Just picked these two up yesterday at the local armory flea market. First flea market for me for over a year and got 'em CHEAP!
Ok hot rod toy experts, I'm guessing MOST of you will only have seen one of these three toys. You should know the green guy in the middle, an Auburn Rubber Toy from Auburn, Indiana. They come in a bunch of colours and have varying numbers on the deck lid. By the way, can anyone tell me how many colours there are and what the numbers go up to - my example has a number 9. The dark maroon one on the right is a crudely slush cast example from Fun-Ho toys in the North Island of New Zealand. For the better part of thirty years I have believed that it was a crude copy of the Auburn toy, with the driver switched to right hand drive and the fenders removed, along with some other detail changes around the engine bay. This idea got thrown out of the window last weekend when I found the blue toy in an antique mall in Strathalbyn in South Australia. I paid way too much for a cheap plastic toy but it is in exceptional condition and I have reason to believe that it was made in Australia. Why? Because it has the same format and details as the New Zealand one but is much sharper and crisper all over. The owner of FunHo was notorious for copying other manufacturers toys ( including Hubley) so it figures he would copy a crisply made plastic model to make a crude metal model, rather than the plastic manufacturer taking a crude metal toy and making a sharp injection mould from it. Australia did have a quite a plastic toy manufacturing industry in the sixties and everything about the blue one reminds me of toys I had as a child back then BUT there are no markings of any sort on it to verify my thoughts. It would mean a lot to me because if it is, it would be the first toy in my reasonably sized hot rod collection that I could know was made in Australia. Anyone else know anything about it? Cheers Alan
Wow! what a great pinball collection. I have the Gottlieb Road Race one but nothing like your collection.
Few More, Was lucky enough to get Bob Pierson to sign the bottom of the Coupe for me at Bonneville in 2005.
Found this molded in color plastic Indy race car with some auto parts I bought. I located all the pieces and was able to get it back together. Looks like everything was once glued to the plastic base and it appears you could also hang it on a wall. Could not find any type of ID for the model company that made this so I have no idea of its age or popularity history. Just a cool model that is a little different from what I am used to seeing.
I got this tin, battery operated hot rod a month or so ago. Made by "Modern Toys" in Japan, probably mid 50's, its in excellent condition, about 10 inches long. Mick
Big boy's hot rod toy's ----- just finished this It's all wood 18" long top chopped -- lowered --- big and little wheels
Not hot rods but kool (to me) nevertheless. I'd forgotten I had these until just the other day. I picked these up at a weekly flea market a good 20-22 years ago, paying not much more than a dollar each.
You never know what changes some hot rodder might have done under the hood in the past twenty years! Those look like cars that were being sold in the Cracker Barrel restaurant gift shops years ago. I think the brand name was Dime Store Classics. I have a couple of them stashed away somewhere. I thought they looked good with my Plasticville gas station. Nice find!
With a little more digging I think I may have found that these were called Dimestore Dreams and discontinued in 2002. That coincides with my timeline and accounts for the very low flea market price. Thanks for the kick to get me checking.
Speaking of dimestore toys, those of you who dig small plastic vehicles might get a kick out of the photos on this website... https://www.usdimestore.com/store.php/americandimestore/pg14127/plastic-toy-vehicles
Can’t say that I had any of these, and honestly don’t think I ever saw any either. But I’m diggin’ the track nosed ‘23-‘25 T bucket
Found these vintage Japan tin cars recently. The 1955 Ford Wagon is probably quite rare, never saw another before. The small car is cool with the scallops. Both have friction motors.
Made by Lanard and dated 1988. The pull string drive works great on both, they don't go far but they get there quickly. I paid $5.25 for the pair.
Toy, yes. Hot rod, no. A kool piece of old vinyl in great shape with the exception of no windshield or steering wheel.