I worked at Tonka toys right after I graduated high school, while I was goin to vocational school. Worked there for a couple of years in the late 70's. One of the jobs I did there was to operate the machine that was called the "mickey mouse" machine. it had auto feeders for wheel and auto feeders for tires and had a hyd cylinder that pressed the 2 together and they were ejected into a bin when finished. because of the shape of the parts they fed poorly and the limit switches needed constant re adjustments... hence the mickey mouse name.... cool truck man
....Mark, I can just see you putting on a future resume where it indicates former jobs: Mickey Mouse machine operator at Tonka Toys. I find that amusing, but my sense of humor is a bit warped.
Who would have ever thought our toys would be valuable later on in life? I know I sure didn't, or I would have taken better care of them and kept them. Mine got passed down to cousins as I grew older and didn't want them anymore. No idea what became of them, trash probably.
Well look at a modern "Tonka"almost no metal and the plastic chassis is not nearly as durable as the metal version
In our "Nanny Society", all the toys we enjoyed as kids have been legislated (child safe) and frivolously law suited out of existence. It's amazing that ANY of us survived after playing with such deadly toys...but I guess that's what Band-Aids were made for.
What about the Cox and Wen Mac gas powered cars and planes as well as the Estes and Centuri model rockets!?
I was also going to say mark working in a toy factor makes sense, and may even explain a few things! Lol.
Phil, I have always been a fan of wreckers and ramp trucks. You scored a very cool find. Your truck may be a #2992 from the Tonka Gas Turbine Series in 1975/1976. I have seen some pictures of these trucks and they came with a yellow Tonka bulldozer. Tonka made some early ramp trucks in the 60's. I have been told one of the rarest is a 1964 green Tonka Truck called a Ramp Hoist. This is a ramp truck I made a couple years ago from scrap metal and spare Wyandotte toy truck parts.
Talked to the manager of a local Goodwill store, and she said they can’t sell any rusty toy trucks due to liability issues. She said they have to throw them in the dumpster. I said that they probably could be restored…she said…sorry!
I would have done some dumpster diving. Rust might make the project more challenging, but the end result can be very satisfying.
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