BANDAI was founded in 1950, when Naoharu Yamashina took over a former textile wholesales company, that he himself had restructured into distributing toys. He renamed it BANDAI, which was derived from the Chinese phrase for "things that are eternal." At this time the firm was mainly selling celluloid and metallic toys, along with rubber swimming rings. In March 1951, BANDAI began to export inexpensive toys like metal cars and planes to the United States and other foreign markets. In early 1955, BANDAI established a manufacturing facility, the Waraku Works and started making toys themselves too. In the early 1960s, BANDAI began to establish direct overseas sales and opened an office in New York. Nowadays BANDAI is the world's third-largest producer of toys.
A very nice tin lithographed top down Volkswagen Cabrio toy available in either a metallic red or metallic blue color. Tin side moldings, front hood strips and taillights. A very colorful tin lithograph interior with two operating gearshift levers: Hi - Low - Neutral and Forward – Reverse. Steering wheel with operating horn. Tin chassis with tin bumpers and an electric motor and a battery compartment holding two “D” batterycells. Manually adjustable steering. Visible VW like engine with rotating fan.
