About Dunwell/Buckeye Trucks
tnttoytrucks.com
This collection has been
purchased by Mark Bahr
who continues to expand
and improve it. You can
contact Mark at:
arkins@comcast.net

    The Dunwell/Buckeye line of trucks is somewhat unique in that during its brief
    production run of six or seven years the toys were marketed by three different
    companies!

    It all began with the Dunwell Metal Products Company of Clifton, New Jersey.
    They produced the first Dunwell trucks in 1954 or 1955. They were excellent
    replicas of the real C-Series Cab-Forward trucks introduced by the Ford Motor
    Company in 1953. The Dunwell trucks featured a round red decal on each cab
    door.

    At some point, the Fame Metal Products Company of Newark, New Jersey took
    over the line. The trucks they produced were basically identical to the ones made
    by Dunwell. In fact, they retained the famous “Dunwell” name, but changed the
    style of the door decal to a gold-colored elongated design.

    In February of 1959 the Ohio Art Company of Bryan, Ohio took over marketing
    the trucks and changed the door label once again. They were now labeled as
    “Buckeye” trucks and used a paper stick-on yellow logo.

    There is good reason to believe that the Fame Metal Products Company actually
    continued the production of the trucks since the Ohio Art Company informed their
    distributors that freight would be charged from Newark, New Jersey, and not from
    Bryan, Ohio.

    Unfortunately, the Ohio Art Buckeye trucks soon exhibited cost-cutting measures
    that detracted from the original Dunwell design. The hubcaps were changed and
    a simple push nut was used to retain them on the axles. The semi mud-flaps
    were sometimes held in place by metal tabs instead of rivets. The Buckeye
    grille/headlight stamping used integrated headlights instead of the snap-in design
    used by the Dunwells. Perhaps worst of all, some of the semi trailers had single
    rear axles instead of the more attractive dual axles.

    Nevertheless, both Buckeye and Dunwell trucks are highly desirable in that they
    were colorful replicas of the real thing. They were rugged, well-proportioned and
    constructed with lasting quality. A truly great American toy.
The familiar Dunwell grille is on the left. The
center grille (without a peak) is much less
common. This one is on a Fame Auto Wrecker.
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