Why did not American companies make such beautiful toys?

[Guest T54]

While we all love our "big" old cars, I am pretty sure that many car collectors here are also fans of nice old toy cars, but like in all sizes, there are winners and there are losers. Here, for my first post, I am presenting what I think is a true winner, one that could grace the shelf of the most sophisticated and discerning car and memorabilia collector. I am also pretty sure that many AACA members played with one of these when they were kids.

In 1951, the Japanese Marusan Company was trying to become a viable tin toys business. With the financial and managerial help from the American Armed Forces under General MacArthur's command, the reborn Japanese toy industry was able to become the country's largest exporter, bringing much-needed currency to the nearly-destroyed country.

Marusan secured the services of Matsuzou Kosuge, a well-known toy maker before the war, to produce what would become one of the all-time classic toys ever made, the 1951 Cadillac. This was produced as a friction-powered toy, as a self-propelled battery-powered version as well as a cable-controlled version with a steering wheel on top of a battery box.

The toy was made of stamped steel with a painted body and chassis base, with a lithographed steel-sheet interior. The tires are real rubber but the whitewalls are stamped and painted steel rings. The wheels are steel as well as the whole friction mechanism. The windows are acetate, stamped from flat sheet. The paint quality is outstanding for a toy, and there are over 150 pieces in each, over 200 in the electric versions. All were assembled by women over long tables, the final product boxed, then packed into large wooden crates for export to American toy stores.

The colors were very precise, the more common friction-powered model painted in gray, with less common versions in black or red, and in 1953 after the success of "A Solid Gold Cadillac" movie featuring Judy Holliday, a... gold version.

The self-propelled electric battery powered models were yellow with a green roof, and that was an actual Cadillac factory color scheme.

However, the friction-powered models were never produced in that color scheme. At least that is what all the books and documentation, including that of the still existing Marusan company itself, advanced.

Out of the blue surfaced this brand new, mint in its original box model, that contradicts all previously known information, a yellow and green model, but friction-powered and without the electric headlights and taillights of the "electric" model.

After insuring myself that this was not a restored car, stripped and repainted in the "wrong" color, I had to accept that it is real. Here is the beast, recently discovered in an online estate sale:

It is always nice as a collector, to find something that is supposed to never have existed... but does!

The question now, is why American toy companies appear to hav e been unwilling or incapable to produce such beautiful toys in the early 1950's, when the market was so ripe for them, and left the market wide open for Japan? The products of toy companies like Tonka or Smith-Miller were never that nice. And Japan produced over the years and until the dreaded advent of plastic, many more tinplate models of Ford, Chrysler, Chevrolet, Buick, some even nicer than this Cadillac.

I have often wondered.

If you like this post, I would be pleased to share some of my other 2000 + vintage car toys with you.

[junkyardjeff]

I remember playing with a couple toy cars like that at grandmas house many years ago,probably left there by my cousins who were about 10 years older then me and who know what ever happened to them.

[1937hd45]

Welcome to the AACA Forum! I for one would like to see more of your collection. I don't collect toys because it would drain away funds I need for the real cars, but I really enjoy reading the history of the industry. I do have every toy car and truck Mom and Dad bought me, I just haven't added to the collection..........yet. Bob

[keiser31]

I have been trying to get Peter to make up an "antique car toy" forum. I have a LOT to share.

[Guest Oldengineer]

That's a beautiful toy car. I have to agree with you. I have a beautiful Tenshodo brass HO guage steam locomotive from the late 50's. The craftmanship and attention to detail are excellent.

Regards:

Oldengineer

[Dave@Moon]

The question now, is why American toy companies appear to hav e been unwilling or incapable to produce such beautiful toys in the early 1950's, when the market was so ripe for them, and left the market wide open for Japan?

Like Jeff, when I was 4/5/6 years old I had several of these Japanese tin toys myself (albeit versions from the 1961/62/63 era).

...And that is why none of them were made here.

You see, they were almost the only new toys I ever got at that age. I particularly remember a tin Corvair police car (electric) that was my main present for Christmas one year. My father at the time drove a Yellow Cab in Pittsburgh, and was going to night school on the G.I. Bill to become a lab technician. We (Mom, Dad, baby brother, and I) were living on less than $35.00/week at the time. If my dad could afford these toys, they were CHEAP!

At that time (1960) 31% of the private sector workforce in the U.S. was unionized (today it is less than 7%) ( Union Members Summary ). In 1960 even the non-union manufacturing concerns had to compete via wages with union shops to attract reliable employees. With those labor costs there would be no way to manufacture anything competitively with a Japanese concern at the time in the U.S. Japan could afford to sell toys in the 1950s and 1960s cheap enough for a cab driver's son to own, American companies couldn't.

Today it's the Chinese workers/concerns that are doing the same thing (in MANY fields, not just toys), which in an odd way is fortunate for many kids here since wages have declined severely of late among what were traditionally unionized workers. I'm sure there are many kids today playing with Chinese toys that in 50 years will be wondering why China had a lock on the 2012 market. Maybe by then they'll be making toys here for peanut wages for kids in China.

[junkyardjeff]

I remember getting a small tin car at a local festival and on the inside I seen other writing,it looked like it was originally going to be a food container or something else but ended up being made into a car.

[Rusty_OToole]

There were American made tin toys and even cast iron toys. Japan in the 50s had a lower cost of labor and made a lot of items like toys, transistor radios, etc that required hand work. Later they moved on to motorcycles, cars, etc. and became more prosperous.

Not that the US couldn't have made such toys but they would have been priced out of the market.

[junkyardjeff]

In the Tonka style toys there were a couple higher end companies like Smith-Miller and another in the Cincinnati Ohio area that made more detailed versions but the cheaper more mass produced toy cpmpanies sold more and those lower production companies closed their doors.

[1937hd45]

Since all my toy cars and trucks were Match Box or Dinkey I guess the folks in England were working for less than US Union workers.

[junkyardjeff]

It did seem like England was where all the diecast toys were made.

[TG57Roadmaster]

T54, that is one magnificent Marusan you scored at the estate sale, minter than mint!

Others have answered your question quite well, and it really does come down to price point

and public perception. Think of how many times we heard, or said, "cheap Japanese

(or Hong Kong, or Chinese)" this or that, as compared to made in USA.

When you consider the options available to an early-'50's car crazy kid, you had slush cast NPC

"promo" cars, balsa kits, Matchbox/Dinky/Corgi, Tonka and loads of molded plastic cars made in the U.S.

And then the Japanese tins in a variety of sizes and quality. As their quality improved, kids switched

to plastic promos, AMT and other American kits because they could be painted, optioned up and/or

customized individually (but with 2000+ models, you know this already).

It seems to me that the Japanese companies' tin cars just plodded along, turning out affordable product,

not static, but not changing much. A few favorites to add to your Cadillac are Haji's '56 Ford Sunliner,

Marusan's '56 Ford Victoria, and ATC's stunning '62 Imperial LeBaron. (I cheated and went to my copy

of Kelley's "Collecting the Tin Toy Car"). Still, these were 49 to 59-cent cars when a Matchbox

was the same price, so somehow they came off as "cheap," noted already by others.

My brother and I Christmas Eve and Morning, 1960...I think I'm holding a Bandai '59 Buick.

The folks started buying me MBX's soon after, 'cause I kept destroying the tins with rocks, bricks,

hammers. (Still have most of the MBX's).

If it hasn't already been done, someone should write a book about your question;

the how, what, why of Japanese tin cars (I love junkyardjeff's comment about the tin's label).

It would be a fascinating read to all us model addicts.

I'm pretty much settled in to 1/43rd now, but like all scales and types (wish there was money for more),

so please show and tell us more about your collection, T54. You'll have a willing and captive audience!

The 'Vette is AMT, made in high school, the '49 Riviera is my lone 1/24th. Here's a link to

some of my models, plus plenty from Centurion (so don't be shy!).

TG

Edited February 16, 2012 by TG57Roadmaster (see edit history)

[Dandy Dave]

One American company, Reuhl, made some highly detailed toys in the late 40's and early 50's. I have had several though the years. The Rheul D-7 Cat, and the Lorain Power Shovel. They were swallowed up pretty early by Ertl. I sold off my toy collection and invested in my 1915 Buick sometime before the housing market went south. Best move I ever made. The Reuhl toys were very detailed, and highly sought after by collectors today. Dandy Dave!

[TG57Roadmaster]

Per DandyDave's post, here's a MIB Reuhl D-7 on ebay at $708 with 3 days to go.

Wow!

TG

[Guest T54]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for all your great answers, and let me try to argue with some is you allow me.

I have been trying to get Peter to make up an "antique car toy" forum. I have a LOT to share.

I also believe that antique toy automobiles and automobilia (versus currently produced models of older cars or parts trying to play the part) should be part of a forum based on the full size examples, such as AACA's. It is of course up to the forum owner to decide if this should warrant an actual sub forum, but reading the numerous responses here, I would think so myself. I personally own a slot car oriented forum with no less than over 3000 subscribers!

Dave@Moon writes: In 1960 even the non-union manufacturing concerns had to compete via wages with union shops to attract reliable employees. With those labor costs there would be no way to manufacture anything competitively with a Japanese concern at the time in the U.S. Japan could afford to sell toys in the 1950s and 1960s cheap enough for a cab driver's son to own, American companies couldn't.

Actually, the Tonka line as well as the Tootsietoy lines of toys are a perfect example of what I am talking about: they were just as complicated as the Japanese tin cars or the British Dinky Toys, cost pretty much the same the same, they simply did not have any "soul" if I may qualify a toy having some, in the same manner as today's die-cast models made in China sorely lack besides their dead colors since lead was banned from paint matter. My opinion of course, but having been a toy designer much of my 69 years, beginning as a plastic model kit engineer in the early 1960s, I have some background to judge a toy by such a qualifier.

TG57Roadmaster writes: it really does come down to price point

and public perception. Think of how many times we heard, or said, "cheap Japanese

(or Hong Kong, or Chinese)" this or that, as compared to made in USA.

Before WW2, the Japanese already made gorgeous toy cars, of which both construction and aesthetics greatly surpassed the heavy and clumsy pressed-steel or cast-iron utilitarian toys made in America. The only exception: the prewar Tootsietoy line of very elegant and finely executed "10-cent" line of Graham-Paige, LaSalle and Lincoln models, of which I am very fond. The Japanese quality was called "crummy" more by tradition than according to reality in my opinion, and remember that in 1941, the Mitsubishi Zero-sen aircraft was vastly superior to the American Curtiss P36, that was the mainstay of our forces until the P47 and P51 truly came off production lines... I think that berating the Japanese is a great injustice to very talented people, and simply remember what they did to the British oil-leaking motorcycle industry in the early 1960's...

A few favorites to add to your Cadillac are Haji's '56 Ford Sunliner,

Marusan's '56 Ford Victoria, and ATC's stunning '62 Imperial LeBaron. (I cheated and went to my copy

of Kelley's "Collecting the Tin Toy Car"). Still, these were 49 to 59-cent cars when a Matchbox was the same price, so somehow they came off as "cheap," noted already by others.

I am very lucky to own one of more examples of these. However your pricing is incorrect: while a small 1/60 scale Matchbox (the King Size did not exist then) or the smaller examples of the horrid postwar Tootsietoy models cost 49 cents and a Dinky Toys a dollar in 1960, the Haji Ford, the Marusan Ford and the ATC Imperial were in the 3 and 4-dollar range. I have boxes of both types with original price stickers to prove it...

The true sad fact here is that these fantastic Japanese toys that are virtual metal art today were produced in limited quantities because of the wholesale system used then by large stores toy buyers. Hence those great toys are rare today.

Dandy Dave writes: One American company, Reuhl, made some highly detailed toys in the late 40's and early 50's.

Unfortunately their appeal was limited by the very subjects they represented, a bit too utilitarian for most children who wanted nice road or racing cars to play with... But it PROVES my point that it could be done, if the right people do the job. The same applies to the prewar American toy industry of mostly utilitarian vehicles, with few examples of the great full-size cars made then. As an example, no American company EVER made a toy of a 1938 or 1939 Packard or a 1930's Duesenberg, when there are several magnificent Japanese toys made of them at the time, and in the late 1950's, there were no American made toys of the magnificent Watson or Kurtis Indy cars, while Japan was producing beautiful replicas. So there was and still is a disconnect today...

TG57Roadmaster writes: My brother and I Christmas Eve and Morning, 1960...I think I'm holding a Bandai '59 Buick.

These are GREAT pictures, I would love to have your permission to use them on my toy website. The toy is in fact a '59 Buick, but not by Bandai. It is by another Japanese company called Ichiko. I have several of these as they were issued in different decor over three years.

Here is your toy as an example sits today in a showcase of my "home museum":

Edited February 16, 2012 by T54 (see edit history)

[Centurion]

T54, thank you initiating this wonderful topic.

Like many here, I have fond recollections of the beautiful Japanese tin toy autos, and owned numerous examples during the late-1950's and early-1960's time period.

While TG57Roadmaster's '59 Buick tin toy might well have been the Ichiko (about 11-inches long), its size in the photos suggests to me that it might have been the smaller MT (Modern Toys) example, which was about 8-inches long:

Since I acquired my 1959 Buick Electra about a dozen years ago, I was reminded of the tin toys from childhood, and the '59 Buicks were a popular image among the Japanese tin litho manufactures. Personally, I have examples produced by KYOEI TOYS / KANTO, YONEZAWA, ICHIKO, TN (NOMURA), and SUDA (HTC), but there were additional companies that created '59 Buicks, including DAITO, MT (Modern Toys), and MATSUDAYA (spelling?)

I am particularly thankful for the SUDA toy I located locally shortly after acquiring my '59 Buick, which closely replicates my actual car. The images here were shot on the trunk lid of the '59 Buick, showing the SUDA (about 14-inches long, roughly 1/16-scale), between a 1/12-scale resin kit (based on a '59 General Motors display model), and a 1/25-scale resin kit:

[TG57Roadmaster]

These are GREAT pictures, I would love to have your permission to use them on my toy website. The toy is in fact a '59 Buick, but not by Bandai. It is by another Japanese company called Ichiko. I have several of these as they were issued in different decor over three years.

Here is your toy as an example sits today in a showcase of my "home museum":

T54, I'm honored that you wish to use those images for your site, and thank you both for asking and for the Ichiko photo and corrrection. They were taken at my grandparent's home in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and I still have several of the rag rugs made by my great-grandmother like the one we're standing on. I was 3, my brother 7 at the time.

I'm sure we all appreciate your point-by-point discussion and guidance (not argument ) and I hope you wou will link us to your website(s). I for one would love to see your "home museum," what treasures it must hold!

An AACA sub-forum on miniature vehicles would be welcome (and discussed before), but would have to include all scales of promos and kits, diecast, slush cast, white metal, resin, tin, iron, plastic, and others as we tend to be all-inclusive. With an eye on the historic yes, but also reflective of what's out there today representing the cars we own and drive. For example, it was a thrill to find a 1/43rd model of a '57 Buick Roadmaster similar to mine...

Larger, some Dresden Blue below the sweepspear, et voila! The Roadmaster 75

is by Conquest, the Shasta AirFlyte by Brooklin.

Great thread you started and I look forward to more.

TG

Per Brian's post, I'm leaning towards the MT '59 Buick rather than Ichiko.

The MT was priced maybe a little more than a MBX?

Edited February 16, 2012 by TG57Roadmaster (see edit history)

[Guest T54]

Brian,

You are probably right about the Buick, its size would be more like the MT toy.

The SK Suda '59 Century is a very rare toy, and I am lucky to have one (same color as yours) in very good condition. Its story is quite interesting as it came from a very enthusiastic lady who runs a doll hospital in Alabama!

This is a 14" friction toy, a pretty nice model made by that rather obscure Japanese company in 1960. I always LOVED the '59 Buick, especially the Electra. The rear wrap-around window of the Century was so cool...

Fortunately not too many saw the thing on E-Pay or did not know what it was, so it did not cost too much. It is all original and never played with, and had only minor flaws, a bit of rust here and there and a couple of minor scratches. Unfortunately the original box is long gone...

T54, I'm honored that you wish to use those images for your site, and thank you both for asking and for the Ichiko photo and correction. They were taken at my grandparent's home in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and I still have several of the rag rugs made by my great-grandmother like the one we're standing on. I was 3, my brother 7 at the time.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it. You can PM me so that I can put the proper credit under the picture. My toy website also includes some of my full-size toys, and is here: CLICK HERE.

I hope that you enjoy it, I am adding stuff to it all the time. It was built for my nephews abroad so that they have a connection to their uncle.

Also the "Ichiko" connection looks more like a "Modern Toy" connection, so we have a double correction here!

I saw my first '59 Buick, a cream colored Centurion, on a turn table at the 1959 Paris Auto Show. I was 16 years old and I LOVED that car, and still do!

Edited February 16, 2012 by T54 (see edit history)

[Centurion]

T54, that's a beautiful SUDA, and you are fortunate to have it.

By the way, the Century series was discontinued for several years beginning with 1959, so the 4-door "flat top" style as replicated by SUDA might accurately be described as an Invicta or Electra.

I would love to obtain one of the large Ichiko 1960 Buicks in this 4-door "flat top" style, but they have likewise become quite expensive.

My best friend as a child received the gift of a Japanese tin 1959 Buick that was even larger than the SUDA, but, sadly, I do not know the manufacturer and no one seems to be familiar with this larger toy.

We would love to see photos of additional cars in your collection!

Edited February 16, 2012 by Centurion (see edit history)

[Centurion]

T54, I just noticed the link to your wonderful website, and am eager to check it out! I see that you have one of the beautiful 1960 Ichiko Buicks!

[Guest T54]

Actually, I now have two because I love colors, so I have both the two-tone blue as well as the beige and maroon... I love these things.

I also have several of the large 1958 ATC 2-door coupe, my favorite being a two-tone green that I was able to get from Canada in un-played condition in a perfect box.

I also have a 1959 Invicta (or Electra) by Ichiko in light blue and cream roof, with gold trim and working horn. I have not see another yet.

[TG57Roadmaster]

Great site T54, and I too look forward to exploring it completely. I noticed in the Japanese section

that you have one of these Alps Chryslers.

I saw this one in an Ohio antique mall in 2006, and just about gasped at its firm price of $11,500.

At first glance it looked like $1,500, no wonder they had it under lock and key! Regardless of

whether it's within a proper price range, it sure is a big beauty!

:eek:

TG

[Guest T54]

Ouch! Yes it is a bit steep, but they do sell at that price if absolutely pristine and in their original box...

I was lucky to purchase mine in a Swedish auction about 10 years ago for a fraction of the asking price here. There are four other colors for this beautiful toy, but the yellow with red roof is my favorite.

They are very hard to find in any condition and are part of the "ten best" in my opinion, in the literally, thousands of different models offered by the Japanese toy industry from 1946 to... this day.

The Marusan 1956/1957 Ford being my personal all-time favorite.

Most people who have never had one of these tin cars in their hands have little clue of how beautiful they are, for being what they were, just toys for kids. The current Chinese die-cast can't even come close to convey the magic of these toys.

Edited February 16, 2012 by T54 (see edit history)

[junkyardjeff]

I found a christmas picture of me playing with I think a red tin 64 to 66 Thunderbird and would like to find another,I was about 4 at the time and can slightly remember it and I think I got tin travel trailer too.

[Guest T54]

Jeff,

I am sure that by searching "1964 T-Bird tin toy car" and variations of this on Google, you will eventually find it.

[earl e rizer]

These are some great looking toys. I had a 1961 Ford police car tin toy ( I was only 6) and I remember some people (kids) slagging it as "made in Japan". I loved it. It was my favorite toy for years. Even when it was beat up pretty hard I took it to school for Show & Tell. I know my teacher felt sorry for me. I couldn't understand why. I would love to find another....

[junkyardjeff]

I am going to get the christmas pictures out and look at the tin toys I got and see if I can get them again,the ones at grandmas house were 50s versions and I wish I can remember what they were but something tells me one might have been a 48 Buick or caddy?.

[rsb]

To speak to the title of this thread, the reason is because American companies were making THE REAL THING.

[Dandy Dave]

Per DandyDave's post, here's a MIB Reuhl D-7 on ebay at $708 with 3 days to go.

Wow!

TG

Mine was in about the same condition and with original tracks. Two bidders got in a bidding war over the one I had. It brought $1,000 at Auction without the box.

We will see if good stuff still brings good money. Dandy Dave!

Edited February 17, 2012 by Dandy Dave (see edit history)

[TG57Roadmaster]

Ouch! Yes it is a bit steep, but they do sell at that price if absolutely pristine and in their original box...

I was lucky to purchase mine in a Swedish auction about 10 years ago for a fraction of the asking price here. Most people who have never had one of these tin cars in their hands have little clue of how beautiful they are, for being what they were, just toys for kids. The current Chinese die-cast can't even come close to convey the magic of these toys.

T54, I'm waiting to find a MIB '58 Edesl Bermuda or the '62 Imperial at a yard sale

(we have lots of them around here) for $5...I'll even go as high as $10!

Such are my dreams...

And you're correct, they are very, very special toys, especially when they've survived intact,

tucked away in a closet or attic.

TG

[Guest T54]

Yes, the whole point of my post was to ask the question of why American toy makers did not issue tin toys that were of the same inspired design as that of Japan, France or Germany, the three countries that have produced such beautiful and now highly desirable toys.

I believe that I unfortunately know the answer because I was for several years, a toy engineer, then the manager of a new styling department created on my insistence at the Cox Hobbies company in Santa Ana, California. The whole time I had a say into the toys final look (aircraft, trains, cars...) the toys looked much less lumpy, had serious personality and sales went though the roof. After I left, the toys returned to their less than satisfactory aesthetics. The company went broke 5 years after I left, but there were plenty of other factors involved of course.

You cannot let engineers be stylists, unless they have been raised at both. You also cannot produce utilitarian toys and expect the children to be too enthusiastic about them. The bright ones will want "better stuff".

When GM had no styling department, the cars looked like boxes on wheels. When Harley Earl became GM's stylist, the company turned itself around and produced brilliant and desirable designs, because Earl had understood that "utilitarian" would eventually fail, without better aesthetics. Look at the 1935 LaSalle coupe to begin with, compared to the 1933 model, and you have the answer. Bill Mitchell continued the tradition for many years until the cars returned to aesthetic mediocrity in the 1970's and pretty much to now, with few exceptions. And market shares plunged. People want good looking machinery, and that was no longer made in America. Things are changing now, because everyone has to conform to aerodynamics that dictates styling.

The same applies to toys. When Hubley and Arcade kept cranking those heavy door stops made of cast iron and vaguely resembling cars (while their trucks were generally better) and eventually going broke doing so as sales were poor, Dowst Manufacturing Co. (Tootsietoy) produced inexpensive but beautiful small models of 1933 Graham-Paige and 1935 LaSalle models that children embraced by the millions. Does not this says it all?

The Japanese were very successful at what they were doing in the 1950's not because the toys were cheaper (they were not), but because the toy makers did have respect for what they were doing, it was not "just a job".

There was a recent exposition at the Japan Society in New York, displaying a collection of tin toy cars and their history, showing how much respect for their toy makers do these people have today.

American tin toys from the late 19th century are beautiful, mostly had made, had "charm" that is reflected in their respect today by sophisticated collectors. Today's American toy industry is run from China, and the toys are with little exception, plastic garbage in horrid colors. Piles of them end in American garages or in the thrash, none will ever grace the shelves of future collectors, unless ugly becomes the new beautiful in this ever twisted new society. Sad, is it not?

We are all collectors here, of large and small cars, but we do not collect too many 2005 Chevrolet Impalas, do we? If we own one, we use it as we use a toaster, it has become an utilitarian vehicle with not much to smile about, and likely will end as recycled metal because not worth keeping.

Sorry if I sound a bit passionate here, I admit, I am. My house is full of the best toys I could find, and I have a large collection that includes American toys, the "few good ones" in my opinion. But the larger Japanese toy cars are so overwhelmingly more beautiful, they are taking front stage in the display and for good reasons...

These are some great looking toys. I had a 1961 Ford police car tin toy ( I was only 6) and I remember some people (kids) slagging it as "made in Japan". I loved it. It was my favorite toy for years. Even when it was beat up pretty hard I took it to school for Show & Tell. I know my teacher felt sorry for me. I couldn't understand why. I would love to find another....

In the 1950's, there was still a lot of resentment for Japan and the misery that their imperialism caused to much of the far east and the United States. Unfortunately it also led to a lot of bigotry, to this day.

Many people do not understand how they are manipulated by the elitists that run them on a daily basis as their puppets, shaking them for money. Most of every country citizens are basically innocent, but are often forced into committing crimes, though propaganda and manipulation by elitists with dark agendas. I do not blame the average German or Japanese for what their masters did, and I certainly do not blame their children for anything.

I cannot recall a 1961 Ford Police car toy, and could not find one in specialized books. Most 1961 models of police cars were Chevrolet, the best being a splendid 1962 Impala by Yonezawa, of which I added a picture below.

Edited February 18, 2012 by T54 (see edit history)

[R W Burgess]

54, that police car looks like a '63 Chevy front with a '64 side and rear end......to me anyway.

Wayne

[Guest T54]

Hi Wayne,

Well, here are pictures of the beast I just took:

Looks like a '62 to me... but Chevies are not my specialty so I will let you decide...

I also enclosed pics of a sister model that looks a bit more civilian, called "secret agent car". Both are very common toys and can be had quite cheap when they come up, especially the blue one. They are quite large at 15" and it is too bad that the Yonezawa company never made a standard road model from this tooling...

Edited February 18, 2012 by T54 (see edit history)

[Dandy Dave]

The Reuhl D-7 on eBay ended at $750. with the reserve not met. Yup, I think I sold my Toy collection at a good time. Dandy Dave!

[R W Burgess]

You're right 54, it's a '62. The side moulding fooled me. Duh!

[Guest T54]

To tell you the truth I was not so sure myself before I truly looked at it! I LOVE older American cars but know a lot less than most of you here...

Here is another beautiful Japanese toy car of an American icon, issued in 1951 by Alps Iwaya, that later moved into electronic printers after the tin toy industry collapsed:

It's about 10-1/2" long, all painted tin and it has a front suspension and working differential. The steering wheel works the front wheels, and the seats are lithographed tin. They exist in gray, black, turquoise, green and red. The box is quite nice too, made of very sturdy card stock.

In 1953 they were sued by GM for lacking a license to use the Cadillac name so they changed the name on the toy and the box, and the large V emblem became a W!

I hope that you enjoy these pictures.

[junkyardjeff]

I will need to check out garage sales and flea markets for them.

[Centurion]

Check out this beautiful ALPS 1953 Packard (16-inches), currently offered on Ebay:

1953 PACKARD ALPS friction sedan 16 " Excellent ORIGINAL Tin TOY CAR JAPAN | eBay

[Guest T54]

It is indeed a beauty and I am very lucky to own one of the same color in virtually the same condition. But this is the "plain" model. Later, Alps issued a deluxe version in both sedan and convertible forms, and they are simply breathtaking, knowing that they were just... toys for preteens!

[Centurion]

Beautiful Packard! Thank you for posting this photo of the deluxe version!