Volkswagen models, promotionals and toys have been produced in many scales, colors and materials over the years. Some of the most popular and desirable are of the Split Window Volkswagen era. Because of the German origin of the Volkswagen and the country of the best tin toy manufacturers of the time, the VW was well represented in the German toy industry. Most of the major German toy companies produced their version of the increasingly popular VW Sedan in miniature form. The era of the mid 1940s through the early 1950s saw the manufacturers stamping out the VW toys using the tin plate method. The tin bodies were either painted, made with or without cutout windows or had very nice and colorful lithograph design. This was a special era as Germany was recovering from the war and most of the tin VWs made during this time was stamped “Made In U.S. Zone - Germany”. Because of the metal construction of the bodies and chassis and a dependable clockwerk motor, many have survived over the years and have found their way into nice collections.
The tin Split Window VW Sedan toys were produced as a single toy to play with which featured a long running clockwerk motor and some had front wheel steering for driving in large loops. Several manufacturers produced an autobahn track set which could be set up and those track cars would follow the roads of the track set. The sets were sold in different sizes from the basic entry-level small loop to the multi-track system with special accessories. For example, the track sets produced by TIPPCO had nice lithograph cobblestone design in the tracks, trestles, track stitches and also used a special gas pump station that wound up the track cars. These track sets were made with many style cars of the time period but it was a special treat for the VW collector if the set included a Split Window VW design.
The Nürnberger Blechspielwarenfabrik is de facto the successor of the prewar company of Georg Levy (GELI). Georg Levy emigrated in 1934 because of the fact that he was prosecuted being a Jew. He appointed Mr. Karl Ochs as the new manager and Mr. Ochs subsequently bought the company. This was the start of Nürnberger Blechspielwaren.
The German firm of Nürnberger Blechspielwaren (NBN) produced a very basic track set. There were 11 tracks, two cars with keys, and the set came in a box with a nice colorful autobahn scene. Some of the boxes were ink stamped “MIT VOLKSWAGEN.” Of the tracks, 10 were curved and a special cross track when put together, formed a figure “8”. The tracks were either painted all gray in the set or there were multi-colored combination such as red, green and yellow. NBN produced several type cars for the set and in particular a Split Window VW Sedan. The VW body and chassis were stamped out of tin and the body had a very nice lithograph design. The design detailed very nicely a sun roof version with the characteristics of windows and doors, front hood and rear deck lid. Further details included headlights, round horn grilles, front hood handles and wiper blades in the windshield. Rear split window, air louvers and round taillights finished off the details. The body was attached to a tin stamped chassis that had a key wound clockwerk motor, metal button wheels and a steering tab for the front wheels. The front and rear bumpers were extensions of the chassis and the brake lever for the motor protruded out the rear deck lid. The body lithograph design was stamped “Made In U.S. Zone – Germany” and was produced two color versions. The more common version was a two-tone red and cream color and the rarer version was a two-tone green and cream style.
NBN produced other style cars for this track set and there is a design that looks like the Split Window VW but it is actually a Czech Tatra Sedan. It is often sold as a Split Window VW but does not have the detail of the VW lithograph design mentioned above. The Czech Tatra has a solid body color, usually green or orange, a pin stripe design and the front windshield is split. The cars for the NBN track set are about 4 inches long (97mm or 1/42 scale) and are compatible to run on other manufacturer’s tracks. In this article, it shows a photo of the NBN VWs at the ZOLL Station (Customs) produced by TIPP & CO. Just to note: the German firm of DISTLER also made a similar track set which used the same tracks as the NBN sets but DISTLER did not make a VW in their track sets. Because the track sets look and are packaged similar, the NBN Split Window VW is often called a DISTLER VW. From time to time, the NBN VWs and track set can be found for sale on the online auctions. Good luck and happy collecting.
