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.
The Race Case Etc. 