Tomte made carmodels and dolls. The cars were made in 1;43 scale (larger scale can also be found but is extremely rare and only found yet in #1 up to #4).

Tomte started production in 1958 in 1:40 scale with 4 models:

• Opel Olympia
• VW Pick-up
• MB 190 SL
• Racer

These models were made in soft rubber. It wasn't a great succes. In 1961 test were done with a new material, VINYL. The rare models I described earlier were possibly made in this year. Finally in 1963 the mass production begun. The first 12 numbers were sold in boxes. Later tomte made display-boxes in which 18 / 36 models were stocked. There are also some (uncoloured????) white tomte models. Current colours are orange, blue, red, yellow and green.

It is not known which models were made in what year nor is it known how many cars of each model was made. Same story concerning the colours. Only fact for sure is that the colour green is rare. There are models consisting of more than one colour like the Jaguar D-type (#8) or the VW Pick-up (#1). Another story is the firetruck (#4). This one was originally issued in 5 colours but later on the company decided that fire-trucks should always be red. The ones in stock were coloured red and in some cases one could tell the original colour when turning the car over.

Over a period of 15 year Tomte produced over 100 million cars, larger size included.

The following numbers were made:
 
  1. VW pick up
  2. Jeep (Willy's?)
  3. Sunbeam Alpine
  4. Firetruck
  5. MB 300 SL
  6. Renault Floride
  7. Chevy stake truck
  8. Jaguar D-type (Le Mans)
  9. MB 180 Sedan
  10. Peugeot 403 convertible
  11. MB 190 SL
  12. Ford Vedette
  13. VW 1200 police edition
  14. Chevrolet El Camino
  15. Dodge (KEW?) Truck
  16. Ford Thunderbird convertible
  17. Willy's tow truck
  18. Landrover
  19. Fordson tractor (not numbered)
  20. Lorry for tractor (not numbered)     -     20A. Milkcans
  21. Citroen DS convertible
  22. Bentley SE Cabriolet
  23. Landrover pick up
  24. Toyota 2000 GT Cabriolet
  25. Renault 16 TS
  26. Leyland dumptruck
  27. Volvo Stationwagon (break)
  28. Datsun 240Z coupe
  29. VW 1300
  30. Renault 5 (Le Car)
  31. Alfa Romeo P33 Pininfarina
  32. Renault 12 TL
  33. Locomotive
  34. Passenger carriage
  35. Coal/Cargo lorry


Apart from these models, Tomte also made larger models (approx. 1:30).

A few examples are:
  • VW Pick-up (different sizes, with or without crane, with or without passengers
  • Ford F 100 Pick-up (with or without crane)
  • Studebaker (with or without crane)
  • Firetruck large model (25 cm)
  • Fordson tractor, lorry and milkcans (all XL)
  • Racer #3 (with driver)
Several larger models were made, especially the VW's but not many. For fanatical collectors there's another story about the larger scales because several pick-ups are with silver windows or bumpers while others are not. Apart from that ALL larger models come with different coloured tires.

For collectors, the display-box is a hot item. But even hotter are the single blisters containing the 3 trains or the studebaker with crane. Also a "farmset" was made containing the 1;43 #19 tractor, the #20 lorry and the #2 Jeep.

Other collectable models are the models with the little round stickers on top. The sticker (diameter 1 cm) is half gold half black. On the black part "Tomte" is written in gold and one the gold part "furniture friendly" is written in black.

Some models have a "chrome" striping around the windshield.

Fun part is that Tomte toys can still be found at flee-markets and other sales often for reasonable prices and not only at car collector meetings.


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