Greetings vintage mates. TVTA is pleased to welcome a new toyline to our archives – welcome Tonka Toys ! I already had a handful of Tonka adverts from the 1986 to 1997 period, but nothing prior to these dates and worth making a category for. Thanks to a kind donation by TVTA friend, Anna, I now have two catalogues circa 1963 to add to my archives. Thanks Anna!
Catalogue #1. Cover. Tonka Toys Incorporated. Circa 1963. US.
Catalogue #2. Cover. Tonka Toys Incorporated. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys For You
So claims Tonka in the first catalogue. “Each Tonka Toy is made from tough, automobile gauge steel. Edges are rolled for safety. The surfaces are protected by two coats of non-toxic, real truck paint. Tires are guaranteed for the life of the toy.”
A brief history of Tonka
In 1946, Mound, Minnesota, Tonka began life from the seeds (pardon the TVTA pun) of a gardening tools company called Mound Metalcraft, who were interested in making a sideline into the toy business. An early logo design for the venture featured the classic sky and water oval design – inspired by nearby Lake Minnetonka. By 1955, Mound Metalcraft changed its name to Tonka Toys Incorporated, and continued to use the oval logo. By 1978, the oval design was removed and the company opted to use only the name Tonka.
By 1987, Tonka had purchased the Kenner Parker toy company along with the UK’s famous Palitoy company, but by 1991 Tonka found itself in financial strife and ended up selling to Hasbro. By 1998, Hasbro began a licensing deal with Funrise Toys to make and distribute Tonka trucks with electronic light and sound. By 2020, the Tonka license was transferred to Basic Fun!, who to date still license the brand.
Phew. Whoever said toy licensing and takeovers was easy?
Catalogue #1
Tonka Toys Incorporated catalogue. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys Incorporated catalogue. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys Incorporated catalogue. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys Incorporated catalogue. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys Incorporated catalogue. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys Incorporated catalogue. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys Incorporated catalogue. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys Incorporated catalogue. Circa 1963. US.
It’s not just metal trucks
Although famous for making big construction trucks, diggers, bulldozers and cranes, Tonka made road vehicles like cars, jeeps, campers, emergency vehicles and a military set. And it wasn’t always steel… Tonka made a range of vehicles and accessories from plastic.
Catalogue #2
Tonka Toys Inc. Catalogue 2. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys Inc. Catalogue 2. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys Inc. Catalogue 2. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys Inc. Catalogue 2. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys Inc. Catalogue 2. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys Inc. Catalogue 2. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys Inc. Catalogue 2. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys Inc. Catalogue 2. Circa 1963. US.
Tonka Toys 1986. Tonka UK.
Tonka Toys. Autumn Bargains Catalogue. 1986. UK.
Tonka Toys. Autumn Bargains Catalogue. 1986. UK.
Tonka Toys 1997
Tonka Toys. More Fun From Kenner Catalogue. 1997. US.
XRC cars by Tonka. More Fun From Kenner Catalogue. 1997. US.
As always, thanks for looking 😎
The Vintage Toy Advertiser 
These toys always seemed to be good quality. My brothers and their friends would play with these things for hours and the toys stood up to their rigorous demands.
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Agree. My yellow Tonka excavator lasted way beyond my heavy-handed childhood days.
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Haha! “Heavy-handed childhood days” nicely sums it up for our family.
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Lol, we should have been neighbours!
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Hi TVTA, as an infant I owned a few Tonka vehicles that I played with in my pram (believe it or not). I had a sugar candy pink coloured “Hot Rod” car that had a white convertible roof. Unfortunately I had a habit of pushing the cars up the inside of my pram and sometimes the cars would fall over the side. I can still see the hot rod as I pushed it up and it balanced in place for a split second then fell over the side and disappeared. I was so upset because I couldn’t work out what happened. I never saw it again and later I was told that I had managed to break the car because the roof broke off. My mother was amazed because Tonka vehicles were almost indestructible, yet I managed to damage mine. I later had the ubiquitous Tonka Tipper Truck and it was real heavy and you had to take care not to trap your fingers in the tipping mechanism. Great memories (well maybe apart from my Hot Rod LOL) and I hope to chat soon, I am back in the UK now ok!
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Hi FT. Wow, you are back in the UK already? That secret mission fair whizzed by! Look forward to seeing some pics and catching up on the adventures.
Brilliant stories of your childood Tonka toys, thanks for sharing. I had a yellow excavator like the one in the Autumn Bargains cat, and also a red tipper/dump truck. I remember laying out a pair of cowboy dress-up trousers with tassles on them, across the tipper truck bed, then using the creases of the fabric to position my Airfix plastic soldiers in a concealed attack position against any enemies invading the truck. Ha. I have no idea why I did this, but it’s quite a vivid memory lol.
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Hi again, yes I am back home albeit with a bit of a hitch. My flight home was delayed and so I missed my connecting flight and ended up staying overnight in one of the airport lounges! But I had free food and drinks so the airline took care of me and Mrs T! I will share more in upcoming posts and emails ok!
And regarding the tipper truck and trousers, that was ingenious use of things to create scenery for your figures – I used quilts and bedclothes to make hills and trenches to put my soldiers in too.
(Oh and I was gone for a month and visited TWO countries so it wasn’t exactly a short trip 😁)
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Hi FT. Glad I wasn’t the only one using fabric to make hills and trenches for my soldiers 😁
Looking forward to the pics of your amazing journey!
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Hi there, oh yes there will be more pics of my trip (I took over 2800 on my phone alone, though some are doubles). There’s gonna be active volcanoes, lakes, caves, rock carvings, cable cars and a ton of history (including the Treaty Grounds from 1840). Just sorting through it all!
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Excellent. Just catching up on all the weekend posts now.
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Sweet pics! I still have a few metal Tonka trucks from the ’80s – they were built to last!
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Thanks Toydust. That’s cool you still have some Tonka toys from the 80s. I kept my two childhood Tonkas right up until the 2000s when I sadly lost them during a home move. Yep, they were built to last!
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Oh that Jeep Wagoneer and the Sportsman set!!!!! Love.
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Many thanks, Sylvia. I agree!
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My town was host to a Tonka factory or plant. I am not really sure. I still have some tonka toys.
My town was Malton Ontario.
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Excellent info, Anthony. You’re right: “Malton was home to the second of two North American manufacturing plants for Tonka Toys. The building, still standing today but not making toys, sits next to the Airport Road overpass and made toys for generations of children.”
– http://wikimapia.org/5151708/Malton
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Ah yes, the overpass. I had to cycle over it for one of my summer jobs.
I also remember the Tonka factory donating some toys so our hockey team could raise money for our trip to Detroit.
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such happy times!
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Agree! I remember as a kid having one of the dump trucks, and a yellow excavator similar to the one shown in the UK Autumn Bargains catalogue.
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