The HAMMER Company was founded by Arthur Hammer in Lüdenscheid, Germany, in 1937 and produced tools for manufacturing thermo and duroplast materials. In 1950, they bought an injection mold machine and started producing small plastic toys.
Roughly there are two versions of the Hammer VW Bus. Both versions were also used to advertise many different Companies.
The VW Bus consisted of 2 parts, a bottom part with the lower part of the body as well as the chassis and grey plastic wheels and plastic axles and the top part of the body. Those 2 parts had a different color. The bottom parts were numbered 1-4 on the front part of the chassis. The top parts were numbered 1-6 on the front inside of the body. They came with or without glass window inserts; the ones without were normally used for the cheaper advertising toys.
The first version was produced between the late 1950’s and the late 1960’s and was a regular two-tone VW Bus, with side doors. It first came as a VW Cargo Bus, but later also as a VW Passenger Bus. Some already came with advertising on the side and/or roof top, like for NIVEA.
The second version was produced between the mid 1960’s and the early 1970’s and also came as VW Passenger Bar or as VW Cargo Bus, but WITHOUT side doors. The side doors proved to be difficult to cater for the printed advertising on the sides of the bus.
Mostly one finds models with a white top. Models with colored tops are quite rare. The advertising was in most cases directly printed onto the models, although there are also original examples with paper stickers, like for GASOLIN.
