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| Square cab truck |
Loosely based on a Ford cargo truck project from the early '60s, the E-55 (dubbed the new Army 2½ ton truck) was somewhat of a short-lived vehicle due mostly to the additional materials and manufacturing costs of its complex design. It was also said to have suffered lackluster sales... which is rather hard to believe. Processed Plastic began producing this impressive truck in 1965. It was available individually bagged with a TimMee Toys header card or with the The Toy House header card, which was a Minnesota based company that repackaged toys from other companies. Processed Plastic included the truck as part of the #198 US Mobile Combat Unit bagged set, which included the truck, elevating cannon, soldiers and an American flag. It was also released under the B-Line Toys name as the #1198K United States Mobile Combat Unit. This set included both World War II and Korean Era Soldiers, plus a field or elevating cannon.
This cabover truck is a two piece design that features a detailed interior that includes seats, dash and a turnable steering wheel. The removable canopy top is loosely fastened to the truck frame using four pegs and is almost identical in design to the one used on the M35 cargo truck. The main difference being the two corner cut-outs on the front of the canopy. Exterior features included side-mounted fuel tanks, trailer hitch, a front-mounted embossed star, and registration number stickers applied to both doors.
The first production run of this truck included several unique features that set it apart from future production runs. This would include rubber wheels (later replaced with plastic wheels), two 19855 registration number stickers (exclusive to this vehicle) that were replaced by the larger, more familiar 3107245 stickers, and finally a star sticker with an olive drab background that was applied over the embossed star. The sticker was later omitted.
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| Square cab chassis sections |
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| Square cab interior |
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| Canopy cut-outs |
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| Elevating cannon accessory |
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| Original registration number sticker |
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| Rare grille sticker |
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| #1198K B-Line Toys header card |
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| #198 TimMee header card |
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| #1981 header card |
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| Rare Toy House header card |
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| 1965 Department store sales sheet |
Quick Facts
• Manufacturer: Processed Plastic Co.
• Item number: E-55
• Production: 1965 - 1973
• Dimensions: 7½" L x 2½" W x 3½" H
• Scale: 1/35
• Colors: olive drab, army green
• Stickers: white star, registration #19855 or 31072545
12 comments:
Wow. Any chance this could be re-issued?
A reissue for the square cab truck is highly unlikely unless someone happens to stumble upon the tooling.
..it is indeed a cool design: would no doubt sell if re-issued via old or new mold....
Would you be able to take a deuce and a half canopy and convert it to fit this truck by
Cutting out the corners?
I just saw one of these trucks sell on eBay for $51.00 USD with another $8.00 for shipping. 60 bucks for a plastic truck! It did not include any troops in cannon.
I wonder if J.Loyd will reproduce it?
Highly unlikely. Plans to reissue the deuce have been in the works for years but nothing has materialized...yet. So the chances of seeing the square cab, which is more complex in design, are not good.
Recently picked this up for 80$ end price including shipping, with the anti-aircraft cannon. Do you think that was a fair price?
If the condition was really good then I'd say yes.
Finally just got my first square cab truck! It arrives on the 19th, hoping for more soon!
Hello, Mary here, I’m here to tell you I’m ready to start offering stuff for items.
timmeearmy@gmail.com
Great!
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