In 1881 the GAMA Company was founded by Georg Adam Mangold in Fürth, Germany. GAMA was one of the first companies after the war to be allowed to produce toys again. They set up production in an old military barracks.
Tin plate body with silver painted windshield, split window, louvers, headlights and taillights. Side windows not painted. Tin plate chassis with a friction motor with a sound resonator, rubber wheels, and tin bumpers. Chassis stamped “GAMA - MADE IN US ZONE GERMANY.” Two types of sound resonators were used on the chassis. A long round metal unit with holes was replaced with a plastic one mounted inside the chassis that made the siren sound. This version was only produced in red as a fire car with a metal siren on the top (latest versions had the siren replaced with a cap in body color). Sold in a cellophane wrapper or in a box of 3 cars. A limited number of special green/white GAMA POLIZEI versions were made for internal use only. Over the years, some are known to exist in private collections. The GAMA VW was later released with a light green color and the rear split window was made like a baby window VW.
The GAMA company bought clockwerk motors, wheels, etc. for their toys from the company Paul Weiss Laufwerk Fabrik, also located in Nürnberg, Germany. Paul Weiss Laufwerk Fabrik existed from 1919 until 1969 and produced parts for tin toys as well as clockwork motors for many manufacturers. The Paul Weiss company logo was a multi-pointed star with P.W. in the star center as can be seen on the GAMA clockwerk motor.
Check out the KÖRA & GAMA Split VW Article on this site for additional information about the similarities between the KÖRA & GAMA Split VWs.
