Vintage Buddy L Vehicles

When the Moline Pressed Steel Company was established in Illinois in 1910, it was in the business of manufacturing pressed-steel fenders and cabs for International Harvester, which was making a precursor to the modern pickup truck at the time in addition to the line of tractors for which it would become so famous. In 1915, the company's founder, Fred Lundahl, and his wife, Marie, had their first and only child, a son named Arthur. Nicknamed Buddy "L" to differentiate him from another neighborhood boy named Buddy, Arthur was spoiled by his father, who made a dump truck for the lad out of the same sheet metal his factory used to manufacture International Harvester truck parts. That act of fatherly doting occurred in 1920; the response around the neighborhood and at a New York toy show to Fred's handiwork was so positive that a year later Lundahl had retooled a portion of his factory to make toy trucks, cars, and other metal toys which, together, were branded as the Buddy "L" line. Throughout the rest of the 1920s, Buddy "L" would grow by leaps and bounds, as its rugged toys, which were much larger than those of cast-iron competitors such as Hubley, were ordered by such prestigious retailers as FAO Schwarz and Marshall Field. Importantly, because Lundahl's company made Buddy "L" toys from the same materials and using the same manufacturing techniques as it did for International Harvester, many of the vintage Buddy "L" trucks from this period are still in good working order today. Unfortunately, the golden era of Buddy "L" was relatively short-lived. The Great Depression torpedoed sales, but it was Lundahl's death in 1930 at the age of 47 that put the greatest pressure on Buddy "L." His company was sold and the new owners immediately began to cut corners on materials and construction techniques. Still, Buddy "L" trucks from the 1930s are often in greater demand than those from the 1920s, if only because so many fewer of them were made. Besides, it's not as if the quality of Buddy "L" trucks from the 1930s was dreadful—dump trucks from that decade had working, battery-operated headlights, the truck actually dumped, and the tailgate was carefully hinged. Rubber covered the wheels, the doors to the cab opened and closed, and the steering wheel turned the front wheels. Part of the secret to the toy's endurance was its baked-enamel finish, which helped prevent the pressed steel from rusting. And they were strong enough for a child or even an adult to sit on, making play that much more realistic. In addition to the dump truck, Buddy "L" also made a wrecking truck, whose crane sat on a working turntable and featured working pulleys, cords, and cranks. Equally detailed was the steam shovel, whose cab roof was made of corrugated steel and whose bucket opened and closed with the turn of a crank. Even more elaborate was the trench digger, which rode on caterpillar tracks just like the steam shovel and featured a crank at the back of the toy that would let a child actually dig a trench, removing dirt as the toy was pushed forward.