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1963 Tonka Air Force Private Label Semi

1963 Air Force semi. Courtesy the Mr. Moe collection

After uploading these pictures and asking for information, I received an email from Tom Pekel, an avid Tonka enthusiast in Ohio. He stated, " I am the one that bought all of the Tonka Air Force Semi trucks about 15 years ago. (1994) There was one sitting on a table at the Dayton, Ohio toy show. Don DeSalle looked at it and thought someone painted a moving van, so he passed. I looked at it and, man for the price it was a very clean truck. I talked to the guy that had the truck and he said he got 5 of them from the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum. They were new moving vans painted back in the day by the Air Force for a large display. The display was dismantled and put in storage. The guy I bought them from had a letter from the Air Force stating he could buy them. The one in the DeSalle book I sold Don...." I asked Tom for additional clarification. He responded with the following information.

1. All semis were received by the Air Force from Tonka already painted (Allied orange). The Air Force stripped and repainted Air Force blue. In fact, one of the trailers still had the decal around the center of the trailer over-painted blue.

2. There are no known boxes.

3. The military serial number of the cab door was the same on all five cabs.

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