I have been trying to collect every example I could find, if at all possible with their beautifully illustrated and often naive boxes, and in as new of a condition as possible.
At this time, I was able to find about a dozen and placed some of them into a table that has a clear glass top:
The larger cars are 15" long, the smallest a mere 6". All are thin pressed steel that is then painted or printed, depending on the toy. Trademarks are on most of them. Also in the display are old Indy tickets, including one for the 1966 race with the Lotus 38 picture. The small round plastic dome is an Olsonite premium for the Eagle cars they sponsored, but the little die-cast car inside could be anything...
The drivers look very Japanese and are made of a rubber-like celluloid plastic. I am still looking for one more to fit in the large white and red "Watson".
The three large roadsters were issued by the Shioji company of Osaka. The blue and red is the most common, often found on eBay. The green one is painted and was marketed by the Sears department stores. Both are friction powered and have an automatic jack feature that raises the cars by turning a key on the right side. This allows a change of wheels, as a pair of a front and rear extra wheels are supplied in the box as well as a wrench to remove the 3-prong knock-offs.
This one is a toy of the 1957 Kurtis-Novi was issued in 1968 by Tomiyama (Tomy) and distributed in the USA by Cragstan (Craig Stanton) in NYC. It is electric powered and steered and the arms of the driver actuate the steering. It was made in many versions including one that is more of a cartoon and has oversize driver's head and equally oversize inflatable tires! The little guy in the background is typical of the more ordinary and less expensive toys that your mom would have a greater chance to buy for you than the larger and more expensive ones. Hence it is a lot more common today!
Above are the two toys side by side. The balloon tires on the "Firebird" are getting a little flat by now...
Next to the large Shioji roadster, this one powered by an electric motor, is a smaller Trevis-Offy, with the decor of the 1961 Indy 500-winning car. This nicely proportioned roadster was friction powered and produced by Yonezawa in several color schemes. This one is the most commonly found.
This little guy is the smallest "Watson" toy in the day, at only 6". It is friction powered and makes a clacking "engine" noise. Sounds like a rod let go but never mind! It was made by Linemar, another name for the Maru company also known as Marusan.
This one is not in the best shape but is harder to find. It was part of a 2-car set that ran on a tin track. It is the same size as the Trevis above, at about 9".
This one is another Yonezawa toy of the Trevis, but is is very large at 16", and much harder to find especially in good condition. I was lucky to find this one unused in its original box and in mint condition in a swap meet years ago. Cost me 50 bucks, a lucky buy!
Of course the king (queen?) of all Indy car toys is this very large (18" long) and rather scarce Yonezawa toy of the 1952 Indy 500 winner, the Agajanian Spl driven by Troy Ruttman. When Aggie saw the toy for the first time, he went ballistic and immediately sued the Japanese company that had to precipitously recall the toys from its US distributor and destroy them all, so the surviving already sold models are quite hard to find.
This toy was later re-issued with new lithography that called it "Champion Racer, Indianapolis Style" and these are much easier to find as they were sold in large quantities in the USA. Luckily for them, Tony George was still sucking his thumb when that was done, so they got away with it as Tony Hulman was not as much of a greedy SOB as his nephew would later become.
Edited by T54, 19 March 2010 - 04:21.
