The German firm of TIPP & COMPANY was a manufacturer of tin toys and their facilities were located in the Nürnberg area. The city of Nürnberg was the main toy district area of Germany. Most of the toy manufacturers were located in the Nürnberg area during the 1940's and the largest German toy fair "Internationale Spielwarenmesse" is still held yearly in Nürnberg and draws manufacturers and attendees from all over the world. The name TIPP & COMPANY is commonly referred to as TIPPCO or TCO. TIPPCO was launched in 1912 by Frau Tipp and Herr Carstens. By the 1930’s, TIPPCO was very successful and offered a wide range of toy cars, fire engines, motorcycles, airplanes, autobahn sets and war toys. After the war, TIPPCO was under new management and at the end of 1948, TIPPCO’s main product line output was motorcycles and scooters, cars, commercial vehicles, transporters, airplanes, filling stations, track sets and accessories. The product line featured painted tin toys and very colorful tin lithographed toys. In 1968, TIPPCO switched it production line to plastic based toys and because of competition of the toy manufacturing industry and operating costs, TIPPCO shut down the toy making operations in 1971.
Fortunately enough for the Volkswagen toy collectors, TIPPCO was right there in the era of the KdF Wagen (war time Volkswagen) and produced a Reichsautobahn track set that included a 1940 KdF Wagen. The Reichsautobahn was a lithographed tin toy set with colorful tracks, cars, bridges and a tankstelle (gas pump station) with a clever wind up mechanism for winding up the clockwerk motors in the cars. The 1/44th scale (93mm in length) KdF Wagen toy in the set was lithographed the official KdF blue/gray color and had peoples faces printed in the windows. This was typical of the KdF era in which the KdF brochures and German postage stamps depicted a happy family driving down the autobahn in their KdF Wagen. These autobahn track sets were produced after the war and were sold in sets of various sizes. From the basic entry level set to the complex set of numerous tracks, trestles and bridges.
TIPPCO also released a larger scale KdF Wagen toy that has been verified through information from an old TIPPCO toy catalog dating back to the early 1940s. There also appears to have been two KdF versions produced as well. The first version of the TIPPCO KdF toy consisted of a stamped tin plate body with cut out windows that included a rear split window. Indentation in the body for details and the seam lines included the doors, front hood and air louvers for the engine compartment. Also, there are body indentations for the "bumble bee wing" rear deck lid and raised taillights. Two metal buttons were riveted to the body to form the headlights. The body stamping of this 1/30 scale (135 mm in length) toy car is fairly proportional and resembles the famous Volkswagen silhouette quite well. The body was painted in several colors such as KdF blue, black, light blue, salmon and red.
The chassis was also stamped out of tin plate and featured a key wound clockwerk motor with the keyhole located in the rear quarter panel on the passenger side of the body. Rubber tires were mounted on metal rims and were attached to the clockwerk motor. The stop or brake lever for the clockwerk motor protruded out the rear deck lid. The original key for the clockwerk motor has a hole on one side and a symbol of a fir tree stamped in the middle of the key. The well-known clockwerk Specialist Company, Gebrüder Bühler, made the motors and their trademark was the fir tree. The front part of the chassis was formed in such a way that when the front rubber wheels and axle were attached to the chassis, they were cocked at an angle. This caused the car to drive around in a large circle. The chassis was made to include the running boards and the front and rear bumpers that were bent up at the ends of the chassis. The body was secured to the silver painted tin plate chassis with eight bent over metal tabs of the body. The chassis was sometimes ink stamped “Made in Germany” or had no special markings or lettering and this helps identify this TIPPCO version to the KdF Wagen era.
There is a small hole in the right rear fender of the TIPPCO KdF Wagen body. TIPPCO produced a special tin plate "ESSO" or "STANDARD" tankstelle or fuel stop platform accessory. The KdF Wagen was driven onto the colorful lithographed platform (cobblestone looking base) to simulate a fuel stop. A shaft extended from the red lithographed tin fuel pump, into the keyhole at the side of the KdF body, and connected to the shaft of the clockwork motor. The clockwork motor was then wound up by using the special ratchet and lever built into the fuel pump. Also located on the fuel pump is a rubber hose with a metal nozzle. The nozzle fits into a small hole in the rear fender of the toy to help simulate a real fuel stop, although we all know the VW fuels from the front. TIPPCO also produced other tin vehicles such as a Mercedes and Opel that also used this fuel station so the rear fueling was appropriate. The fuel pump platform came in a couple of variations that included an oil container, lithographed map sign and a foot stool to step on when cleaning the windows. The fuel stop platform was also stamped “MADE IN GERMANY” in the lithograph design.
The second TIPPCO KdF version is similar but has identifiable characteristics. When it is held next to the first version, the rear split window and button headlights are slightly smaller on the second version. The second version has four of the indestructible steel button wheels that are painted silver. The front steel wheels and axle are mounted to the chassis and are aligned for straight driving although the chassis is made for the front wheels to be cocked. The silver painted tin plate chassis is lightly machined stamped “MADE IN GERMANY” on the second KdF version.
After the war, the Allied Powers divided Germany into four zones at the time. The manufacturing facilities of TIPP & COMPANY were located in the city of Nürnberg, Germany, which was geographically located in the U.S. Zone. Goods manufactured in Germany during this post war period and up until 1950 were required to be stamped or labeled as to which zone they were produced in. The TIPPCO Split Window VW toy was manufactured in the post war period and was very similar to the second KdF version. The chassis was redesigned for adjustable steering with a special notched tab so that the front wheels could be positioned for straight or left turn driving. The chassis on this post war version is stamped “MADE IN GERMANY – U.S. ZONE.” The body stamping stayed the same and some additional colors for the body appeared in gray, medium blue and maroon to name a few.
The TIPPCO fuel pump station was also redesigned and the platform was made smaller. Lithograph variations in the cobblestone have been noted as well. The special ratchet and lever built into the fuel pump remained the same. There was also a map sign showing the autobahn and a footstool mounted to the platform base.
Another post war version of the TIPPCO Split Window VW was manufactured and is basically the same as the previous mentioned except a different clockwork motor was used and the key hole is located in the rear quarter panel on the drivers side. There was no brake lever for the clockwork motor and this version cannot be used with the fuel pump station because of the location of the keyhole. There is also no small hole in the rear fender for the pump nozzle like the previous versions had. This version still uses the adjustable steering with a notched tab and the chassis is also stamped “MADE IN GERMANY – U.S. ZONE.” Some TIPPCO VWs have been seen with no clockwerk motor or adjustable steering and are just the basic free wheeling toy car.
TIPPCO not only made the awesome little pump stations for their line of tin toys but also made other accessories. Those accessories included garages and werkstatts. The colorful garages appeared during the WWII era and are stamped with the TIPPCO “TCO” insignia and “Made in Germany” in the lithograph design. The garages are really cool and feature tin garage doors that are spring loaded and fold up in the middle when touched. The garages usually have three doors and were sold separately. TIPPCO introduced many versions and variations to their accessory product line. Later in the 1950s, garages were attached to tin lithographed platforms that had the appearance of concrete bricks. The platform sizes ranged from the basic garage and tankstelle to the “Super Deluxe” set consisting of a garage, tankstelle, office and lift platform with shade cover. The TIPPCO “Super Deluxe” set is featured in this article. This werkstatt set is in remarkably mint condition considering it was made in the 1950s and time has definitely stood still for it. You can see the photos the details of the beautiful tin litho garage with those folding doors mounted unto the concrete looking base plate. The office area with the clear plastic windows and doors. There are two gas pumps and a SHELL sign mounted in the middle of the pumps. The lift platform raises up with a VW on it for service. The shade cover for the lift is very fragile and the yellow post is not made very strong. I am surprised it has lasted more than one day after being under a Christmas tree or birthday celebration. I have placed from my VW collection the 1/30th scale cars for this werkstatt diorama. If you look close at the photos, you can see and identify the different versions of the TIPPCO Split VWs as mentioned in this article. There are also some figures to make the place look busy. As with most of the TIPPCO VWs and accessory items produced in the 1940s and 1950s era, they have become collector’s items and are very hard to locate and can be quite pricey. Sometimes they can be found at online auctions or at antique toy shows.
