Credit Colin and Glenn for uncovering this information.
A rare 1945 Christmas Al-Toy that was on eBay recently
Mr. Stub Cole, at the right, and Harold Bell, Sales Manager for Willys, at the left, seated at a table with an unnamed WGN radio announcer. On the table is an Al-Toy Jeep and on the bookcase behind Mr. Bell is another Al-Toy Jeep and a smaller model of a Jeep towing a trailer.
"About one year ago, Glenn Byron and I became involved in correspondence with Mr. and Mrs. David (Sue) Cole, part time residents here in Arizona and Michigan. The conversations revolved around the story that David Cole's father, "Stub" Cole had gone to work at Willys in the latter part of 1945 for the purpose of getting the farm implement accessories and documentation then being supplied for Jeeps out to the dealer network. He left his
family in Michigan and lived in a couple of hotels in Toledo during the time he worked at Willys.
During this time, he took home a tan Al-Toy Jeep for David's brother and at Christmas 1945, he brought two more Al-Toy Jeeps home. One was tan, like the first one, but the third Jeep, which he gave to his wife, was done differently than the others. It was silver, with a red interior and the underside was painted green. The wheels were cream colored and it had a spare tire mounted on the right rear fender. The Cole family always called this the Christmas Jeep due to its Christmas colors. As close as the family can remember, Stub left Willys in about April or May of 1946 and returned to Michigan.
Fast forward to 2011. David and Sue are trying to plot some of their family history and realized that David still had his original Al-Toy Jeep from 1945. They contacted the remaining family and learned that David's brother's tan Jeep and the "Christmas Jeep" were still in the family. With that, Sue began searching the internet for anything on Al-Toys and came up with Glenn's name. She contacted him and he replied, copying me on the correspondence. Photos of the three Jeeps were sent to both of us and we realized the "Christmas Jeep" was indeed special and we made arrangements to meet with the Cole's at their winter home in Cottonwood, AZ. Glenn and his family were on a vacation out west, to coincide with the FC Roundup here in Phoenix and we also got to meet Dave and Ann at the FC Roundup as well. We arranged to meet the Coles in Cottonwood on March 25th and look at the Al-Toys and share their findings on Willys history where their father was involved.
The photos below show the 1945 Christmas Al-Toy Jeep and a tan one in their original condition in March, 2012. We talked about the condition of all three Jeeps and possible things to do with them. The two tan Jeeps had been played with and had some pencil markings left over from nearly 70 years ago and there were a couple of items that they would like to have repaired, but wanted to leave the Jeeps as close to their original condition as possible.
The "Christmas Jeep" was indeed special. It had been cherished and not played with for most of the 70 years, but after the passing of David's mother, the Jeep went to one of the family members and it was played with and left outside, until finally put away and forgotten in a garage. Its condition when we first saw it was good with no broken parts, but was missing some paint and the steering wheel was missing from the steering column. On closer inspection, we realized this Jeep had been highly polished originally, in addition to having the interior painted red, the underside green and the wheels painted cream color. We all felt this Jeep needed to be restored to its original condition as much as possible. I volunteered to do the repair work on the other two jeeps and to undertake the restoration of the "Christmas Jeep." Of note is that all the Al-Toy promos were cast aluminum, done by Toledo Casting, dba Central Casting and Toledo Brass in Toledo, OH.
One of the things we simply weren't sure of was if this Jeep was done this way specifically for the senior Mr. Cole, or was this one of several that was done as "The Christmas Present for Willys VIP's for 1945?" We just didn't know, but Glenn and I were leaning towards this being the Willys Christmas toy. Glenn had seen a former Willys VIP's full collection of the Al-Toy Christmas presents a few years earlier, but it was missing the Christmas 1945 Jeep. An Oglesby Jeep had been substituted in its place, HMMM!
I determined that the original polishing of this Jeep was done prior to the final assembly of the hood and windshield to the body tub and the spare tire as the original rivets holding the windshield and hood in place were intact. I was able to complete the repairs on the two tan Jeeps and the restoration of the "Christmas Jeep" without taking it apart, and on May 15, 2012, the Coles came to Phoenix and we presented them with the Jeeps. They were very pleased with the results.
This isn't the end of the story. On the weekend of Sept. 7th, 2012, an Al-Toy Jeep appeared on ebay out of Cleveland, OH., that was identical to the Cole Christmas Jeep. It sold for less than $25.00 !!! Unfortunately, both Glenn and I were not aware of this jeep until the auction was over. Attempts to contact the seller have not been answered. But this Jeep helps to answer the one question we had about the Cole Jeep. It wasn't a "one off"! Photos that I was able to copy are small thumbnail, but show the same paint scheme, polished aluminum body , green underside and wheel color.
Now our quest to find the buyer of this Jeep is on and we want to explore the possibility that there are others just like these two out there and folks are unaware of the prize they have. To find two identical Jeeps 67 years after they were made in what was probably a small number of units is incredible. If any readers out there have a Jeep like this, please contact me at: colins60vette@cox.net or Glenn Byron at: glenns@tdstelme.net .
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