The Tonkas from the 1950s have always been my favorite toys to restore, and today I finally completed this Tonka restoration project, a 1956 Tonka Minute Maid Delivery Box Van Truck.
The Tonka company only manufactured this type of box truck for two years, 1955 and 1956, and it was also the first time Tonka produced a toy having a “private label” like Minute Maid. Therefore, this truck is very rare in the market, and it is even more difficult to find a suitable one to restore.
The Tonka company produced a different model of these Minute Maid trucks for each year. The most significant differences are with the front bumper, grill, and headlights. In the 1955 model, the grill and bumper are made of one piece, and the headlights are metal. In the 1956 model, the grill and bumper are two separate pieces and the headlights are plastic. Another interesting difference between the two involves the box of the van. In the 1955 model, the floor of the box is made of wood, while in the 1956 model, the floor of the box is made of steel that is welded to the rest of the box making it all one piece. There are also slight differences in the embossing on the outer box walls of the two models.
During this project there were three main challenges I ran into during the restoration process.
Firstly, since this is the 1956 model, and the top and bottom of the box are both welded together, rust removal and powder coat painting were much more difficult. It doesn't come apart, so it was difficult to get inside to do a good job of cleaning and painting those surfaces in such tight quarters.
The second challenge was replacing the riveting between the box and the chassis. Since there is no special rivet tool to do this kind of rivet, I had to use a chisel and a hammer to fix them. It would have been so much easier with a standard rivet gun, but the protruding pin/mandrel heads of the rivets would be exposed on the floor of the box which would have really affected the appearance.
The third challenge was the production of two new back doors for the van box as they were missing. I wanted to buy two replacement doors but just couldn't find the correct size, they were all too big, so I decided to just make a new set myself. Producing the doors went pretty smoothly. I used index cards to make door test samples to insure in advance the size and accuracy of the door. I had to be very careful and exact about the gap I left between the doors and the door frame to account for the thickness of the powder paint coating. I wanted them to be tight and look good, but to also work well too! It would be really hard delivering all that orange juice without van doors that work! With some effort I was able to build the doors so that the gap was eliminated, but they still open and close freely. They came out perfect!!
I hope you enjoyed this restoration. It's a really neat toy with lots of history, and it came out looking great!
As always, thanks so much for watching and feel free to tell me what you think in the comments below.
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#restoration #tonka #minutemaid #DIY
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