Greyhound bus

Necessity was the mother of invention as far as Fred Ertl, a journeyman moulder of Dubuque, Iowa, was concerned.

Having lost his job in 1945, he found himself with no means of feeding his family of eight and applied his metalworking skills to a cottage industry in the basement of his home, using melted-down war-surplus aircraft pistons to make toy tractors. The rest of the family joined in, helping to paint, assemble and pack the products, which Ertl then took round local retailers.

Farming was, and still is, a major part of Iowa’s economy and Fred Ertl’s big break came when he secured contracts with John Deere, Ford, Massey Ferguson and other tractor manufacturers. His factory in Dyersville expanded and the town became known as the ‘Farm Toy Capital of the World’.

Not all of Ertl’s toys were farm-related, however. One of the best of the firm’s 1950s products was this Greyhound bus, based on a prototype that was as emblematic of America as the Routemaster was of London. Though large at 9.25 inches long, it is surprisingly light because it is cast in aluminium. Instead of a body attached to a chassis, the structure is cast in two halves with a horizontal join along the top of the roof. Unusually, the front section incorporating grille, windscreen and part of the roof is a separate casting held in place by a nut and bolt from one side of the body to the other.

Ertl got further mileage out of the tooling by producing the same vehicle in a simpler yellow School Bus guise. Examples of the buses occasionally turn up in the UK, where they are likely to sell for around £75-100 in mint condition with original box.

Though Ertl is now part of the Tomy Group and toy production takes place in the Far East, the company’s heritage is kept alive by the National Farm Toy Museum in Dyersville.