Schuco Toys

Schuco is a German toy maker founded in 1912 by Heinrich Müller and the businessman Heinrich Schreyer. Originally this company was named as Spielzeugfirma Schreyer & Co, but in 1921 the company changed the name to Schuco.

The company made a series of successful tin toys after World War II, primarily for the American market. In the late 1960's and early 1970's there was a shift to plastic and diecast metal toys of various scales including remote control and wind-up toys. It was at this time that the company experienced a significant downturn.

The company went bankrupt in 1976. An English company Dunbee-Combex-Marx (DCM) acquired Schuco (or large parts of it), but it too went bankrupt in 1980. Eventually a rival German toymaker, Gama, acquired the rights in the mid 1990's. In 1996 Schuco became an independent company again, and has seen a revival of its fortunes with it producing collectible models. Many of the collectibles are exact replicas of their famous 1930-1960 tin toys.

Today the company makes Schuco model toys (mainly street vehicles) in different scales, there are old and new models and both are very beloved by collectors. The quality of the models are superior to the average toy model vehicles, therefore the unit prices are higher too.

Schuco Toys

Some of the popular Schuco toy lines are:
*Command Car
*Magico Series
*Radio Series
*Patent Series
*Piccolo Series
*Fex 1111
*Mirako Series
*Telesteering cars
*Examinco Series
*Akustico Series
*Ingenico Series
*Elektro Phanomenal
*Dally cars
*Grand Prix Racers
*Studio series
*Varianto System

*Old Timers
*Micro Racers
*Piccolo Range
*Motorcycle range
*Elektro Radiant Airplanes

History

1912: Heinrich Müller and Heinrich Schreyer form the company Schreyer & Co1921: Company becomes known as Schuco1920's: Famous Pick-Pick bird first starts production. (over 20 million made up until the 1960's) (2)1935: Schuco-Patent-Motor-Car introducedWWII: Halted production1946: Focus on American market1940-1960: Golden years of SchucoMid 1960: Slump in diecast metal and tin plate toysEarly 1970's: Started producing plastic toys1976: Went bankrupt1976: Acquired by Dunbee-Combex-Marx (DCM)1980: Dunbee-Combex-Marx (DCM) went bankrupt1980: Gama, another German toymaker, bought the Schuco name and started reproductions1993: Gama and Schuco combined with Trix1996: Schuco became a independent company again1999: Schuco sold to Simba-Dickie Group

References

(1) Schuco - Prototypes, Rarities and Vehicles from 1967-1976, (2007), 147 pages, Ulrich Schweizer, ISBN 9783000202872.
(2) Schuco Classic Tin Toys, (2003), 127 pages, Chris Knox, ISBN 9780873495455.

External links

* [http://www.schuco.de Schuco official homepage]
* [http://www.bulgariancollection.com/ www.bulgariancollection.com] - Reference site for Schuco models "made in Bulgaria"

* [http://www.tin-and-toys.de www.tin-and-toys.de] - Homepage of Ulrich Schweizer