An Inquiry From Down Under (Australia)

Sunday, April 12, 2020
Cloudy with Sunny Periods
14 C   57 F

An Inquiry from Down Under

(Australia)

It's always exciting when you get an inquiry from a place you don't usually expect. And so it was with this inquiry - it was from Australia, or as they say there, "down under". The writer , who  happens to have a fine ebay store, also has an excellent reputation. He goes by the name of Australianmodelcars.

You can visit his excellent store on ebay by clicking here

    I would normally write about the superb merchandise that he has on his ebay store, but his question was one of the more interesting questions (and discovery) that I have not heard in a long time. He has a group of cars that were manufactured in Australia by the name of  Winna.

"Hi I Found your site browsing the Internet

Being a collector of Australian made toys for over 60 years I have been trying to find out if

the Australia Winna toys that made in the 1940s being almost identical to Tootsietoys.

Were they licensed or made by Tootsietoys with Winna  stamped on the base plate.

Or if they were copied by Winna. Also Bentoy did the same thing.

As Australia was so far away in the 1940s who knows what went on

Up to now not much is known’

I have examples of both Winna, Brentoys, and Tootsietoys.

Any information would be helpful in my research;

Keep safe in the current virus situation.

Thanks

"Australianmotorcars"

As you can see above, the red toy (Tootsietoy), and the 3 other toys (Winna) are quite similar.

The inside of the cars are marked with their respective identifications

of Tootsietoy and Winna.

Tootsietoys and Winna

Descriptions:

"he red toy  is a  Tootsietoy 1939 LaSalle sedan ( 83 mm / 3 1/4" long)

Solid rubber wheels, die cast , made in the USA, 1940's.

The other 3 toys were manufactured by Winna.

Closed sedan, made in 1940's,(83 mm / 3 1/4" long.

Die cast, made in Australia, 1940's.

With bakelite or plastic wheels.

Winna stamped under the inside of the roof, F.H.E. stamped under the bonnet (hood).

Came in various colours.

Type of packaging unknown, original price not known.

Place of manufacture not known, but possibly Melbourne, Victoria (Australia).

Manufacturer's name nt known; trading name not known.

Tootsie and Winna look to be the same casting with different wheels."

Below are 2 more different views of these very nice toys.

 

If anyone out there knows about the Australian toy brand Winna,

would you please write to me, so that I can forward the information to

Australianmotorcars.

As always, 

Thanks for dropping by.

Have a great time of the day or not

wherever you may be.

or as they say "down under in Australia"

G'day

And during these terrible times of the Corona Virus, please take care of yourself 

and your family.

All the best,

Stacey Bindman

blogwriter

You can always write to me at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Tether Toy Car Racers

Sunday, September 11, 2016
Slightly cloudy with sun
21 Celcius/70 Fahrenheit

The Tether Toy Car Racers

   I've written before about tether toy car racers before, but decided to write a more detailed article about these fabulous toys. For those who don't know, a tethered racing car has a sting cord that attaches to a wire that is attached to the car. The toy car has a miniature engine that runs on nitro gas.  As the car rotates on the tract, the person holding the car, rotates also, so that the car does not run off the tract. Some of these cars can run as fast as 150 mph or 249 kph. They also making a high-pitched noise that is quite loud.

  Some of the more famous tethered cars were made by Dooling Brothers in the 1940's and are still quite capable of racing.

 George "Pappy" Nutting Special Race Car.

A very important tether racing car from one of the real pioneers of the hobby. One of the most remarkable tether racers of all time, George "Pappy" Nutting was a very clever machinist, engineer who essentially scratch-built this fabulous racer in 1940. He fabricated the balsa body, full machined the rear gearbox, front axle and "floater" axle set up. George had to be the first to see the wisdom in the "thin" front wheels and tires. The car was the 1941 Eastern Champion and winner of the Heiserman Trophy being the fastest in a 153 car field. This is an important car with a superb history! Condition (Excellent). Size 19 -1/4' L ( 489 mm) .Realized price at auction: $ 6500.00 US Dollars.

Below:

A side view showing a wire  with a loop.

Notice that the wire attaches in 2 places to the car. This provides better holding power 

to the racer so that it stays firmly on the track.

Below:

An excellent photo presenting the small motor and gas tank at the front of the tether rare

1939 Popp Race Car.

The Popp car built by the Popp family in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area is one of the most sough 
after tether racers. Although of a high quality throughout, very few were manufactured. Quite good
 sized at a full 20" in length, they are extrememly handsome racer albeit heavy for track use. 
As few exist, they are highly sough after by collectors. This car features a highly powered engine and genuine Popp wheels and tires. This car spent quite some time in the Kirk F. White collection. 
An opportunity not to be missed! Condition (Excellent). Size 18" L (457.2 mm)

Below is a 1940's Dooling Brothers car. The Dooling Brothers were famous in the 1940's for manufacturing quality products, and this tether car sold for $16.95 USD in the 1940's. It sold for $ 2074.00 USD in December 2015

at Morphy Auctions.

For more information about tether cars, please go to Wikipedia at the address below:

Please click here to visit Wikipedia's article about tether cars

Please click here to visit the Morphy Auction's December 15, 2015 auction catalogue

Please click here to see the Google results for "tether cars engines"

On a closing note, some of these cars could speed at  197 mph or 317 kph.

That should make you dizzy, and turn very fast as you guide your car around the track!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night, 

wherever you may be.

toysearcher@gmail.com

Stacey Bindman

A Dozen Strauss Trucks

Saturday, October 11, 2014
   Sunny and cooler temperatures

A Dozen Strauss Trucks

  I've been writing about lumber (timber) trucks,and for a few of the latest posts had the Struss lumber truck with its trailer. However, if you simply type in "Strauss Truck" rather than "Strauss Timber Truck", all kinds of trucks will show as the search results.  I did this by accident, several times, and corrected myself, but knew I would have today's post for an idea. 

   What's noteworthy is that Strauss made at least 12 of these toy trucks all similar in design and with bold colours and the key wind movement. More interestingly, these toys were made for over a decade (1930's-1940's), so they certainly must have sold very well.

Please click here to visit this exceptional American toy auction company

The truck below is a delivery truck and is quite different from the other trucks presented today.

The 3 trucks below are very similar. The main differences are the colour schemes and the titles on the sides of the trucks. Also the sizes are different.

The Strauss Auto Dump Truck below is  slightly;y different with 

the smaller-sized dumpster in the back of the truck.

The Strauss  Tow Truck got larger over a deceased. What I find interesting is that the company stayed with an older-model truck in 1940. What's more interesting is that the newer model 

doesn't have head lights!

Once again, we see the same basic design below. What changes from the 1930's to the 1940's

is that there is a  rear gate that folds down in the 1940's version.

Another type of truck in the Strauss line was the  liquid delivery. There were 2 liquids - water and oil. Here again, you can easily see the similarities between booth the water and the oil delivery trucks. 

The differences are small. The water truck has one filling cap, while the oil has 2 caps.

Smaller differences include the colour themes and the side numbers.

72 for water,  and 73 for the larger oil truck.

The junior-sized truck is smaller, and has no numbers.

Once again notice that the larger trucks don;t have headlights, while the smaller "junior" has them.

There's an old expression that says "if it isn't broken, don;t fix it".

Interpreted, that simply meant that if something worked or was a successful, then don't change it.

In the case of the Strauss trucks, the basic design didn't change much for a deceased, and the designs for most of the trucks, albeit the colour patterns were also similar.

On an assembly line, workers, I'm sure would have been quite proficient and fast at being able to mass produce these toys. Of course, they must have learned from Henry Ford and his assembly line.

Or perhaps they learned, but "altered" from one of his famous lines.

Several years after Mr Ford had proven the  moving assembly line to be very successful, and his Model T Fords rolled off one-after-another very swiftly, Mr. Ford was  asked  a question by a reporter.

"Mr. Ford," the reporter asked. 

"Are you ever going to paint your cars in other colours beside black?

"Yes"  Mr. Ford,  was supposedly heard to have said answered.

Any colour, as long as it is in black".

Thanks for dropping by to visit,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

Please feel free to write to me anytime at:

toysearcher@gmail.com