All Metal Products Company
|
|
All Metal Products Company was an American toy company founded in 1920 and based in Wyandotte, Michigan for most of its history. It sold inexpensive pressed metal toys under the Wyandotte brand name, using the slogan "Wyandotte Toys are Good and Safe." To keep costs down, the company used scrap and surplus raw materials whenever possible.
Initially, All Metal Products Company specialized in toy guns. In 1929 it added girls' toys and toy vehicles, and added novelty toys in 1937. Metal toys were banned during World War II because the metals were needed for the war effort, so the company survived by producing printed paper and wooden toys during the war.
In 1948, die cast and plastic toys were added to the Wyandotte line, allowing it to compete with other companies who sold inexpensive dime store-type toys at lower prices than the Wyandotte pressed metal toys. In 1951, All Metal Products Company bought the Hafner Manufacturing Company, a maker of pressed metal toy trains.
In the early 1950s, All Metal Products Company moved to Ohio, hoping that closer proximity to Ohio's steel mills and cheaper Ohio labor would help the company cut costs. The effort was not enough to prevent All Metal Products Company from going bankrupt in 1956, resulting in the sale of part of its product line, including the former Hafner trains, to competitor Louis Marx and Company. What remained of the company attempted a comeback in 1957 but failed.