1956 Tonka Minute Maid Delivery Box Truck Restoration

The Tonkas from the 1950s have always been my favorite toys to restore, and today I finally completed this Tonka restoration project, a 1956 Tonka Minute Maid Delivery Box Van Truck. The Tonka company only manufactured this type of box truck for two years, 1955 and 1956, and it was also the first time Tonka produced a toy having a “private label” like Minute Maid. Therefore, this truck is very rare in the market, and it is even more difficult to find a suitable one to restore. The Tonka company produced a different model of these Minute Maid trucks for each year. The most significant differences are with the front bumper, grill, and headlights. In the 1955 model, the grill and bumper are made of one piece, and the headlights are metal. In the 1956 model, the grill and bumper are two separate pieces and the headlights are plastic. Another interesting difference between the two involves the box of the van. In the 1955 model, the floor of the box is made of wood, while in the 1956 model, the