By Cathy Scheibe
Note: This feature is in the Sept. TT&C 2017 issue.
Note: This feature is in the Sept. TT&C 2017 issue.
 The Midwest/John Deere Excavator Show Truck for the 1991 National Toy Truck ‘N Construction Show held in Dyersville, Iowa. Manufactured by Ertl, there were 5,000 produced. |  The Midwest Specialized Transportation, Inc./JD 430 Industrial Crawler Companion Show Truck loaded with two 1/64 scale John Deere 430 Industrial crawlers were sold in 1997. There were 2,000 produced. |
History repeats itself. Sometime in January-February, 1990, Toy Farmer LTD bought The American Toy Trucker magazine from Dennis and Marge Lowry, changed the name to Toy Trucker & Contractor and in March published what was called on the cover, the “Premiere Issue.” There was a “Claire Sez” editorial in that issue but there wouldn’t be another editorial from Claire until the following March, 1991, when Claire announced the “1st Annual Toy and Construction Show.” He also announced that there would be a “National Toy Truck and Construction” commemorative built for the show.
By combing through this and subsequent issues it was possible to put together the progression of this first model. It was to be a licensed Midwest Specialized truck with a John Deere 490C excavator load. The minimum order from Ertl was 5,000 and Midwest took 504 units, which left Toy Trucker with 4,496 units to sell.
This was an overly ambitious number for the fledgling toy show and six years later in 1997 when the 1/16 scale John Deere 430 was offered as the truck show’s collectible, Ertl reworked 2,000 pieces of the Midwest truck from Toy Trucker’s inventory and loaded them with two 1/64 JD 430s, and this truck was advertised as a “companion piece” to the show crawler. Only the first 2,000 orders would be filled and customers were advised to send separate checks for the two offerings.
This Midwest truck proved to be overly successful, orders poured in and the company had to hire a woman to come in for a week just to return checks from the orders that couldn’t be filled. It was an instant sellout only after six years in inventory!
In 2016, the National Toy Truck ‘N Construction Show again offered a Midwest Specialized truck, this time with a Challenger load. Two companies manufactured this truck. Die-Cast Promotions and SpecCast.
The minimum order number was much less than it was in 1991—only 2,100 models. But even with this smaller order there are still about 800 models left in inventory.
These models will be split up and the Midwest Specialized truck will have the show logo removed from the bottom and be repacked in a generic DCP box with an identifying label attached. Some of these have been offered to Midwest for their promotion. They will also be available retail to Toy Trucker collectors.
The Challenger MT855E was made exclusively for this show truck. It will be reboxed in a SpecCast generic box with an identifying label attached. They will be offered retail to both Toy Farmer and Toy Trucker & Contractor subscribers. For a very short period, until all units have been reworked the original show truck is available here: 2016 SHOW TRUCK.
By combing through this and subsequent issues it was possible to put together the progression of this first model. It was to be a licensed Midwest Specialized truck with a John Deere 490C excavator load. The minimum order from Ertl was 5,000 and Midwest took 504 units, which left Toy Trucker with 4,496 units to sell.
This was an overly ambitious number for the fledgling toy show and six years later in 1997 when the 1/16 scale John Deere 430 was offered as the truck show’s collectible, Ertl reworked 2,000 pieces of the Midwest truck from Toy Trucker’s inventory and loaded them with two 1/64 JD 430s, and this truck was advertised as a “companion piece” to the show crawler. Only the first 2,000 orders would be filled and customers were advised to send separate checks for the two offerings.
This Midwest truck proved to be overly successful, orders poured in and the company had to hire a woman to come in for a week just to return checks from the orders that couldn’t be filled. It was an instant sellout only after six years in inventory!
In 2016, the National Toy Truck ‘N Construction Show again offered a Midwest Specialized truck, this time with a Challenger load. Two companies manufactured this truck. Die-Cast Promotions and SpecCast.
The minimum order number was much less than it was in 1991—only 2,100 models. But even with this smaller order there are still about 800 models left in inventory.
These models will be split up and the Midwest Specialized truck will have the show logo removed from the bottom and be repacked in a generic DCP box with an identifying label attached. Some of these have been offered to Midwest for their promotion. They will also be available retail to Toy Trucker collectors.
The Challenger MT855E was made exclusively for this show truck. It will be reboxed in a SpecCast generic box with an identifying label attached. They will be offered retail to both Toy Farmer and Toy Trucker & Contractor subscribers. For a very short period, until all units have been reworked the original show truck is available here: 2016 SHOW TRUCK.
Pictured is the Midwest Specialized Transportation in 1:64 scale produced by
Die-Cast Promotions for the 2016 National Toy Truck ‘N Construction Show.
Die-Cast Promotions for the 2016 National Toy Truck ‘N Construction Show.
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