Buddy L Jr Dump Truck of Pressed Steel *SOLD*

Buddy L Jr Dump Truck of Pressed Steel  for Sale

Staff here wants to keep this one, but we are in business.  We have offered a beautiful Buddy L “Jr” dump truck in pressed steel.  The toy is in original condition and actually very very good for a boy’s construction toy that is around 90 years old.

Upon examining this toy in person, you get struck by how heavy of a gauge of steel that was used.  It is incredibly solid and about 4 times (at least) thicker than tin toys of the time.  Wheels are rubber, frames are an even thicker, doors open.

Original stickers are in very good condition as shown and the delicate tail gate sticker is present too.  Headlights and bumpers are there and original.

-A Gem for sure!

—- Buddy L History —
Buddy “L” toys are manufactured by the Moline Pressed Steel Company in East Moline, Illinois. The company was founded in 1910 by Fred A Lundhal and originally manufactured automobile fenders and other stamped auto body parts for the automobile industry. The company primarily supplied parts for the McCormack-Deering line of farm implements and the International Harvester Company for its trucks.

Moline Pressed Steel did not begin manufacturing toys until 1921. Mr. Lundhal wanted to make something new, different, and durable for his son Arthur. He designed and produced an all-steel miniature truck, reportedly a model of an International Harvester truck made from 18 and 20 gauge steel which had been discarded to the company’s scrap pile.

The other kids in the neighborhood loved the toy so much they got their parents to request that Mr. Lundhal make similar toys for them. The demand made Mr. Lundhal consider manufacturing toys for the toy trade. He designed and produced 3 samples of all steel toys under the name Buddy”L”. The name Buddy “L” came from his son, Arthur, who was known in the neighborhood as Buddy “L”, to distinguish him from another Buddy in the same neighborhood.

Mr. Lundhal took his samples to the 1922 New York Toy Fair and received a lukewarm reception. Toy buyers thought the prices were too high; however, the toys became noted for their size and quality and toy sales took off. Therefore, Lundhal went ahead and launched the first large American pressed-steel toys – Buddy L.

The toy business prospered so much that by 1923, Moline Pressed Steel stopped fabricating full-size auto parts in favor of toys. By 1925 the toy line expanded to 20 items, including fire engines, moving vans, tanker trucks, lumber trucks, overhead cranes and sand loaders.