Antique Week Tonka's

 Just after Xmas, I received a comment on an old blog post I had created a few years back on the short lived Tonka Totes line.

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2020/02/tinkering-with-tonka.html

Tonka Totes were the companys attempt to break into the market shared by Hot Wheels, Zylemex and matchbox, with small fast rolling vehicles, as opposed to the usual lumbering pressed steel construction trucks, they were famous for.

Totes are plastic cars on a steel chassis, with nylon bearings in the wheels, not unlike Mattel cars, to allow them to run faster. Designs covered dragsters, utility and hots rod vehicles and each came with a small launcher or a belt clip, so they could be carried around easily - hence the name.

Eric Bryan, a writer for Antique Week - a stateside broadsheet for collectors, asked if he could use the shots from the blog, for an upcoming article, but as the resolution was too low for print purposes, I offered to do a dedicated shoot for the magazine instead.

The January 31 issue of Antique Week has just been published and Eric kindly sent me a proof of the article, shown below. It makes very interesting reading and has expanded my limited knowledge of the toys even more!

Images courtesy of Eric Bryan / Antique Week magazine