Vintage 1956 Tonka Fire Truck Restoration, It's Amazing!

The Tonka fire truck from 1956 to 1959 is my favorite Tonka. I have been looking for a suitable Tonka fire truck to restore for a long time. Today I finally completed this vintage 1956 fire truck restoration project.

The Tonka company was founded in the late 1940s by three men as a small garden-implement business run out of a school basement in Mound Minnesota. It was originally called the Mound Metalcraft Company. They started off first by making real full size steam shovels and cranes, but at one point decided to try metal toys as a side project, and in just one year the company was selling a lot of little toy trucks. Following this initial success they switched focus entirely to making toys and changed the company name to Tonka, from the Dakota Sioux word tanka, meaning "Big". Their first pickup truck was created in 1955, and they released their famous Mighty Dump Truck in 1965, which later became the company’s best selling toy in its history. Today Tonka is owned by Hasbro, but still has the "Big" name, and is still well represented in playgrounds and sand boxes around the world.

The restoration work on this 1956 Tonka fire truck is much larger than other projects I have done before. There are more than 50 parts in total. Apart from the purchase of a few necessary replacement parts, I have fixed and restored most of the original parts. With many of these, it was my first time restoring that particular part, especially the aluminum diamond pattern pedal on the rear that was badly damaged. I couldn't buy the same replacement part on the Internet, so I had to fix and restore it myself. Unexpectedly, the part came out perfect, and there was no trace of repair at all! The entire restoration process was very time-consuming and labor-intensive, but i feel this restoration came out perfect and looks amazing!

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Видео Vintage 1956 Tonka Fire Truck Restoration, It's Amazing! канала Amazing Restoration