Back in the 1950's, the Japanese toy manufacturers were producing tin plate toy vehicles like it was going out of style. The tin cars depicted the automobiles of the same 1950's era that included just about all the American cars and the European models as well. Most of these tin cars were produced in a manner that resembled the full size car pretty close. Back in that era, these tin cars were considered the cheap Japanese toys. Sure they were inexpensive and perhaps cheap looking as compared to the nice tin and diecast toys produced in Europe and in the USA, but they have a definite character of their own. The Japanese manufacturers were good at installing all those extra little tin items on the car for detail. Those extra little tins items were perhaps the first to break off and at times were just too much. As with most tin cars of the 1950s and 60s era, they have soared in value. Perhaps because they were considered cheap, played with, destroyed and thrown away, less of them remain today and the "mint in the box" examples command top dollar prices for these Japanese tin toys.
MASUDAYA was one of these Japanese toy manufacturers that produced an Oval Window Volkswagen of the middle 1950s - early 1960s era. The scale is 1/25, 6.5 inches or 165mm in length. This tin plate Oval Window VW from MASUDAYA is one of the most sought after amongst Japanese tin toy car collectors in general, let alone the Volkswagen toy collectors. Just to mention, the USA represented a good market for the Japanese toys produced but the trademark or brand name of MASUDAYA was considered out of place and so the "MODERN TOYS" name was preferable for the export market and they used the diamond insignia of "MT".
The tin plate body is a one piece stamping with cut out windows. The lines of the VW Beetle silhouette are well defined as seen in the front hood and the bumble bee wing rear deck lid. The air louvers under the rear oval window are stamped correctly with wide louvers getting smaller towards the center and are a nice detail item in the body stamping. There are also lines of the doors and rain gutters on the roof section and raised bumps represent the taillights of the body.
The body is detailed with a tin metal trim piece around the front windshield. Some versions have a celluloid window insert for the windshield that attaches to the front window tin piece. The front hood tin strip forms the VW emblem and is attached to the body with small metal ears bent over inside. Tin button headlights are used and the MASUDAYA Volkswagen was produced with or without a tin metal trim piece attached to the rear oval window. The body was painted in various colors with the most popular being red, blue, gray and a metallic green color. The body was attached to the chassis with metal ears of the body aligning with slots in the chassis that were bent over.
The chassis is also stamped out of tin plate and is usually painted gloss black or a dark tan color and was stamped "JAPAN." The MASUDAYA VW came with a friction motor and a cardboard resonator that was attached to the chassis. A metal arm from the resonator rubbing on the friction motor gear made a "putt-putt" sound when moving. Real rubber tires were installed and finished off with shinny metal hubcaps. Some versions had white painted hubcaps with large VW letters painted on the hubcaps. This friction motor powered Volkswagen could only go in a straightforward direction (no steering). Nice tin bumpers with guards were attached to the chassis and finished off the details of the Volkswagen toy.
The shipping carton for the MASUDAYA Volkswagen has a very colorful top. It depicts the front view of a blue Volkswagen with yellow, red and white graphics in the background. The box has printed VOLKSWAGEN and has the MODERN TOYS name and diamond insignia. There is also a patent number 111119 and the lettering FLICTION ACTION (friction misspelled). The MASUDAYA Volkswagen was also placed in a plastic bag with just the box top and a cardboard tag to be hung in a display rack for sale. The Big Deal Toys cardboard tag had printed 68 cents! Interesting enough, the MASUDAYA VW appeared under a different name and box. The box has a nice graphic of a red VW cruising along the road. The box has written VOLKSWAGEN, FRICTION ACTION and a Trade Mark diamond insignia with T.T. Toys (TAKATOKU TOYS). This T.T. Toys box example is seldom found and rare.
MASUDAYA also produced a larger scale Oval Window Volkswagen under the MODERN TOYS name. It was a large 1/20 scale, 7.75 inches or 195mm in length. This tin plate Oval Window VW from MODERN TOYS and is one of the most sought after amongst Volkswagen collectors let alone Japanese tin toy car collectors in general.
The MODERN TOYS VW tin plate body is a one piece stamping with cut out and formed windows. The lines of the VW Beetle silhouette are well defined and there are indentations for the front hood and the bumble bee wing rear deck lid. The 18 air louvers under the rear oval window are punched out and nicely detailed. There are also seam lines of the doors and rain gutters on the roof section of the body. The body is detailed with tin trim pieces around the front and rear windows. The front hood tin strip forms the VW emblem and crest. Some versions have a celluloid window insert for the windshield that attaches to the front window tin piece. Tin button headlights, taillights and license plate light assembly are attached to finish off the details the body. These small tin parts all have a dab of different colored paint on them, usually a pastel green, orange or yellow. These are those little extra detail parts mentioned earlier. The body was painted in various colors with the most popular being medium red, light tan or grass green. Just to note, some of the MODERN TOYS VWs have been found with no license plate light assembly and no hole in the rear deck lid for one.
The chassis is also stamped out of tin plate and is usually lithographed black. One version of the MODERN TOYS VW came with a friction motor and a round cardboard resonator that made a "putt-putt" sound when moving. The other deluxe version featured a battery-powered electric motor with a forward and reverse switch lever located by the driver’s door (left hand drive export model). A "D" size battery was used and was installed in a round tin cylinder between the chassis and roof section. The electric motor assembly was mounted on the chassis in a special way to allow the axle and wheels to pivot up and down to assure proper traction on the driving surface at all times. Real rubber tires were installed and finished off with the VW "moon style" hubcaps. The front wheels could be turned left or right to provide the car to drive in circles. The friction motor version could only go in a straightforward direction (no steering) and the chassis was stamped "JAPAN." The chassis on the electric motor version had a decal of the manufacturers name "MT - MODERN TOYS - TRADEMARK - JAPAN" on the tin battery cover. Both versions were equipped with tin bumpers that were either the plain type or the over rider type and the bumpers were attached to the chassis with bent over metal ears. The chassis was then attached to the body with bent over metal ears. The MODERN TOYS VWs came in two different style shipping cartons with a very colorful picture of a Volkswagen Sedan with a German town landscaped in the background.
As mentioned before, these MASUDAYA Oval Window Volkswagens have become collector’s items and are not easy to locate for your collection. They appear from time to time on the online auctions. Happy hunting and collecting.
