Any info on these vintage miniature cars..

[druusilla4]

They're marked Japan, metal, and very small. Any info. would be appreciated.

[anthology-of-treasures]

When I was a kid in the mid 1970s we took a trip up to Lake Superior and various other Minnesota locations including the headwaters of the Mississippi where one can step over the river its so small. I bought some of these in a gift shop for 98 cent (about $4.76 in today's money). They were housed five in a row inside a tiny thin box constructed like a match box. It had pictures of cars on the outside that did not necessarily match what was inside. Another set had small black steam train engine with four brightly colored train cars and a caboose.

Since then I have seen earlier and later vehicles like these. Most have plastic wheels and spokes on a metal body. Some of the older ones have tiny rubber wheels with a metal axle. The oldest ones I have seen had a grease pencil price of 49 cents written on them.

I've not seen any with a manufacturer's name, but I have seen Japan on the cars and boxes. Some cars are unmarked. I also recall seeing them in a local Ben Franklin in late 1970s or early 1980s when I was too big to play with them any more.

[namele365]

The styles of the vehicles look older than the 1970s. 

[shoprosella]

I believe these are made by Tootsie Toy...do a Google search for Tootsie Toy car and should find several of the ones you have

[this-old-toy]

Some are called Smallest Old Timers Ever Made

[anthology-of-treasures]

The styles of the vehicles look older than the 1970s.

These type of cars have been made for decades and marketed in various types of packaging.

The small black car with yellow plastic wheels exactly matches the box of small toy cars I purchased circa 1974 - there was also a yellow, red, blue, and green car in the set. The train set use the same spoked wheels. The colors of the spoked wheels appeared to have varied on different production runs based upon others I have seen at live auctions.

A car produced using the same decades old production techniques will have the same appearance if it was produced in the 1950s or 1980s. Even with manufactuter's literature, catalogs, and other documentation it might be difficult to pin point the exact production date if they made the same thing for decades.0

On a related note I sold a carton of sealed vintage toy plastic violins from the late 1950s to 1960s. They were purchased by a manufacturer who had acquired the original production molds for the violins, but had no examples of the finished goods. Their intent was to start producing them again nearly 40 +/- years later.