Today I completed another project, a vintage 1920s Girard side-dump truck. The truck is 11.5 inches long, 4.25 inches wide and 4.5 inches high (L29cm x W11.5cm x H10.5cm). It's made of very heavy pressed steel that is thicker than in most ordinary pressed steel toys. This is a really neat characteristic of early Girard toys, using this heavy steel. These toys can be identified by the flying wings ornament on the hood, and also by the hard rubber tires that were stamped with the words Girard Balloon.
This side-dump truck is very rare. Today, neither toy trucks nor real industrial trucks use this kind of side-dump mechanism. In real life, these kind of side-dump trucks were last seen in pictures from the early 1920s. It's unique, and really interesting to see function.
The Girard company was founded by Frank E. Wood in 1919 and also known as the Girard Manufacture Co. (1922 -1935). The company was located in Girard, Pennsylvania. Their most famous toys were spinning tops, skates, banks, trains, trucks and military vehicles. In the late 1920s, Girard toys made Louis Marx a commissioned agent, and for several years the Girard Motor Works not only produced their own line of steel autos, trains and trucks, but also produced toys under the Marx brand label. This is why many people sometimes have a difficult time telling the difference between Marx and Girard toys. Unfortunately, the Girard Co. declared bankruptcy in 1934. However, they did still continued to manufacture toys up until 1975.
This truck was missing four tires and two axles! Fortunately, I was able to buy original replacements from an outstanding online antique toy parts store that has a very complete range of toys parts. The restoration process went fairly well. I have some doubts about the color after I finished the baking however. The color I used is a Cream powder coating that I have used before, but in those cases the color turned out lighter. This time I feel the color turned out darker than before for some reason. Fortunately, the color is still beautiful, and is pretty close to the original truck color under the right lighting. I have found over time that when powder coating metal, the color is heavily related to oven temperature and baking time. if the temperature is hotter or lower, or of there is variation in the baking time, longer or shorter, those factors can cause the color change. It's more of an art than a science!
Thanks so much for watching and feel free to tell me what you think in the comments below.
If you like my videos, I would really appreciate a thumbs up and hitting the subscribe button!
#Restoration#Vintage#Girard
Негізгі бет Vintage 1920s Girard Dump Truck Restoration
Пікірлер: 122