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

I had one, but it wasn't the "Delco" edition. Those 57s were made by Wen-Mac and while I've only seen the "Delco" edition in red, they were also available in Yellow, Blue, and Black. They could be had with a wind-up motor, electric motor, or a .049 gas engine. The engine was also available separately to convert the wind-ups or electric models to gas powered.
Wen-Mac also made the orange 65 Mustang (as seen in one of earlier posts) and a blue 67 Mustang. A rare Wen-Mac model is the 67-68 Camaro.

 

I love all these old cars, even these that had a face only a mother could love! lol

 

Pretty much the same here. My old man bought a new Ford in 67, his first new car. Didn't buy another until 78, after I had left home. I bought three new vehicles years ago, never will again. Never saw any of the promos except the Chevy dealer in Tuscaloosa had 3-4 in a wall encased in clear bricks. Building is long gone now.

 

I went to the Pontiac dealership here in town in 1967 to see the brand new Firebird they were giving away and I entered the contest,

A week later I received a registered notification that I was a Grand Prize winner and I didn't let any grass grow under my feet getting down to the dealership to take possession of the keys to my brand new car ~ trouble was I wasn't THE GRAND PRIZE winner just a Grand Prize winner.

A runner up if you will,I won a 1967 promotional model. HRP

 

Some more....

 

I had a '54 Ford fourdoor sedan, (still do, in a box with other promos) The sedan was given to me by my bud Don Graham, model car guru since 1960? (Don's wife muses he has a 2,000 car garage...)
A Ford promo I have a few of is the 1925 "Model T Ford". It was a striped green and white box, titled as described. Inside are parts (and good AMT bodies) of a '25 T roadster and a '25 T Coupe.
I also have the Vicky promo.
The '54 Ford sedan was made of Soy Bean plastic, I'm told. But doubt it, (it's certainly not the later Styrene, but has warped from heat nevertheless.
Lots of these early promos I see are warped or sagging, I get a little bugged when I see them, too bad they weren't better cared for!
But I'm like that with everything. That's why I'm a HAMBer, I guess.

 

I think you'll find that 67 Firebird promo to be worth quite a bit of money to a promo collector. I have a bunch of promo models around that I pick up occasionally at yard sales and flea markets. Some are in great condition and others missing parts. The biggest problem with the early promos is that they were made of styrene plastic which has a tendency to shrink(warp)with age and exposure to heat only accelerates the process.To find a mid fifties promo that has no warpage is near impossible.
There were a couple of other manufacturers of promos in the late 40's and early 50's that used slush metal(or aluminum) for their constructionroduct Miniatures,National Products, and Banthrico. They were slightly smaller than 1/25th scale and the detail wasn't as crisp but they also had some relatively rare pieces.Also the Auburn Rubber Co.made some fairly decent models(although not dealer promos)as far back as the 1930's.
The last two are not dealer promos but very detailed cast aluminum cars that are actually cigarette cases.The tops come off to reveal the cigarette storage. The Cadillac even has a lighter in the deck lid.

 

Forgot this one: A Product Miniatures 48 Studebaker Starlight coupe.

 

I got one those 32 Vicky's from our Ford Dealer. The choice was the Vicky or a 60 Ford Starliner...

Most guys here know of the name Frank Morawski ( Super Bell Coupe, Carrillo Roadster, Curly's Merc ) . Frank has a wall in his basement that is covered in Still in the box promo cars. The shelves are about 8 feet tall and about 25 feet long..............and there are still boxes stacked on the floor........one hell of a collection

 

Mike,I am somewhat of a '54 Ford nut,I sure would like to see a photo of that car,I have never seen a '54 Ford promo car. HRP

 

Is this a friction car? what year? HRP

 

I've got a bunch of the Chevrolet model's due to being the son of a zone rep but everything is OT. Guessing they killed the program in the mid 90's but I always keep an eye out at the local swap meets. Some of the mid to late 60's cars had working lights and there were some produced with AM radios.

 

I think it was a friction drive. It is a 1959. Sold it long ago.

 

Another one I still have....

 

I have a '56 friction Ford that I picked up at a yard sale,so I don't have a clue to it's origin,but don't think it's a promo. HRP

 

^Promo cars were usually plastic in that era.

 

There used to be a great old hobby shop in Salem Oregon back in the '60's called "Elmers". Cranky old Elmer had car kits stacked to the ceiling. The good old ones like the original black '40 Ford kits and all the AMT and Johan kits. I used to go there up until the '80's until he closed sometime after that. The last 2 cars I bought were a pair of friction cars, SMP I think small box just big enough to get the car in. Here's the kick. They were a matched pair of '60 Chev's, an Impala hardtop and a Corvette. Impala was black/white top. Corvette was black with silver cove. Detail was very good, not like some of the warped promos. I took them out of the box only to show them. Needed some project money so I sold the mid '80's for $100 for the pair. I thought I made a killing. Wish I still had them.

 

My Dad bought a new 1959 Ford Station Wagon,and I got a pro-mo, but Dads new car was blue and white, my pro-mo was a Brown 2 door. I don't know what happened to it, but I was only 6.

 

Yeah,that's what I thought. HRP

 

1963 Ford F-100 promo model. HRP

 

^That unibody truck is probably a pretty rare item.

 

The reason some years are rarer than others of the same model is the tools got modified. Example is the 65 Riviera. The fender scoops got filled in for the 65. AMT has re-issued the 65 many, many times. But they can never re-issue the 63 or 64 because the tool was modified.

 

1962 Chevy promo. HRP

 

I was looking at some of my old models. And thought you may like this one. It has the information on the bottom like the one Don has. Coil Springs, 4000 mile oil change,32000 chassis lube, ceramic armored exhaust,etc. This is the kind of model, that someone would have had to give it to me as a kid. As I hated cars like this. I was a Vette, Camaro, and Chevy 2 Kind of kid. ha ha Ron...

 

Here is more of a hamb. promo ha ha. I think it was a promo when new.lol

 

Much better pictures than mine, Ron. Thanks for posting.

 

Some better shots of a couple that I have that show the data on the bottom and the torsion bar suspension that actually works....