Collecting -- and collecting information 27

I recently acquired an unmarked 3" tank truck for the Straco Display Layout (right). There was no brand, but I knew who made it. And thanks to another recent discovery, I think I know why.

No mystery here

This tanker is quite distinctively Linemar, though there's no brand on it. Nevertheless, it was easy for me to identify.

Note the blue chassis with crimped sides. The Linemar 10-piece set has a similar tank truck, but with different markings. Although I don't own the Mobilgas example from the set, I do have the set's coal truck, which shares the same construction.

The Linemar set. The Mobilgas tanker (far left) is identical to
the blue gasoline truck.

A simple side-by-side comparison makes it easy to see that both were made by the same company.

The "mystery" tanker (L) and the Linemar coal truck (R).

Save for the color, the chassis of the gasoline truck (top) and
coal truck (bottom) are identical.

So why is this different? I think it's because, though Linemar made the vehicle, it was made for another company.

The Interest Rated Toy

This three-piece set recently became available on eBay.

Note the packaging. The card says "Bag O' Toys," with no mention of a manufacturer. (I'd love to know what they meant by "interest rated").

This possibly might be one of the toys brought in for Toy Merchandising Corp. of New York or some other low-cost distributor. This set has three vehicles found in the Linemar set: the police car, the fire engine, and the coal truck.

A reason for the missing brand?

The police car and fire engine appear to be the same, save that the Linemar brand is missing.

Linemar brands are usually found on the rear of the vehicle.
These have none.

All of the Linemar set pieces are clearly branded, like the coal
truck at left. The brand is missing from the blue tanker.

The yellow coal truck has the same outline as the red Linemar set coal truck, just different graphics.

Possibly Linemar filled an order for an importer. After the job was finished perhaps they used the same stampers to create their own versions of the same toys. The vehicles of the Linemar set came from different runs and possibly were made for different contractors.

This may also help explain why the vehicles of the Linemar set aren't uniform in construction.

While the importer/manufacturer of the Bag O' Toys line remains a mystery, at least I know who supplied some of their stock. It was Linemar, the Japanese arm of Louis Marx, Co.