Anyone who stumbles onto Willis & Son Customs on Facebook might think it is a site for a business that customizes semitrucks. Tastefully detailed semitrucks and trailers are photographed on highways and rural roads. Viewers need to read the page’s description to learn that the photos showcase 1/64 scale toys.
The person behind the page is Anthony Martinez, 38, of Walkersville, Md. The “son” part of the page refers to his 16-year-old son, Dylan, who has been part of Anthony’s collecting and customizing hobby.
Collecting trucks naturally evolved for Anthony, who grew up working on dairy farms and playing with farm toys as a kid. At 18, he “wanted the freedom of being out of the office and on the road” and started driving truck for a living. He qualified for his license by working with a fire department. Over two decades, he has driven a variety of rigs. When he’s not driving, he enjoys collecting, customizing and photographing toy trucks.


On the road
Within a couple of years of starting to drive professionally, Anthony started seriously collecting. Often what he drove influenced his choices for collecting.
“When I really started collecting, I was pulling a tanker for filling pools, so I have a lot of tankers,” Anthony says. Though collecting buddies tease him that they are milk tankers, Anthony explains that he used the milk tankers as water tankers.
“One I customized, a Die-Cast Promotions Peterbilt 379, is close to what I drove,” Anthony says, pointing to a dark red truck with a water tanker on the frame he stretched.
He has a variety of other tankers as well, including food-grade tankers and fuel tankers, which he also hauled.
“Now I pull a walking floor and haul mulch and woodchips,” Anthony says, so he has added many walking floor trucks to his collection.
The miniature trucks are good therapy after hectic workdays driving in the heavy traffic around Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Beyond the traffic challenge, many sites he delivers to are typically on uneven ground, but the walking floor works well for unloading, he says.


On the ’Net
Altogether, Anthony has about 150 scale models, including trucks, pickups, farm toys, and rescue and highway department vehicles by Die-Cast Promotions, Ertl, GreenLight and M2 Machines. He purchased many of them through eBay on the Internet and through die-cast collector businesses. One of his favorite companies is the Mini Chrome Shop, owned by toy dealer Jimmy Rosenberger Jr.
“I buy them new or used—it depends on the price,” he says. “Over the years, I’ve dialed it down to my favorite colors—blue and orange. I also favor Peterbilt trucks.”
He adds that one group of trucks in his collection took awhile to find, but he’s managed to collect all 10 Wilkens walking floor trucks, which are Peterbilt, Kenworth and International trucks.
“I have a Safeway tanker because my grandfather worked for them as a butcher,” Anthony adds. “Another truck has Rudy Trucking on it—a local company. A lot of them (toys) have a reason why I bought them.”
He keeps his trucks in showcases and curio cabinets throughout his home—in his bedroom, family room and basement.

Vintage 1950s Wyandotte Moto-Fix wrecker truck; $140 with fabulous decorative lithographic markings. ​

Wyandotte pressed steel stake truck, 12 inches long with original box; $750. ​

Toy truck collectors search for Wyandotte trucks, but the majority of toy collectors know the name Wyandotte for its toy guns. The company’s slogan in the 1920s was “Every Boy Wants a Pop Gun,” and by 1927, Wyandotte was the world’s largest manufacturer of toy guns, holding this designation until 1950. 
In 1929 the company added toy trucks to its expanding line of toys. Wyandotte’s 12-inch-long dump truck of heavy-gauge steel proved an instant success. The truck had a bright steel radiator grille on a red cab with a green cargo bed. It was beautiful and quality built. In 1936, Wyandotte added lithographed novelty toy trucks to its line. Its circus truck with colorful lithographed designs was so beautiful that it caught the eye of artist Brad Clever, who featured it in one of his still-life paintings. 
As all toy truck collectors know, Wyandotte toy trucks were top of the line, making them highly sought after today. The toy trucks manufactured before WWII were mostly made of metal and many of them survived, albeit some are in less than mint condition. However because of their simple metal designs, Wyandotte toy trucks are easily restored.
The early Wyandotte toy trucks were assembled from pressed metal and often painted in bright colors such as red, yellow, silver and olive green. Wyandotte toy trucks were loosely based on actual vehicles, so collectors today often refer to them based on the vehicles to which they bear the closest resemblance. 
Wyandotte toy trucks manufactured after WWII are easily distinguished from pre-WWII toys by their elaborate decorative lithographic markings. Post-WWII Wyandotte toy trucks were manufactured using much thinner metal and noticeably weigh less than the pre-WWII trucks.
All Metal Products Company of Wyandotte, Mich., manufactured Wyandotte toy trucks. Founded in 1920, All Metal Products became famous for manufacturing inexpensive pressed metal toy trucks under the Wyandotte Toys brand name. Due to the millions of toys manufactured by Wyandotte, the company has been referred to as “Santa’s Downriver Workshop.” Wallace Hayden (“Remembering Wyandotte Toys,” December 07, 2008, Denver’s The News Herald) stated, “It’s a part of our history worth remembering, that millions of toys placed under Christmas trees in the 20th century were not from the North Pole, but from its Downriver branch—Wyandotte Toys.”

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Pictured is the Minneapolis-Moline 2 Star crawler for the National Toy Truck 'N Construction Show in 2004.

Top 2 Star crawler owned by Walk Keller, bottom 2 Star crawler owned by Don Kingen. All were restored by Rex Mercer in 1997, photo courtesy of Mercer, Pendleton, Ind. 

Toy Farmer Ltd. is pleased to formally announce its 8th crawler tractor for this year's National Toy Truck 'N Construction Show. The Minneapolis-Moline 2 Star crawler's history was short but fascinating. Some of the following information was included in a 1956 article taken from the Minneapolis-Moline 1910-1959 Date Book No. 2 by Alan King and sent to us by Gaylen Mohr.

This article announces a tractor, which would be "The first of a series aimed to put MM right in the middle of the government-financed construction equipment field.: The tentative name chosen for the new crawler was "Golden Kat" and was to have had a trademark that would show the head-and-shoulders of a clawing wildcat. According to the article this new "Golden Kat" would be on display in January at the 1957 ABBA Road Show in Chicago.

​Whether this "Golden Kat" would become the Minneapolis-Moline 2 Star with a name change is not certain. Gaylen also sent another article with additional information. In 1956 the company experimented making a crawler by combining a D-2 CAT undercarriage to a model 445. They gave this proto-type the serial number X253.

The next prototype was developed over MM's own undercarriage. The company went on to produce 50 2 Star crawlers in 1958. Although recent articles have stated these tractors were available in both gasoline and diesel engine models this article states that the 2 Star was available in gasoline only and had a 206K-4 engine. MM's later Motrac crawler, which was produced in 1960 and 1961, was offered and produced with both engines.

In a letter to the editor, the November 1994 issue of The MM Corresponder, B ill Scheunemann who worked at Minneapolis-Moline from 1941 to 1971 gives some first-hand information about the 2 Star. "I know for a fact that only 50 were made in...1957. None were machined in the assembly line or in the plant. Parts for all 50 were machined in the engineering dept. machine shop...in Minneapolis where I was the foreman. They were then assembled in the engineering dept." Bill includes a picture of him on what he says is the first 2 Star made.

An article by Richard Lowery of Francesville, Ind., that appeared in the April 1999 Prairie Gold Rush was sent to me by Cheryl DeLap. Richard is the owner of the 2 Star that was used for the specifications for the show tractor. He purchased the crawler in 1992 and knows it came from Kansas by way of Oklahoma. The side of the loader is stamped 2 Star 4001 so Richard believes he may have the first crawler built. The article goes on to describe features of the model and the restoration process. He, with the help of Rex Mercer from Pendleton, Ind., completed the restoration in September 1998 and took it to their local parade where there were "many nice comments on the Golden Kat." 

If is Toy Trucker & Contractor's wish to have this model on display at the National Toy Truck 'Construction Show, Aug. 20-22 in Indianapolis.

UPDATE: This Minneapolis-Moline 2-Star Crawler was the 2004 National Toy Truck 'N Construction Show model held in Indianapolis, Ind. Manufactured in 1:16 scale by SpeCast - 5,700 models were produced.