Tonka Trucks
Although Tonka was other types of toys (Pound Puppies, Maple Town, Keypers, Gobots), the company is probably best known for their metal trucks and construction equipment. Tonka officially started making toys as Tonka Toys Inc. in 1955 (Tonka means “big” in Sioux). The Tonka metal toys were known for being practically indestructible. You could leave them outside for years and they would still play just fine. By the late 1980’s, Tonka had started adding a bit too much plastic to their toys to cut costs, but they were still good toys. Tonka made just about every type of truck and piece of construction equipment you can think of: Dump trucks, cranes, bulldozers, road graters, front loaders, cement trucks, etc.