Louis Marx and his brother David founded the company in 1919. During the height of the Great Depression in the 1930’s, when most people saw only financial despair, MARX's revenues grew during the depression. MARX opened factories in Erie and Girard, PA, along with their largest facility in Glen Dale, West Virginia. During the 1950’s, Louis Marx & Company. became the “largest toy manufacturer in the world,” with over one-third of all toys in the U.S. being MARX Toys. In 1972, at the age of 76, Louis Marx sold his toy company to Quaker Oats Toys, but some years later the company was sold again. In 1980 the MARX brand name disappeared completely.
MARX's Toys included tinplate buildings, tin toys, toy soldiers, playsets, toy dinosaurs, mechanical toys, toy guns, action figures, dolls, doll houses, toy cars and trucks, and HO scale and O scale trains. Louis Marx and Company was an early player in the plastic toy field as well. After World War II, MARX introduced more vehicles, taking advantage of the injection moulding techniques with various plastics.
Lumar Lines was a name used for a line of floor operated tin toys, trucks, vehicles, trains beginning in the early 1930s, in the United States and England. Linemar Toys was a trade name under which MARX Toys were manufactured in Japan, then sold in the United States and other countries. The reason to make Linemar Toys in Japan was to keep costs down.
This is a model of a 1955-59 era Lowlight Karmann Ghia VW Convertible that was produced by Louis Marx Toys (USA) and was made in Hong Kong in the 1958-1960s. The plastic body has the top down and has details of the front hood, rear hood and door seamlines. The front section has clear plastic headlights, hood trim, VW logo and of course the small grill air louvers. The rear section shows the engine air louvers and license plate area but no taillights. The details of the interior has two red seats, folded down black convertible top and a white plastic driver sitting on the right-hand side. There is a clear plastic windshield that is glued to the body and appears to be fragile as it is often missing. The chassis is also made of plastic and has molded the front and rear bumpers usually painted silver. There are rubber tires on silver plastic wheels and this MARX Karmann Ghia VW has a friction motor. The chassis is marked NO 4403 MADE IN HONG KONG and glued to the body. Just to note the spelling of ‘VOLKSWAGON’ on the shipping carton.
