ALPS SHOJI Ltd. made battery-operated mechanical toys (robots, cars, musical chimps, clowns, wind-up animals) and produced some of the better quality Japanese toys throughout the post-war years. Alps Shoji Ltd. Tokyo, Japan was founded in 1948 and was specialized in toy vehicles and novelties. A lot of their toys were battery operated; made of mixed tinplate and tin. Space toys are among the most popular. The distinctive logo (the word "ALPS" printed on top of a mountain peak) of this Japanese company makes it easy to identify. Many of their toys had multiple actions, for example, a convertible car would not only move forward and back, but the top would also roll down and go back up. This ingenuity ensured the toys' popularity, and for a time, they were in great demand.
However, despite their success, the company abandoned toy making some time in the early 1970s to become a manufacturer of consumer and industrial electronics and remains in the electronics business today.
They produced this VW with a tin body with cut out windows and chassis with a friction motor. The ALPS VW body and chassis colors are lithographed, not painted. Lithographed taillights and side body trim. The air louvers under the oval rear window are punched in. Rear deck lid has raised bars. Non VW lithographed interior. Very similar to the more common T.N TOY NOMURA VW and perhaps original T.N TOY NOMURA dies were modified to make the ALPS VW.
