About 6.5 inches long; single block black rubber tires; a single piece carriage frame.  Dump trucks have always attracted collectors’ fancy.  These are certainly reminders of one’s childhood: the good times spent in a sandbox endlessly filling and emptying the truck’s tipper.  The model shown here is a publicity model for the Euclid company produced by National Toys in the USA.  This company worked, as far as I am aware, only for vehicle manufacturers and did not sell its products to the general public.  The reproductions of utility vehicles for promotion purposes were not as common as those of personal cars, but given that public works vehicles make up a large segment of the motor vehicle market, National Toys must have spotted a nic

he and gone for it. One can imagine that after tough contract negotiations for multiple trucks, passing out some miniature versions might have relaxed the atmosphere somewhat!

These vehicles are made of a lead-heavy alloy, which gives them a solid weight.  They were likely used as desktop paperweights or even as ashtrays, as I have seen a number of times!  These vehicles frequently sported finishing touches in brass colors, which was a trend of the times.  Let’s not forget that we are seeing publicity models here, but I will admit that I am not too fond of this type of finish work. The painted versions are extremely rare, I have never seen another one.

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