In the early 1950's it was not allowed in Finland to import non-essential goods from abroad and spend valuable foreign currency on it to pay for it. Therefore many foreign toys were produced in Finland by Finnish companies using moulds from foreign toy brands. Unclear is whether it was with the consent of these companies. Hihra Oy, based in Turku, Finland, was a metal sheet products produc...
North State, a brand of British American Tobacco, was founded in 1931 and is a cigarette which was equipped with a shorter filter compared to many other cigarette brands. The cigarette was mainly sold in Finland but was also sold in Denmark, the Netherlands, Nazi Germany, West Germany, Switzerland and the United States. Jokingly, the brand is usually called "Chauffeur Tobacco" (see the driver o...
North State, a brand of British American Tobacco, was founded in 1931 and is a cigarette which was equipped with a shorter filter compared to many other cigarette brands. The cigarette was mainly sold in Finland but was also sold in Denmark, the Netherlands, Nazi Germany, West Germany, Switzerland and the United States. Jokingly, the brand is usually called "Chauffeur Tobacco" (see the driver o...
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, PMCs main rivals in promotional vehicle models were Banthrico, National Products, AMT, SMP, and Jo-Han. PMC's vehicle products were called "Tru Miniatures". PMC introduced its first models about 1947, around the same time as Ideal Models, which later changed its name to Jo-Han. Though Banthrico and the similar National Products models were metal, PMC, along wi...
A VW Bus that is made of tin lithograph and is basically a licensed copy of the German GÖSO VW Bus model. This VW Bus was produced by LAMO ( Larsen og Mortensen ), Stavanger, Norway in 1956.
After WWII there were very strict import regulations in Norway (1945-1960). The country was poor and you were not normally allowed to export currency. The only exception was if imported goods could...
The REVELL Company, located in Venice, California, was founded by Lewis Glaser in 1943 as a plastics molding firm called PRECISION SPECIALTIES, eventually branching into plastic toys. The name REVELL came from the French word “reveille,” meaning “new beginning.” In the early 1950s, REVELL offered its first unassembled plastic hobby kits, which helped kick off the model building cr...
There has been a debate about this PN (Philip Neidermeier) bus toy for many years. People collect it as a VW Bus as it has the typical ‘nose’ look. None of these PN tin toys have a VW logo so like all of the little cheap penny toys – they were inspired by cars of the time, but they did not take it too seriously to make a detailed model of a particular car.
GAY TOYS Inc. was founded in 1962 in Walled Lake, Michigan, USA. They produced cheap toys for Dime Stores. In 1987 they changed their name into American Plastic Toys Inc.
In the 1960’s GAY TOYS produced 2 versions of a VW T1 Bus. V1 is a red Ambulance or a Blue Camper. V2 is a cheaper version of V1. It doesn't feature open side doors, nor the specific interior of the V1 versions....
MEIWA KOGYO Co., Ltd. Tokyo, Japan, is the manufacturer and used a diamond shaped logo with MKK in the center.
The MKK VW Bus is nicely detailed with a tin body made of four main panels. The sides and roof are all one piece, then a nose panel, rear panel and chassis. Other parts that complete this toy are a chrome windshield surround, a tin openi...
A cardboard smooth gate single VW Pickup Bus with advertising design of AMSTEL BIER, measuring 170 mm when built (like a box). The card board itself measures 365 mm x 270 mm. No mentioning of the manufacturer. There are assembly instructions in Dutch in the lower corner of the card board sheet.
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