By Karl Schnelle
Text and photographs copyright of the Author(s) unless otherwise stated.
The actual short-nosed or short-bonneted Mercedes cab came out in 1959 and was updated over time for many years. Several collectors have identified the Vilmer Toys casting as the Mercedes-Benz L 1113, which came out in the early 1960s. Other names given this cab were the pig-nose, snub-nose, or Kurzhauber (short-bonnet in German)!
As mentioned in Part VIII of this series on Vilmer Toys from Denmark, the Mercedes-Benz truck appeared in at least two catalog sheets, along with these other trucks:
- Trader, Bedford TK, small Dodge, Mercedes-Benz (below left)
- Trader, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo (below right)
So we can assume that the Mercedes short-bonnet came out around the same time as the Thames Trader and before the Volvo. The Vilmer family scrap book (Facebook, Sep 2023) shows newspaper clippings with three of these trucks pictured in December 1964, so perhaps Vilmer introduced the Mercedes at some point before then, but in in time for Christmas 1964 sales.
The Models
The catalogs above show several different body types attached to the short-bonnet trucks – 850-854 open or tarp covered, 855 Foderbus, 856 dump truck with front shovel attachment, 857 fire ladder truck, 860 Falck tow truck, and 862 cattle truck. I wonder if any more were issued?
The most common versions seem to be the plain flatbed, with or without plastic tonneau cover. I have never seen one with milk jugs (#851), but they are easily lost. From the black & white catalog, the covered versions could be civilian, ambulance, and military.
More uncommon are the #855 Foderbus (animal feed truck) and the #857 fire ladder truck. I think these two are my favorites of the bunch. The Foderbus is one of the few Vilmer with advertising on it. KFK (Korn- og Foderstof Kompagniet) was a large corn and fodder (and other dry goods) company in Aarhus, DK. The decal sheet (below) is from the Vilmer family scrapbook.
Here is a slightly worn Foderbus from different angles:
The other versions seem to be very rare – there is a nice #860 Falck flatbed tow truck on flickr now. The tow truck and #862 cattle truck are also shown by Ed Force (Classic Miniature Vehicles of Northern Europe, 2002). I did see these three online (dba.dk auction site) in various worn states, photos below.
Variations
One obvious variation is to the #850 truck where the early version (above left) had rails which seem to be fragile, so perhaps Vilmer removed them from the casting. Then the simpler rear bed had either 4 or 7 upright supports on the sides of the beds, as seen in the white/blue (7) and yellow/blue (4) examples above.
Also, 856 might have not come with the front attachment as the one below has no holes on the sides of the cab.
Finally, three years ago, Hans Jørgen Wagner identified two cab types – different castings on his green Foderbus and red ladder truck. In both cases, the plastic front headlights were used to ‘rivet’ the plastic grill onto the cab.
Chico Toys and MetOsul Copies
Like the Thames Trader, the Mercedes casting was also transferred to Chico Toys in Columbia, South America, perhaps in the early 1970s. In a a similar fashion, the rear platforms are made in soft plastic, and the wheels are the same one-piece type speed wheels.
Seven version are shown on the back of a Chico Toys catalog sheet. with the open cement mixer never seen as a Vilmer Mercedes (just the Vilmer Volvo).
Six of them are shown below (no plain covered truck).
Then, about 1980, production of the Mercedes truck went to Portugal where they were produced by MetOsul. That is the only Chico that has been seen made by Metosul, so there is a chance that they did not receive the actual molds but reverse engineered the cab and added different rear platforms like the Sonap gasoline tanker. Only three rear platforms have been identified: tarp covered truck (identical to Vilmer or Chico), box truck, and the tanker.
Here are the MetOsul, Vilmer, and Chico all stacked together.
Here are photos of the plain MetOsul truck without tarp.
That brings us to the end of the Mercedes short-bonnet truck story. Stay tuned for the Volvo long-nose truck next!
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