage of adult workers for things like toy manufacturing. Or: two of the boys look like they could be brothers, so was the toy company a family business? (There looks to be at least one adult in the background of one photo.)
Child labor laws in Australia were pretty lax prior to the '40s, depending on what part of the country you were in.
Heya Pete, That looks to be a big 18" Marx/Lumar "Contractor Truck". It's the early '50s version with the tin-litho wheels. Hope this helps.
Thank You Jack . I was thinking the stickers on the bed may have been added on by a previous owner. But after seeing Your post they were original to the truck
'Wheeled toys (trucks, trains, waggons, wheelbarrows, etc.) for Campbell & Co., 2 April 1937' Sam Hood Collection; Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
@Ron Funkhouser Hello, Ever wonder how accurate those real Marine howitzers can shoot those big bullets in those long barrels? In So Cal, near the Camp Pendleton complex, the monthly howitzer artillery battery always has a day long trials situation. The camp is so large and empty in certain sections that shooting within the range is a monthly exercise. Their accuracy is obvious with GPS and satellite imaging. But, at one time, maps were the only way to judge distances and locations. The angle and distance finding by trial and error is now fairly accurate. If the multiple howitzers are fired from the western area to the east, there are approximately 16-20 miles of empty space to have the targets away from neighboring communities. This old 40s toy allowed us to us measuring techniques to get accurate shots of cranking the barrel up to a certain degree and then see where it went in the yard. We lived in an old Craftsman house on the far reaches of the Westside of Long Beach. The yard itself was large for an old house/property. It even had a 3 car detached garage that backed up to a dirt alleyway. The alley was bordered on the always tall grassy field and it was difficult for our dad to park his 41 Buick fastback in one of the garage stalls. Each one had double doors and there were three stalls. He gave up after several tries and once he got in, the early morning back up and leaving was a chore. He usually ended up in the grassy field. During a rain, his tires usually got stuck in the muddy, soft grass and he was mad on his way to work. When he got a new 49 4 door Buick, he did not even try as it was longer and larger, so he parked it out on the front street. We outgrew our large backyard for this missle launches. So, now we used the huge empty grassy field for our forts and army battles. The area ran from our backyard to the Terminal Island freeway and to the railroad berm/tracks from the harbor going towards Lion’s Dragstrip, just around the end and corner of our street. The blue line is the railroad track from the harbor past Lion’s Dragstrip to the north. The red line is the Terminal Island freeway, still used by numerous diesel trucks to and from the harbor terminals. The arrow shows our old house location. The whole green outlined area was a tall grassy field during our time in the old craftsman house from 1947 to 1953. Now, there is a school district facility + an elementary school with our old address as its current mailing address!!! My brother had his fort and we traded off using the launching cannon to hit each other’s forts. They were once close, but we realized we could move farther away and I could still hit his fort easily. He always had bad aim or adjusting the cannon crank to get the missle launch near my fort. My brother had his fort and we traded off using the launching cannon to hit each other’s forts. They were once close, but we realized we could move farther away and I could still hit his fort easily. He always had bad aim or adjusting the cannon crank to get the toy missile launch near my fort. Then, if it was close, a few cranks to lower the barrel to see if we could not hit it directly. By three tries, the target was destroyed. We had several red plastic rubber bullets/flying bombs in our arsenal. So, if the green army soldiers were well hidden in the tall grassy area in a bunker, then we would take an estimate as to how far away they are. Jnaki When we had stored the toy cannon until our son was ready to use it, but our yard was large enough to keep the aim low and could hit targets across the grass. He used it a lot on summer days. The cannon base moved with the buttons. The crank raised and lowered the long cannon barrel. This item requires 2 D batteries - new batteries is all it takes to get the missle launcher up and aimed in the general direction. Even after 40 years, it still worked with new batteries… It has 2 missiles web photo Approximate Dimensions: Length: 23" Width: 6" Height: 7" Note: We used it for our granddaughter when she stayed with us, but army toys and a feisty toddler girl did not go together. Although, she liked to fire the bullet straight into a target. So, as we were having a neighborhood garage sale, our close neighbor came over to see what toys we were selling. Our granddaughter was selling her famous “fortune pops” for a $.25 and they were selling like hot cakes. The neighbor was in a tizzy. His grandson was coming for a week stay with the grandparents and he had no toys to offer and had no idea what he liked. So, he asked us. Well, our granddaughter piped up and said that we had Tonka Construction Toys she played with a couple of times. Also, there was a shooting cannon truck in the garage cabinet. So, our neighbor asked if they were for sale and our granddaughter said… sold. Ha! Some salesperson she was, at this garage sale. The neighbor was going to give us a ton of money for all of the Tonka Construction Trucks. They were the large size and were our son’s pals when he was little. They were gifts from his grandparents, so memories abound, but rare use and taking up space was important for us. But, our granddaughter said a “twenty” would be the garage sale price for our neighbor. The cannon truck was free… Ha ! YRMV
JNAKI WOW! Your heighbor got a great deal!!! I'm way too sentmental to ever do that. I took a permanent marker, and dated all my old toy trucks on the bottom side. My kids, and grandkids have all played with them. Maybe their kids, and grandkids will to some day? I built roads, bridges, and ponds with them. Pressed steel trucks will last forever. That was very nice of your daughter to do that. There will be lots of imagination, and memories yet to be made with them. Photo, is of my grandson in his first Tonka truck. Ron.......
I picked up a pair of these recently, look similar, but not identical to the Australian trucks in the black and white photos above. They are a humble beginning, no back on the cab, wooden wheels, missing grilles and boxes. First order of business is to loose the crystal knob on the roof.
How about a mid twenties C cab based tonka “Hot Hauler”? It features square headlights, caps in front, mags out back, blower, open headers, spring in front and metal flake paint.
The Jalopy Journal
