Mighty Tonka toys at work
 

I think my Mom may have finally kicked me out this past week. She told me to pack my old toys and take them! Well, in all fairness, I have been gone from home for a long time, but some of my old Tonka's and some other stuff had lingered in a closet in her basement for better than 40 years. My kids always dug them out when we went to visit, but Mom who is getting ready to be 84 next month is trying to get stuff thinned out. I've been cleaning up and hauling off at her house for several years, and I think now it is a little more manageable. Just think plenty of trips to Goodwill and the dump on every visit.

Any way, my youngest Son is getting to put the good ole made in USA Tonka's back to work. What you have here is (besides my Son) are the Mighty Tonka Dump, Scraper, and Loader. They did a helluva job for me when I was a kid, and it's nice to see them back at work!:seasix:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1...ps26a0058f.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psc3fdb644.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1...psa4f3953c.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j1...ps10e4c776.jpg

I have always enjoyed watching my kids play with the old toys. I have a few Tonka's that I kept indoors and they are in great shape along with a couple of Nylint pieces of "heavy equipment" that are in equally good shape. They will still be in good shape long after I'm dead and gone if my youngest takes good care of them, which I'm sure he will.

The Chinese made crap I buy here for my boys does not last long, sometimes before the day is out they are broken.

Great to see the toys getting enjoyed again, especially by your own kid!

:cert:

Loved those when I was a kid! Solid chuck of indestructible metal. I played the crap outta' mine and looks like you did too. :seasix:

Man, I had a big ass pile of dirt next to the old smoke house where those things built everything imaginable. It is cool to see them get used again. My oldest son is too old for them now and I think maybe my youngest has a little while with them. Now Tonka's are just like everything else, made in china of plastic, and not worth a damn.

But...do they say "Made in USA"? If they don't, I bet they won't have the staying power of these brutes!!!:seasix:

Some woman on here or CF once said she worked at Tonka. Can't remember who it was. Had to be from MN.?

Those used to be made here in the Twin Cities suburb of MinneTONKA. I had quite a number of them when I was a kid no idea what my parents did with them.

Good news if you like a cheap, Chinese made, plastic crap. My Mom has my old dump truck somewhere that looks just like the one in the OP. I'd like to have it, but I bet it looks like crap, because I was hard on toys. I wonder what it would cost to have it powder coated and buy repro stickers for it?

Those look like the same era Tonka toys myself and my younger brothers played with. They are well built and last a long time. :yesnod:

1968 ( I was 8 )my parents purchased a house and in the back yard was a dirt pile about 3' high and 6' round. By the end of the summer it was gone :seasix:

I had a sand box. First order of business was getting rid of any cat treasures before beginning play.

I had a big Tonka tow truck that I turned into a roadster when I was a kid. Dad was not amused. :rofl:

I wasnt into Tonka, I had a shit ton of Ertl "John Deere" stuff though. I had the 8X8 Articulated tractor with like a 12 bottom plow. Deere Loader, Deere excavator, Deere dump truck...and a few other implements. Also had a couple old Ford 8n or Jubilee tractors, and a few older Deere tractors...

Still have them somewhere...haha

I worked my way through college working at Tonka Toys for 3 summers in Mound, Minnesota. The pay was great! I worked on the assembly lines and made everything from the Mini-Tonkas to the Mighty Tonkas. I still have some of the Tonkas that I made. Sure wish I had kept a few more.