Hallmark Kiddie Cars

One thing about collectors is they love collecting so much they think everyone should have a collection of something. I have spent my entire life starting collections for those I care about. Heck, I even started my boss on a collection of Christmas ornaments! No one is safe from the collector!

Hallmark Corporation has been around since 1910 when J.C. Hall went door to door selling postcards he had made. He was joined by his brother Rollie shortly after and they started Hall Brothers; a business of making postcards and then later greeting cards and envelopes. They had an insight to customer needs and wants which propelled them into new and changing services and products. Hall Brothers changed their business name to Hallmark in 1954.

In 1992, Hallmark manufactured a series of five die cast replicas of the old, well loved pedal cars and planes of the earlier 20Th century. They called them Kiddie Car Classics. These first five (5)  led to a second series and so on. They had movable foot pedals and wheels. In 2001, the last eight (8) cars were issued and all current production cars were retired. Many of these are limited edition or numbered edition replicas. Some of these replicas had battery operated lights that bring another touch of reality to them. Hallmark included a sub category of die cast toys called Side Walk Cruisers which were of  2, 3, and 4 wheel mobile toys and wagons.  They also manufactured nostalgic buildings, signs and gas pumps to enhance the display look of these replicas.

Anyway, my husband likes old cars (as do lots of guys) so I thought he would like having a collection of these Hallmark Kiddie Cars.
I was wrong! He never quite got into them. I had much more fun buying them for him than he ever had owning them! I had several that I had purchased and had not given my husband yet when I abandoned the attempt to make him a collector of Kiddie Cars...... He likes collecting the real thing!