CRAGSTAN was a marketing and distribution firm from New York and imported post-war Japanese battery-operated and mechanical toys. It was founded by Mr. Frank Stanton, his brother Arthur Stanton and Victor Elmaleh. CRAGSTAN appears to have operated from the late 1950's through to the late 1960's. The “STAN” in the name must have been derived from Stanton, but unclear is what the CRAG-part in the name meant. The 3 partners created a company active in many fields: sugar import, importing Volkswagens, Porsches and Audis into the United States. Later, the company engaged in toy manufacturing and movie distribution also. The toy part of the company's main focus was on toys with multiple -mechanical- actions, for example robots, and made sure the company name and logo appeared on their packaging in which they were sold. These boxes were highly decorated. They also used the name LINEMAR. The toys were produced by companies like NOMURA, MASUDAYA, MEREHALL TOYS, YOSHIYA, TELSALDA, DAIYA, HORIKAWA and YONEZAWA.
Plastic body of a VW Bus with cut out windows and a clear plastic window insert. Very good details of front and rear section, door seams and side air louvers. Bumpers, headlights, taillights and front VW emblem molded into the body. The sunroof model has a side door that opens to see red plastic interior insert. The VW Bus was sold in an 11-piece play set with 4 people, 4 chairs, table and a red/white portable canopy. Black plastic chassis with friction motor (called a GYRO Powered Motor) attached to the body. This VW Bus was produced ny MEREHALL TOYS and sold under the USA importer name CRAGSTAN, but also under the names of TELSALDA and MEREHALL TOYS. MEREHALL TOYS was a toy producer based in Hong Kong who produced toys in the 1950s and 1960s under its own label, but also produced toys for toy importers in Europe and the USA. Typically those toys were branded with the toy importers name.
