Since today is Jeep day at CC, it’s a good time to share this super cool toy I came across the other day. It’s a Tonka and represents the early ’63-’65 Wagoneer, based on the grille. Perhaps someone here is more familiar with this toy than me, since I’ve never seen one before. Were they actually made in that time frame, or was it later?
It has a handy opening tailgate for hauling stuff or just having a tailgate party with all your toys. I found it at an antique store where they wanted $24 for it. A quick internet search turned up a few other versions, but none exactly like this. I’m guessing the price is probably pretty close to market value but no, I didn’t buy it. I’m trying to be good and stay in a less materialistic phase, so I decided to just photograph it and let it go…
The real thing is commonly known as an FSJ … Full Size Jeep. I guess this is an NFSJ, or Not Full Size Jeep. I have a vague childhood memory of these, but perhaps in green? I just checked, and yeah, Tonka made a Forest Service green Smokey Bear Wagoneer.
That sparked a memory of a childhood toy, and sure enough, I was right (interweb pic).
Yup, those were made in the day. There was a yellow one at my grandparents’ house that I always played with when we visited.
Later I got my own for Christmas, another yellow one with the updated 1970’s grille and bigger tires as I recall.
I had several Tonka trucks and I played with them a LOT!
They made a Gladiator pickup as well. I’m not sure whether something happened to the dies and molds or there was another reason Tonka didn’t make them as long as Jeep did. Maybe it was the odd size, about 1/20 scale, where most of what Tonka did in the ’70s and ’80s were either bigger or smaller.
Love it. I had quite a few Jeeps when I was a kid way earlier (50’s early 60’s). I still have these three survivors. I believe the large one on the left is by Marx (it’s currently deep in closet storage). They were very popular toys in the post-WWII era, due to the war and popularization of Jeep in television and the movies. What a long-lived, iconic brand. My millennial neighbors have a new Compass parked next to my car in the underground garage of our building.
Mine was yellow.
The most whimsical Tonka Jeep has to be the Gladiator cement mixer, on a single axle at that. Hey, the intended demographic wouldn’t know the difference anyway, right?
Yes
It’s legit.
Worth $25 too.
I have a Jeep my brother got from Santa, back in 1962. We were all “Combat” kids. To us, it was GI Joe’s,.
The Tonka model #50 Jeep pickup came out in 1963 in their “Mini” line, along with a dump truck, stake bed truck, wrecker, and camper. The Wagoneer came out in 1965.
The Gladiator ran till about 1972 when Tonka changed to a more modern and generic design for their Mini trucks. The wagoneer continued on to 1975.
The fearured Jeep Wagoneer is the model #62 and originally sold for around $2.50.
That is an great find; they nailed the shape.
Worth the money just on looks.
I had a nearly identical Tonka Wagoneer as a young boy in the late ‘60’s. I remember mine as having “Fire Chief” decals on the front doors.
Add me to the list of those who have seen these; mine was black with a white roof if memory serves.
It was found at a yard sale way back when, so the price was more like $0.24 instead of $24.
I think I had a blue one.
I still have mine from 1971, in yellow and on display. I remember carefully bending back the tabs on the metal body to separate it from the plastic chassis and hiding treasure inside when I was 7. When l’m home tonite I’ll take it down and play varoom – varoom with it and my red Baha Buggy Jeep!
I have a yellow one and this neat “Cherokee Chief” that I picked up at a swap meet for under $10.
Me and my brother had a yellow Wagoneer, and wish I still had it. Got it around 1970 or 71? Don’t know what happened to it, other then tossed by my folks?
Wow. I forgot that I had one of these. I also had a car carrier that had three Jeep Gladiator trucks. Probably got them in the early ’70’s as a Christmas gift.
Nice find, let them put it on Ebay so I can buy it…..
I had one of these when I was a kid. It came with a little trailer on which there was a plastic yellow ’63-’67 Corvette Coupe. I gave it away for a school fundraiser when I was a teen. Wish I’d kept it.
This reminded me that i used to have a jeep commander tonka as a kid…
Whoa! I had this exact Tonka toy Wagoneer when I was 5 or 6 years old back around 1968 or ‘69. I can’t remember the color, I think mine was gray. But I distinctly recalll the size and the channeled roof. I played with it practically non-stop in the living room of our apartment in Lackawanna, NY. I recall it met its demise when my drunken dad stepped on it one night. I’m lucky only the toy met it’s end that night.
Speaking of Jeep and Tonka, I recall my uncle’s younger 21 year old brother had a CJ 7 Jeep in 1976, green with a white hardtop. He was a paint and body man, so he painted what looked like a genuine trademarked “Tonka” script on the doors’ belt line. If I remember correctly, the top of the hardtop’s door has a crease in it under the window; the “Tonka” script fit and looked really, really good.