Dennis David Knihy

Relive your childhood memories with this spectacular tome of Tonka history. In the late 1940s, three men established Mound Metalcraft in an old schoolhouse by Lake Minnetonka, initially producing tie racks and garden utensils. When sales fell short, they pivoted to making sturdy construction toys from leftover materials, leading to the birth of Tonka, named after the nearby lake, which transformed the toy industry. The narrative spans from the company's early days to its acquisition by Hasbro in 1991, highlighting the ups and downs while maintaining a focus on the toys' rugged quality, realism, and durability. Employee profiles add a personal touch to the story of a company that rose to the top of the toy truck market. Each era of Tonka's history is documented with 150 color and 25 archival images. The Tonka story is one of an incredible journey, from a small schoolhouse to a major corporation known for toys that can withstand anything a child throws at them. Dennis David, an automobile journalist and antique car enthusiast, has authored three books and lives in northwestern Connecticut with his family. Lloyd Laumann, a former vice president of manufacturing at Tonka, worked there for nearly 30 years and has been collecting Tonka memorabilia since his retirement in 1984. He currently resides in Waconia, Minnesota, with his wife.

Inspired largely by rapid advances in aviation technology, the automobile tailfin became one of the most potent symbols of 1950s American affluence and the optimism represented by the dawning Space Age. This colorful looks back at the greatest automotive styling craze ever features dozens of modern color photos depicting tailfins and the cars they adorn, from the first subtle incarnations to appear on the 1948 Cadillac to the nearly absurd variations seen on American avenues and highways in 1959. Automobiles from each of the "Big Three" American manufacturers are represented, as are others which have gone by the wayside, including Kaiser-Frazer, Packard and Studebaker.