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Posted 1 year ago
t54
(5 items)
In 1951, the Japanese Marusan Company was trying to become a viable tin toys business. With the financial and managerial help from the American Armed Forces under General MacArthur's command, the reborn Japanese toy industry was able to become the country's largest exporter, bringing much-needed currency to the nearly-destroyed country.
Marusan secured the services of Matsuzou Kosuge, a well-known toy maker before the war, to produce what would become one of the all-time classic toys ever made, the 1951 Cadillac. This was produced as a friction-powered toy, as a self-propelled battery-powered version as well as a cable-controlled version with a steering wheel on top of a battery box.
The toy was made of stamped steel with a painted body and chassis base, with a lithographed steel-sheet interior. The tires are real rubber but the whitewalls are stamped and painted steel rings. The wheels are steel as well as the whole friction mechanism. The windows are acetate, stamped from flat sheet. The paint quality is outstanding for a toy, and there are over 150 pieces in each, over 200 in the electric versions. All were assembled by women over long tables, the final product boxed, then packed into large wooden crates for export to American toy stores.
The colors were very precise, the more common friction-powered model painted in gray, with less common versions in black or red, and in 1953 after the success of "A Solid Gold Cadillac" movie featuring Judy Holliday, a... gold version.
The self-propelled electric battery powered models were yellow with a green roof, and that was an actual Cadillac factory color scheme
However, the friction-powered models were never produced in that color scheme. At least that is what all the books and documentation, including that of the still existing Marusan company itself, advanced.
Out of the blue surfaced this brand new, mint in its original box model, that contradicts all previously known information, a yellow and green model, but friction-powered and without the electric headlights and taillights of the "electric" model.
After insuring myself that this was not a restored car, stripped and repainted in the "wrong" color, I had to accept that it is real. Here is the beast, recently discovered in an online estate sale:
It is always nice as a collector, to find something that is supposed to never have existed... but does!
The question now, is why American toy companies appear to have been unwilling or incapable to produce such beautiful toys in the early 1950's, when the market was so ripe for them, and left the market wide open for Japan? The products of toy companies like Tonka or Smith-Miller were never this nice. And Japan produced over the years and until the dreaded advent of plastic, many more tinplate models of Ford, Chrysler, Chevrolet, Buick, some even nicer than this Cadillac.
I have often wondered.
Tin Model CarsPrior to the mid-19th century, toy model cars and trucks were generally mad…
Friction ToysFriction toys are a type of wheeled mechanical toy that use an inertia or f…
The answer to your question about why Japan got the market and US companies let them have it was that one particular cost was so much cheaper in Japan.........LABOR...........and they were subsidized by the MacArthur Plan.
Pop, sorry to disagree with you. It was not a matter of cost, as these Japanese toy cars like the one I show, were more expensive on the American market than domestically produced vehicles of the same general size, such as the ones by Louis Marx. It was a simple question of design and purpose. Other than for isolated cases, the American automotive toys since the very beginning of the 20th century, were very utilitarian compared to those made in France, Germany or Japan. A simple matter of letting engineers with no soul for design handle the shape of the final product. I have tons of examples to prove this if you want to hear some, and as a former designer for the Cox toy company, I fought hard to get the engineers out of the styling department.
Apparently, the Japanese toy industry did not have that problem, and neither did they when they began producing their magnificent (and very reliable) motorcycles that sunk the British and part of the American motorcycle industry not on cost (they were generally more expensive) but on quality. The same applies here: that Cadillac in my opening post, retailed for $2.75 in 1952 (I have a box with price stickler to prove it). A corresponding toy car of the same general size made by Marx in America was retailing for a dollar less.
It sounds like the American manufacturers products fell victim to 'design by committee'.
I like your "Cattle-yak".
How about a pic of the box too and maybe something to show scale?
Damn those engineers ... always so practical.
I am not sure if I can post a picture in the reply, but the toy is quite large at 12.5" long, very substantial. A picture of the box can be found on a page of my toy website, that I invite you to browse:
http://www.tsrfcars.com/toys-cadillac_marusan_friction_yellow.htm
Having been in the toy industry for many years, I have learned from the four companies I worked for that the powers that be in each had little interest in what children really wanted, and frankly had fairly low regard for their intellect as kids. It saddened me and I actually imposed a styling department in the last company I worked for, overseeing and correcting the very poor cosmetic designs from the engineering department. For the engineers there, it was just a job, "9 to 5, quick let's get out of here!"
I guess the Japanese and German companies were singing to a different tune...
There are many beautiful such toys on my website, so please feel free to go from link to link!
Thanks for the link, -wonderful things.
Is this collection housed in Northern California!!??? Wow!
Thanks for the nice comments. The collection is in California but at the other end. We tried to acquire and care for the best we could find, with no second-rate toys or artifacts accepted. We believe that good taste must be part of the equation.
Hello, My Dad gave me a Black Marusan Caddy sometime ago, Can anyone tell me what its worth. It is a friction model and in fair condition I would say, it is a bit scratched up this one was used when it was new before it sat on a shelf. I will add some pics on my profile.
In collecting anything, there are three criteria that are most important for determination of the monetary value of anything:
-Condition
-Condition
-Condition
Marusan Cadillacs were successful toys in their day and are easy to find on eBay and at public auctions, but few are pristine and most are only in fair, played with condition. Their value is greatly affected by their condition since they are not rare. The black ones are more difficult to find and bring more than the gray, and the red again more then the black ones.
Assuming of course that they have not been restored, since restored examples are only worth a fraction of original toys.
The one shown here is at this time, unique, so it is hard to value until maybe some day, another shows up.
To be able to give you a valuation, you really need to show detailed pictures of the toy.
ok thanks alot for the info.