Toy car had the look of a Chrysler “Airflow”

Back in the mid-1940s

Back in the mid-1940s, my wife’s dad, a physician in Hamilton, IL, had acquired a couple of toy metal cars. My wife, Karen, said her dad gave the “sporty one” to one of his patients, a boy about 6. Karen, about the same age, got a sedan.

Although she doesn’t remember many details about playing with the car, she kept it, and it eventually followed us to our present home in a large box with other “old stuff.”

Metal car

The metal car measures 14 ½ inches in length. It’s five inches wide and about 4 ½ inches high. Its body is painted a dull green, which survives in fairly good condition, and it has its original white rubber tires. Several parts are missing, including an open area that appears to have been a battery compartment. The battery may have powered the headlights and a single taillight. A flat-spring motor in the rear of the car would have made it go, but it’s no longer functional.