Wyandotte (All Metal Products Company)

All Metal Products was founded in Wyandotte, Michigan in 1920 to produce inexpensive pressed metal toys under the Wyandotte brand name. For many years it was the US largest manufacturer of toy guns. From 1930 the company also made girls' toys such as baby carriages and toy airplanes, cars, and trucks, adding lithographed novelty toys to the range in 1936. During the Second World War the company produced parts for the US military whilst continuing production of toys using wood and card. After the war the product range included die cast and plastic products and, from 1951, 0 gauge clockwork toy trains, All Metal Products having purchased the Hafner Manufacturing Company. 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. In an effort to cut costs, All Metal Products moved from Michigan to Ohio in the early 50s, but to no avail and the company went bankrupt in 1956. The Hafner toy train tooling was bought by Louis Marx and Company and shipped to its subsidiary in Mexico, where it was used to produce cheap clockwork and battery-powered sets. It is believed that Marx’s main reason to purchase the tooling was to prevent acquisition of the tools by a competitor. What remained of the company attempted a comeback in 1957 but failed.