Wyandotte Toys - All Metal Products

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Wyandotte Toys

(All Metal Products)

With much thanks to Lloyd Ralston Gallery from me for the use of their photos

http://www.lloydralstontoys.com

(Please click on the above address to be directed to their site)

     The All Metal Products toy company started out in 1920 or 1921 in Wyandotte Michigan. Originally the company produced air rifles (BB guns), but changed to pressed steel toys. During WWII the company produced bullet magazines for automatic rifles, as well as flare guns. In 1929, children's toys were added. The company flourished , with its best year being in 1948, with sales of 

$ 8,000,000.00.  As the 1950's approached the company had to adapt like other toy companies and went into the production of plastic toys. Eventually, sales declined, and a bank called in a loan, forcing the closure of the company. The company stayed in business from 1921-1957.

     Their pressed steel toys are quire unique in design. As you begin to look at the cars that I'm presenting today,  you'll begin to see a certain style and design to their cars. What I'd like to know is how a trained die press craftsman and toy engineer could figure out where to make cuts in the sheet metal. If you look closely at any of the toys, you'll see thin cuts in the metal body. I would assume,that as the heavy press came down on the metal, the metal specifically bent to form the shape of the car or truck. Determining the stress or tear points on a flat sheet of metal certainly required lots of skill.

Early toys had wood wheels (tires), while later toys had rubber ones. I've bought and sold several Wyandotte toys, and it's amazing that even after almost 75 years, several  toys still had their wood wheels intact!

       I had seem photos of this particular Wyandotte, but didn't know at the time that it was a LaSalle!  The real LaSalle cars were very popular at the time, as were the Wyandotte and Tootsietoy toy versions.

     Some of the Wyandotte cars also came with trailers. Of course, it's harder to find the 2 together, and when you see them, the cost of course is more for the set. 

       The tires or rubber wheels of the Wyandotte have the name embossed on them. If you ever buy one of the Wyandotte with a missing rubber tire, you can still purchase parts from them. You can try Classic Tin Toys on E-Bay or Thomas Antique Toy Parts on the Net.

  The boat-tailed racer (above), best illustrates the cuts in  the sheet metal that allowed for the form of the toy to proceed without breakage. The engineers and die pressed steel craftsmen surely know how to build toys in those days!

   Notice the hood ornament of this fine toy. I believe it's called a "rooster comb". When I first started with toys, I'd do  a search for "Wyandotte', without the word toy.  What was funny was that there is a famous breed of chicken called the "Wyandotte". Of course, it took me several times before I finally learned to do a search for "Wyandotte toy" or "Wyandotte car".  

   The above toy was more advanced because it had headlights that worked off a large-sized  "D" battery. I purchased a Kingston toy that also was battery-operated. The size-D battery is getting hard (at least in Montreal) to find! The above toy takes only 1 battery,and the design by which the power works is quite simple, compared to other manufacturers' toys. If I can find an example, I'll add that at a future time.

     I've never had one of these in my possession, but I've had the convertible. If you do a search on my blog posts, you'll fine some very nice photos that I took of the red one. These toys are just beautiful for their simple but elegant design. TH They remind me of the Porsche, Austin-Martin or Bentley design.

    This particular model is sophisticated both in it's appearance, and in its features. It has a trunk that opens and closes, and a retractible hard-top roof that hides into the body of the car. THe other model is a wind-up one.  Interestingly, there are a large percentage of these toys that always are missing the hood, or trunk lid, or both. In fact, I have one that is missing both and I couldn't sell.  I'd make the parts,but the problem is that the paint and paint design of the car was lithographed (printed) on to the metal. I'd have to find a special printer company that prints on metal, and the cost of that would be next-to-impossible!

      This "woody" is a great example a high-quality toy that theLloyd Ralston Gallery would have come to them from a collector to be sold. I've seen a few of these on E-Bay, but never with the luggage rack, the luggage, or even the great condition of the paint, and the tires.

       The above toy resembles many of the Wyandotte trucks build long ago. It also reminds me of the real Packard car  or the Rambler of that era. This is the first time that I've seen this particular Wyandotte.

       Those wooden wheels are still intact after all these years. I wonder what type of wood they used in their manufacture?

        A fire chief's car was a variation of the hard-top car. Many companies of the time (Marx and Girard), made fire chief cars. The Girard was more sophisticated with battery-operagted lights, and  awind-up  gear for allowing the toy to move by itself.

http://www.lloydralstontoys.com

(Please click on the above address to be directed to their site)

Thanks for dropping by, 

and as always have a great morning, afternoon, or evening, wherever you may be.

Stacey