The YONEZAWA Toys company (known also as Yone or simply Y) was one of Japan's largest and most prodigious post-war toy manufacturers. The Company was founded shortly after the war in Tokyo and focused on the production of literally thousands of different electrically operated and mechanical toys through the early 1970s. DIAPET is the name of a series of mostly 1:40 scale die-cast toys produced by YONEZAWA Toys of Japan after that company took over the Cherryca Phenix brand. While YONEZAWA is best known for producing tinplate toys of particular accuracy and in the scale of 1:24-1:18, Diapet toys are smaller die-cast replicas. The word "pet" is the Japanese equivalent of "small" or "cute."
The giant YONEZAWA VW Bus is battery operated with two D cells. The cells power the bump and go mechanism as well as the blue roof emergency light that rises up and rotates with an internal red light. There is an opening rear hatch with a relatively large storage area. Both are Police Canine Patrol VW Buses and are believed to have come with a pair of plastic German Shepherd dogs that ride inside the rear hatch.
Due to the large size and complexity of this toy, it has a long list of parts. Main body panels of stamped tin are the roof, two side panels, nose panel, rear panel and chassis. The VW logo, headlights and bumpers are separate and plated. The rear hatch has a knurled knob for access. The windows are all dark blue tinted plastic, so there is no interior detail.
