Auburn Rubber Company

Indy style race car. Toy made around 1960. About six inches long.

The Auburn Rubber Company was a rubber products manufacturer best known for its line of children's toys (Leopard 2003). It was probably the largest producer of rubber and vinyl toys in the world, though Norway's Tomte Laerdal, and Sweden's Galanite were major European producers.

History

Started in Auburn, Indiana, in 1913 as the Double Fabric Tire Company, it made tires for the Auburn Automobile Company. In the 1920s, the company changed its name to the Auburn Rubber Company, phased out its production of tires and introduced new products such as shoe-soling sheets. In 1935, it began making rubber toys, including toy cars, trucks, tractors and animals. Most vehicles were four to eight inches in length and cast in a variety of colors. During World War II, the company made soles for combat boots and gaskets for so-called "jerry cans."

Vehicles

Toys were made in many different styles, models and sizes. Proportion and detail were fairly good for vinyl toys. Probably the most famous were the four inch variety. Some of the model selections could be quite clever, for example, a 1955 Thunderbird, a Triumph TR-2, 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL, a 1957 Ford Ranchero, and a neat Ford Model A variant Hot Rod.

Auburn rubber company Cunningham style sports car. This model was likely made in Deming, New Mexico.

One sports car appeared to be a cross between a Cunningham and an Aston Martin. One convertible looked mainly like a Cadillac, but who could be sure? Another odd sedan had fins like a Pontiac, a front grille like a Kaiser Traveller and a general shape like a forward look Chrysler. Utility and service vehicles in the small size were also popular such as a fire engine, a telephone truck (it looked like a Dodge) with two ladders on top, and a flat bed truck. Police cars (molded in blue) and fire chief cars (molded in red) appeared to be variations on 1955 Chevrolets. What appeared to be a policeman on a Triumph single cylinder motorcycle also was popular, also a Harley three wheeler. One of the more clever vehicles was a boy on a tricycle molded in a waving position.

Models were simply constructed, typically only 7 parts: the body, four wheels, and two metal axles with flared tips to keep the wheels in place. The wheels were a slightly harder vinyl and were usually molded in either black or yellow. One popular coloring feature was the application of sprayed on silver coatings for the windows, grilles, bumpers, and other highlighted areas. Peoples' faces in bas relief style would often be molded into the windows of the cars - and often separate views were seen from the driver's side to the passenger side. Entire torsos were often molded into the open interiors of convertibles or roadsters. Similar to other plastic or vinyl vehicles of the era, the toys were often shipped and sold with many vehicles clumped together in a single box - so the buyer could walk away with the vehicle of his choice - individual cars and trucks were not sold in their own packages.

Bas-relief detail of the passenger window of the 1957 Ford Ranchero. The woman seen is different from the man on the driver's side.

Cars and trucks were also molded in larger sizes, from about five inches up to about ten inches or so. An Indianapolis style open wheel racer, a variety of tractors and farm implements, a road grader and other construction vehicles, an articulated cab and stake bed truck, a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado convertible, a less realistic Cadillac-style 'station wagon', what appeared to be a 1955 Plymouth station wagon airport limo car with a variety of different people molded into the windows and other more fantastic creations. Tanks and airplanes were made.

Other Toys

In a more traditional vein, an antique style wagon with horses was also offered. Toy soldiers, cowboys, trees, farm animals, farm buildings, and even farm implements were also molded in a variety of colors. A life-sized horseshoe game (as they were rubber, they didn't do as much damaged when you were clonked in the head) was labeled as Auburn "safe play" toys.

Company Directions

The toy company was sold in 1959 and moved its dies to Deming, New Mexico, in a transaction described by author Jonathan Kwitny (1979) in his book, Vicious Circles: The Mafia in the Marketplace, as an example of the penetration of a legitimate business by organized crime. The former plant in Auburn was eventually acquired by Cooper Tire & Rubber Company and is now used by Cooper Standard Automotive. Auburn Rubber in Deming went out of business in 1969, and its toy cars could be found in retail stores through the early 1970s.

References

Jonathan Kwitny. 1979. Vicious Circles: The Mafia in the Marketplace. New York: W.W. Norton, 422 pages. ISBN 0-39301-188-7

Lee Sauer. When it wasn't cars, it was car parts. KPC News online. Kendalville, Indiana. http://www.kpcnews.net/special-sections/cruising2/cruising7.html

Dave Leopard. 2003. Rubber toy vehicles - Identification and Value Guide. Collector Books, 144 colour pages. ISBN 1574323326 and ISBN 978-1574323320