The company was named SCHRÖDER, FABRIK FÜR PLASTIK-SPIELWAREN and the owner was LUDWIG SCHRÖDER. The company was located near Lüdenscheid, Germany.
Plastic body with cut out windows and nice details of silver painted headlights and taillights. Plain tin interior with steering wheel. Early version had a metal chassis with a key wound clockwerk motor. The later version has a plastic chassis and either a key wound clockwerk motor or a friction motor. Rubber wheels and shiny tin bumpers.
The SCHRÖDER company bought clockwork or friction motors, wheels, etc. for their toys from the company Paul Weiss Laufwerk Fabrik, also located in Nürnberg, Germany. Paul Weiss Laufwerk Fabrik existed from 1919 until 1969 and produced parts for tin toys as well as clockwork motors for many manufacturers. The Paul Weiss company logo was a multi-pointed star with P.W. in the star center.
There is also a “cheap” version with a plastic chassis and without a motor at all. All versions had the keyhole in the body, although only the clockwork motor version needed it. Chassis stamped with a SCHRÖDER heart insignia with either an “SCH” or “S” inside the heart. The boxes used came in two variations. For the Split Window VW only version, there was a colourful box with a red Split VW driving on the autobahn. Later Split VW versions came in a box with a blue Oval Beetle on the autobahn. It was used for the later style Split VWs as well as for the Oval VW as well.
There is also a green colored version with battery and electric motor, forward and reverse action and steering by remote control. This might be a prototype that never went into production. Another prototype was a blue car with slideable sunroof, steerable front wheels and wind up motor. It also featured a driver.
