Posted by W300Joe on Monday, October 27, 2003 at 8:17AM :
In Reply to: PW pole truck posted by jimmymac392 on Saturday, October 25, 2003 at 9:34PM :
The Power Wagon auger truck was one of a set of 6 line service diecast vehicle models commonly offered to employees (and the general public) by the Bell "Pioneers" as a fund raiser. There was the Power Wagon and at least 2 each Model T and A Fords, all set up as specific service trucks with service boxes and ladders or platforms and all painted the old Bell green, and were available either mounted on a marble base with a penholder or just as a model/toy in a cardboard windowbox. I purchased my 3 trucks at my local Bell (now Verizon) business office but as I remember they weren't generally sold from the office and at that time (early '90's) inventory was almost gone with no restock likely. They were manufactured in Taiwan by The Yorkshire Company, Glen Ellyn,IL, copyright 1986, and one of mine was marked 4th edition. My understanding, after a lot of digging, was that the gentleman who'd put the tooling, manufacturing facilities, marketing and funding...had died, and his widow had no plans or resources to continue the venture. I've seen 2 or 3 pcs. of the Power Wagon model in red paint also show up on Ebay, but I have no idea who sponsored that paint scheme.
That's the history as I've heard it both first hand and from diecast collectors and dealers. It isn't a great PW model, compared to the Danbury Mint or Matchbox models it's a little crude and clumsy in proportion and detail, but the service body and boom/auger assy. make it a neat piece to add to a collection.