Tonka

The first Tonka toys were a steam shovel and a crane made by Mound Metalcraft in 1947 in the basement of a Minnesota schoolhouse. The company made 37,000 trucks that year. Soon it added semis, wreckers, dump trucks, fire trucks, and forklifts. Pick-up trucks were added in 1955, a Jeep in 1962, and a bright […]

Tootsietoy

The first Tootsietoy was a limousine made about 1911 by the Dowst Brothers Company of Chicago. It was followed in 1914 by a toy Model T Ford. By 1926 about 50 million Tootsietoy Model Ts had been produced. The Tootsietoy name, inspired by founder Charles Dowst’s granddaughter, Tootsie, was not registered until 1924 and did […]

Redlines and Blackwalls

Tires on Hot Wheels produced from 1968 to 1977 had a red stripe and were called Redlines. From 1977 to 1989 Hot Wheels had black tires and were called Blackwalls. A series of Redlines issued in 1993 were marked Vintage or 25th Anniversary on the base. The year on the base of a Hot Wheels […]

Manoil

Manoil, owned by brothers Jack and Maurice Manoil, began making toys in 1934. The company was first located in New York City, but later moved to Waverly, New York. It made slush-cast and die-cast cars noted for their futuristic designs. Tires on early cars were white rubber on red hubs. Postwar models had black rubber […]

Kenton

Kenton Lock Manufacturing Company was started in 1890 in Kenton, Ohio. The name changed to Kenton Hardware Manufacturing Company in 1894, and about then Kenton started making toys. Cast-iron toy cars were first made in 1903. Some were stamped Kenton. The painted red cars were called Red Devils. Many Kenton vehicles had a driver. Kenton […]

Matchbox Cars

In 1948 the London firm Lesney Products made its first toys, a diesel road roller, a cement mixer, and a crawler tractor, just 3 to 4 inches long. Lesney designer Jack Odell created the first miniature Matchbox car four years later when he made a brass road roller small enough to fit in a matchbox […]

Hubley

The Hubley Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1894 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It made cast-iron toys, including circus wagons and mechanical banks. Most of the cast-iron cars it made from the 1920s through the 1960s were copies of actual vehicles, and they were advertised with the slogan, “They look just like the real ones.” The cars […]

Hot Wheels

Mattel introduced Hot Wheels in 1968. With special torsion-bar suspension and low-friction wheels, Hot Wheels were the fastest toy cars on the market. They were modeled after popular cars and painted in fourteen metallic Spectraflame finishes, ranging from orange, green, yellow, gold, and red to pink, purple, and magenta. Later, Mattel added futuristic cars to […]

Dinky Toy

Meccano Limited, founded in 1901 in Liverpool, England, made toy construction kits using perforated metal parts that had to be bolted together. The company first made clockwork trains, and, after World War I, produced O gauge electric trains. Later on, it made OO gauge. In 1933 Dinky Toy model cars were introduced. Production was curtailed […]

Buddy “L”

The Moline Pressed Steel Company, established in 1913 in Moline, Illinois, began making toys under the Buddy “L” name in 1921. It made toy trucks, fire engines, and other vehicles like concrete mixers and road rollers. Most of the toys are from 21 to 24 inches long. They were made from heavy steel, strong enough […]