1964 Tonka Toys New Zealand Look Book

Click any image to view an enlarged Look Book page.

By the mid 1960's, the Tonka brand was recognized as leader in kids steel trucks in the U.S.A. Tonka management recognized that to be a world-wide toy supplier, they would need to expand their marketing and production operations. To meet that vision, a manufacturing site in Auckland, New Zealand was selected in addition to marketing and additional manufacturing sites in Austria, Canada, France, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and West Germany.

New Zealand made Tonka trucks are very difficult to find, in part because the quantities produced were many times less than what was rolling off the assembly lines in Mound. It should also be noted that Tonka trucks made New Zealand, and for that matter, Canada, do not necessarily match their U.S.A. counterparts. Mound would ship excess and or obsolete parts and an interesting variation would be produced.

There's nothing like the real thing. After you finish viewing this New Zealand lookbook, click here to see a few examples of New Zealand manufactured Tonka trucks. If you are a collector of New Zealand manufactured Tonkas and you would like to share your good fortune with the world, contact me via email and let me know you are interested in being a contributor to this website.