Here is the first one, just the cab of a semi rig. It was originally painted bright red, but most of the paint has been worn off. The axles are rusty and the chrome on the face of the wheels is rubbed off.
This top view shows more of what the original paint looked like. There was still some left, but not much.
Here is a view of the plastic base. Just to the left of the tiny hole toward the top left, there were the tiny words "Hong Kong," so I'm assuming it was made there. The tiny hole was the secret to getting it to come apart so I could strip the old paint off and give it a general cleaning, inside and out. By putting a tiny screwdriver in the hole, I could disengage the grille unit, which pushed out the front of the truck.
Here is what my unknown truck looks like with 3 coats of paint. I have one more final coat to go, some detail painting, and then a coat of gloss finishing paint. It's already starting to look much better! I think the new wheels really set it off, what do you think? Again, if anybody recognizes this model and can tell me who made it or what it's based on, please let me know. It looks like it's based on an American-made truck of some kind to me.
The second truck was in much better condition. It's a box truck with opening doors in the back. Everything about this vehicle was shiny, non-rusted or clean, so I'm not going to be doing anything to it. The "ice cream" decal on the driver's side was slightly askew, but that's the way it came.
On the other truck, there was no emblem on the front of it. But, this one has a flying wings symbol just above the grille. I'm not sure whether it represents the company that made the original truck this one was patterned after, or a logo for the toy company that cast it. Either way, maybe somebody can recognize it. The truck itself resembles an Isuzu or a Hino, to me.
On the plastic base of the ice cream truck were the words "Made In Hong Kong." They are a little hard to see, but they are stamped in the area right between the two rear axles.
The passenger's side decal was straight and looked much better. If anybody recognizes what this truck is supposed to be or who made it from this profile, please let me know. I hope these views are good enough for someone to be able to identify these models. Perhaps the style of wheels will give a clue as to who produced them and when. If nothing else, please just enjoy looking at these two heavy duty workhorses in 1:64 scale!
March 8th, 2009 Update: Having cast out various threads onto the internet, I think I can now safely say I know what these two vehicles are. The first one, the red one I'm restoring, was made by Universal in the early 1980's, and represents an International Transtar. The second one, the yellow ice cream truck, was made by Welly, and is supposed to be a Japanese Hino. Thanks to everybody who helped out on this!
