1980 Tomica Terex 72-81 Loader

The Euclid Crane and Hoist Company was founded in Euclid, Ohio, in 1909 by George Armington. In the 1920s, George’s oldest son, Arthur, began to move the company in the direction of earth-moving equipment – specifically off-road heavy haulers – such as dump trucks, loaders and scrapers. By 1953, Euclid was a large international corporation, and it was purchased by none other than General Motors. This was a period of even more growth for Euclid, until 1959, when the Justice Department brought an antitrust suit against GM accusing the behemoth of stifling competition in the off-road hauler and earthmoving segment. After fighting the suit for eight years, GM finally agreed to sell the Euclid Division. GM then created the brand Terex for construction equipment and trucks not covered by the court ruling. Randolph Lenz purchased Terex USA from GM in 1986 and formed Terex Corporation in 1988. The company is now a worldwide manufacturer of work platforms, construction cranes, hauling and paving machines, and port cranes.

The No. F58 Tomica Terex 72-81 Loader was first released in 1980. In 1986 it was renumbered as No. F38 and in 1988 it was renumbered again as No. 118. This nice example is another of my Wichita eBay scores.

The real-life Terex 72-81 wheel loader – still the largest loader made by the company – was first introduced in 1969 and manufactured until 1982 at GM’s Hudson, Ohio, plant. The Tomica model is beautifully detailed, but its 1/137 scale belies the fact that the real machine weighs over 53 tons and has a bucket width of over 16 feet.

The Tomica Terex 72-81 Loader has a fully-positionable bucket. Mine is in need of a mate; the Tomica Terex 33-07 Dump was also released in 1980. Although I do have the Tomica Hitachi DH 321 Dump Truck, which is of a similar scale.

Tomica | 1980 | F58 | Terex 72-81 Loader | yellow with black plastic scoop, black plastic base | 1/137 | Japan | large treaded black tires with yellow plastic hubs

Click here to see the Terex 72-81 Loader on the 1980 page of the online Tomica History Museum.

1980 Tomica American Farm Tractor

The Tomica American Farm Tractor was first released in 1980. I’m not entirely sure which American Tractor it was modeled after, so I asked input from my brother-in-law, John, who spent more time around tractors than I ever did. He pointed me in the direction of the Massey Ferguson, and if you compare images of, say, the model 565 from the late ’70’s, there is a striking resemblance. The only problem is that, at the time, MF was a Canadian company. So, technically it should be called the North American Tractor.

The Tomica American Farm Tractor was packaged individually as well as in various vehicle play sets. This nice example is another of my scores from the site of my Wichita eBay friend.

The Tomica American Farm Tractor has a rather formidable-looking tow hook, but I’m unsure if Tomica ever produced anything (such as a hay wagon or a disc) to take advantage of it.

Tomica | 1980 | F54 | American Farm Tractor | red with white trim, white plastic roof, gray plastic engine, amber windows, unpainted metal base | 1/74 | Japan | white hub 5-spoke wheels front, large treaded white hub 5-spoke wheels rear

Click here to see the American Farm Tractor on the 1980 page of the online Tomica History Museum.

1979 Tomica Komatsu Motor Scraper WS-16

Komatsu Limited, founded in Komatsu, Japan, is a multinational corporation that manufactures a wide range of products, from construction, mining and military equipment to diesel engines and thermoelectric generators. The company began in 1917, when Takeuchi Mining created Komatsu Iron Works to manufacture tools and equipment in-house. In 1921, the company became the independent Komatsu Limited. The first farm tractor (with tracks on its wheels) was produced in 1931, followed by the Model 1 bulldozer in 1943. Motor graders were introduced in 1952 and Komatsu began to export them to Argentina three years later. The product line increased over the years to include diesel engines (first produced in 1948) forklift trucks and dump trucks (1953), shovel loaders (1956), wheel loaders (1965), hydraulic excavators (1968) and more. Today the company is headquartered in Tokyo with manufacturing facilities in Japan, Asia, the Americas and Europe.

The Tomica Komatsu Motor Scraper WS-16 was first released in 1979. It was sold individually and was also included in a few different construction vehicle sets. This example is another of my Wichita eBay scores.

The Tomica Komatsu Motor Scraper WS-16 features a steerable cab.

Tomica | 1979 | 32 | Komatsu Motor Scraper WS-16 | yellow, black plastic interior and exhaust, unpainted metal base, steerable cab | 1/165 | Japan | large treaded tires with yellow 5-spoke hubs