7 replies to this topic

[T54]

American toys of racing cars have always been kind of generic. The prewar and postwar editions of the die-cast aluminum models of the "Wilbur Shaw" car represent nothing in particular but a stylized open-wheel car. The Patco plastic, gas powered "Indy" cars are totally generic. The Thimble-Drome and other smaller gas powered toys are just that and do not represent a particular vehicle. The Japanese toys are still that, toys, but are clearly identifiable as Watson-Offy or Kurtis Kraft models, even this wonderful little midget racing car made by Yonezawa:









This toy was issued in many different liveries and colors, and is found quite commonly, but in almost all cases, is in poor condition. The one above is nearly perfect, save for a bit of friction on the driver's helmet.

Edited by T54, 19 March 2010 - 22:56.

[ericlai]

American toys of racing cars have always been kind of generic. The prewar and postwar editions of the die-cast aluminum models of the "Wilbur Shaw" car represent nothing in particular but a stylized open-wheel car. The Patco plastic, gas powered "Indy" cars are totally generic. The Thimble-Drome and other smaller gas powered toys are just that and do not represent a particular vehicle. The Japanese toys are still that, toys, but are clearly identifiable as Watson-Offy or Kurtis Kraft models, even this wonderful little midget racing car made by Yonezawa:









This toy was issued in many different liveries and colors, and is found quite commonly, but in almost all cases, is in poor condition. The one above is nearly perfect, save for a bit of friction on the driver's helmet.

Lovely collections. Do you know who i can contact for some of these beautiful toys.

[T54]

Unfortunately there is no one to contact... I have acquired all these toys over a number of years, at swap meets, auctions, trade shows and various events. In the early days, it was quite fun, now it is pretty much "checkbook collecting" as many fight for the same toys on eBay.
It takes commitment...

[brucemoxon]

Nice toy / collectible.

I had some planes that were like this - very rudimentary, and if you looked inside you could see the product packaging they'd recycled to make it.





Bruce Moxon

Edited by brucemoxon, 24 March 2010 - 08:07.

[ericlai]

Unfortunately there is no one to contact... I have acquired all these toys over a number of years, at swap meets, auctions, trade shows and various events. In the early days, it was quite fun, now it is pretty much "checkbook collecting" as many fight for the same toys on eBay.
It takes commitment...

yeah i agree...collection was so much fun yesteryears..meeting people and getting to know the background or history of a particular item. now it is just paypal...sigh.

thus far i collect tin toys related to cars and motorcycle. and even that cost a bomb nowadays.

regards
eric

[T54]

I had some planes that were like this - very rudimentary, and if you looked inside you could see the product packaging they'd recycled to make it.

I would not go as far as saying that this cute little Midget toy is "rudimentary". But, hey, what's the heck.
Fairly few postwar Japanese toys were made from recycled packaging. This packaging came from... the US military. After the crushing defeat inflicted by the US armed forces to Japan in 1945, the victors acted very differently from the usual past conquerors (from Attila the Hun to the Chinese, VietCong or Soviet communists...), and instead of raping the women and looting the country, or in the case of the French after WW2, punishing the German economy to the point of strangling it, the supreme allied command under General Mac Arthur helped revive the nation's industry, based on export. The toy industry was one where they paid lots of attention, and since tin sheet was virtually unobtainable, large amounts of bulk food cans used by the US forces and also distributed to the Japanese population were recycled into toys after a process of cleaning and flattening.
By 1948, sheet steel was again available and there was no longer a need for processing used sheet metal. By 1955, the Japanese tinplate toy industry was exporting hundreds of thousands of toys worldwide.

By 1953, they could produce toys such as this one, that has become an all-time classic:



No tin can this one, and not that rudimentary either me think...

[ericlai]

I would not go as far as saying that this cute little Midget toy is "rudimentary". But, hey, what's the heck.
Fairly few postwar Japanese toys were made from recycled packaging. This packaging came from... the US military. After the crushing defeat inflicted by the US armed forces to Japan in 1945, the victors acted very differently from the usual past conquerors (from Attila the Hun to the Chinese, VietCong or Soviet communists...), and instead of raping the women and looting the country, or in the case of the French after WW2, punishing the German economy to the point of strangling it, the supreme allied command under General Mac Arthur helped revive the nation's industry, based on export. The toy industry was one where they paid lots of attention, and since tin sheet was virtually unobtainable, large amounts of bulk food cans used by the US forces and also distributed to the Japanese population were recycled into toys after a process of cleaning and flattening.
By 1948, sheet steel was again available and there was no longer a need for processing used sheet metal. By 1955, the Japanese tinplate toy industry was exporting hundreds of thousands of toys worldwide.

By 1953, they could produce toys such as this one, that has become an all-time classic:



No tin can this one, and not that rudimentary either me think...

thanks for the information.

[brucemoxon]

I would not go as far as saying that this cute little Midget toy is "rudimentary". But, hey, what's the heck.
Fairly few postwar Japanese toys were made from recycled packaging. This packaging came from... the US military. After the crushing defeat inflicted by the US armed forces to Japan in 1945, the victors acted very differently from the usual past conquerors (from Attila the Hun to the Chinese, VietCong or Soviet communists...), and instead of raping the women and looting the country, or in the case of the French after WW2, punishing the German economy to the point of strangling it, the supreme allied command under General Mac Arthur helped revive the nation's industry, based on export. The toy industry was one where they paid lots of attention, and since tin sheet was virtually unobtainable, large amounts of bulk food cans used by the US forces and also distributed to the Japanese population were recycled into toys after a process of cleaning and flattening.
By 1948, sheet steel was again available and there was no longer a need for processing used sheet metal. By 1955, the Japanese tinplate toy industry was exporting hundreds of thousands of toys worldwide.

By 1953, they could produce toys such as this one, that has become an all-time classic:



No tin can this one, and not that rudimentary either me think...

Sorry - I meant the planes I had were rudimentary - great big spring-drive motors between the fixed landing gear and much less detail than your cars.

The Agajanian car is gorgeous! I'd LOVE one of those in my collection.

Bugger it - now I'll have one more thing to beg the wife for!



Bruce Moxon