A non-weekend post from me, somewhat unusual. This past weekend, I visited my mother, who lives in a small town. I went to a few yard sales, as I had a feeling there might be something out there. I had some luck, and actually found a couple things:
As a strange coincidence, Matchthebox showed off this same truck a few months ago, here:
This is a cast metal and pressed steel truck by the venerable maker Structo, part of their “Toyland” line. I estimate this is from the early 50s. Scale is difficult to establish, as it isn’t based on a real truck, but I think 1:18 or slightly larger is close enough. It is roughly 12" long and 5" tall. This is a charming looking truck, which has the streamlined moderne style that trucks often wore through the early 50s. It’s also in pretty decent shape - a little wear in spots, but it has held up nicely - these were heavy duty toys, built to last. The decals have also survived nicely enough, given that this was stored in a garage and was fairly dirty when I found it. I believe this is complete, save for the tow chain, which probably went missing regularly. From all angles, it has some appeal:
Front and rear have similar qualities, the headlights with plastic lenses are a nice realistic touch. The cab is cast metal, while the bed and tow apparatus are pressed steel (the winding spool appears to be wood):
Some detail of the bed and tow apparatus:
The base is very heavy duty, with a frame and a wind up motor (it kind of works, not sure if I am doing something wrong) - this is the age of durable “Made in USA” goods which were built to last:
I am definitely glad to have found this. There was another Structo toy there - a road grader, but it was large, and I would have had no place to put it. I can fit this truck on a shelf. There was also a a smaller Tootsie or Hubley cast metal fire truck of the same era - sadly, something had been stored on it, and it was nearly broken in half. I just took this, and left the rest to maybe make someone else’s morning:
For scale comparison, here it is with an older 1:18 Solido 2CV:
I also found this at the sale, an old (I’d guess late 40s-early 50s) tin litho wind up Marx stunt plane (loaded in the back of the truck):
Unfortunately, it is missing something rather important - the wings. It still runs though, I couldn’t leave it there:
That is all.