Mini-Truck Foursome by Steve Butler

By the time, a collector of vintage toy vehicles has spent several decades browsing auction lots, toy shows, online offerings, car flea markets (such as Hershey & Carlisle) and even train shows (possibly the TCA in York, PA) and other collectors’ holdings, the browser will likely have noticed hundreds or thousands of examples of sizable toy vehicles many that were deemed collectible and/or scarce. In the process said collector may have likely overlooked possibilities of lesser size trucks of probable interest that may also have been truly scarce.

Pictured are four such smaller tin trucks that were made in Japan in the 1950’s and are 5 to 5.5 inches or so in length. The first is a Pennsylvania Turnpike AAA road service truck that did appear in the January 2020 issue of Antique Toy World. An “AAA EMERGENCY SERVICE” sign is attached on both doors of the red generic style cab. “TURNPIKE GARAGE SOMMERSET 24 HOUR SERVICE” is printed in black on both sides of the yellow bed. The latter markings are very interesting for two reasons. The correct spelling is “Somerset.” Second, there seems to be many persons who collect Pennsylvania Turnpike related items. The writing of this narrative was interrupted five minutes ago for an eBay search for “Pennsylvania turnpike collectibles”. The search returned 7,500+ results.

Other features on this truck include:

• A shovel and a spade lithographed on the floor of the bed
• A functional rotating boom
• Friction drive on the front wheels
• Yellow wheels with black details
• Black base plate with considerable lithographic detailing
• “GROSS WEIGHT 9800 LBS.” & “PAY LOAD 4600 LBS.” printed on both sides of the chassis
• “TOWING” & “ROAD REPAIRS” plus taillight imprints on the bed rear
• A “1955 PENNA LH” licence plate positioned above a circular Line Mar logo on the chassis rear

Next is a tin lumber truck with its original box that has Line Mar markings and pictures a truck with a red cab
and a yellow rear. Both the box and cab show “TRI-STATE LUMBER CO.” on the truck doors. This truck has a
grille that could represent a 1954 Dodge. It also has several features with some that correspond to those on the
preceding truck.

The features include:

• Rear fenders
• Polished tin wheels
• Friction drive but on the rear wheels
• “GROSS WEIGHT 12000 LBS.” & “PAY LOAD 8000 LBS.” printed on both sides of the chassis
• Black base plate with considerable lithographic detailing — different from the preceding truck
• A circular Line Mar logo on the chassis rear above “JAPAN”
• A load consisting of 8 boards, each stamped twice with one of the following wood types: GEORGIA PINE, CALIFORNIA REDWOOD, OREGON OAK, COLORADO SPRUCE — one identification per piece of lumber

The third truck trio was acquired in original packaging which consisted of a clear plastic bag with a red cardboard insert and a large folded label stapled onto the bag to keep the toy sealed therein. Thus, the toy had never been touched since it left the factory. The logo on the label identified the maker as Yamaichi. However, the truck needed to be removed in order to provide decent pictures for this narrative as well as for suitable display thereafter. But a photo was taken before removal, and all packaging was retained even including the two staples.

The truck cab is a c.o.e. (i.e. cab over engine) version that seems to resemble a 1954 GMC. It has a front wheel drive friction motor and polished tin wheels. On the left side is a handle to lift the load bucket to the hole in the top of the rear to dump the contents into the hole and then lower the bucket. This truck could be called a trash truck, a garbage truck or a sanitation truck. To determine the popular identification three eBay searches ensued. Hits on “trash” outnumbered the other two trucks by about 5.3 to 2 and 17.6 to 1 respectively. So trash truck it is. Anyway, it seems to be about the smallest toy example of such trucks known to collectors of trash trucks. And, trash truck collectors do exist.

A few weeks after this article was placed in the queue for publication, a second trash truck turned up. It needed to be appended to this article. The 9-inch c.o.e. tin friction truck was made by Yamaihci and has several interesting features. A lever on the left side is used to raise and lower the bucket between a pair of limiting stops. Below is a lever for dumping the load providing that the nearby catch above is moved fully forward. At the rear is a functional retainer that can be opened to facilitate dumping the collected trash inside.

Not one of the Mini-Truck Foursome were known to the collector prior to their purchase, but their scarcity would later become of interest. In addition to condition and possible scarcity, the primary appeals of the AAA TURNPIKE GARAGE were its relationship to the turnpike, the Sommerset misspelling and the license plate. The lumber load on the Tri-State Lumber was quite unusual and seemingly unlikely that another complete example could exist unless some new-old-stock examples turned up. The size and functionality of the trash truck provided sufficient acquisition appeal as did the functionality of the second trash truck.

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