All Metal Products launched their range of toys in 1920 or 21, particularly toy guns, and, later, toys for girls. During WWII, the company produced parts for the US military whilst continuing production of toys using wood and card. Post WWII, the product range included die cast and plastic products and, from 1951, toy trains, All Metal Products having purchased the Hafner Manufacturing Company. All Metal Products relocated from Michigan to Ohio in the early 1950s, in an effort to cut costs, but to no avail, All Metal Products being bankrupt by 1956.
Many of the Wyandotte line of toy trains are marked with a mixture of both Hafner and Wyandotte names, as old Hafner stock was used with newly produced and decorated Wyandotte models. Neither Hafner nor Wyandotte ever produced electric trains, all locomtives being clockwork powered. Wyandotte sold the Hafner line to Louis Marx, who probably purchased the tooling to eliminate a competitor. Marx relocated the Hafner tooling to a subsiduary in Mexico, where cheap battery and clockwork powered sets were manufactured.
For additional background information, with illustrations, please refer to the TCA Western Division Index of Manufacturers web site.
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