This Nickel Plate Road Side Dump Car may be the most rare of all Marx production cars! This
is not a prototype as the body is lithographed. Interestingly, the body has the year 1939 on
it. Most of the scale cars are dated 1941 or later. Could this be an early attempt at scale
production?
Here is the bigger question. With the penchant Marx had for reusing things,
what happened to the lithograph plates for this car?
If you have one of these,
especially in a boxed set or if you know of a set it came in please let me know.
marxtin@comcast.net
Courtesy of Trip Riley
Three of these cars are now known to have surfaced, all three slightly different. To me the
one below is the most legitimate. On the eight wheel frame the production date of the frame
is compatible with the date on the lithography. I believe that this lithography was
scrapped due to poor design. The artwork seems crammed onto the side of the car. It is
certainly not a shining example of Marx artwork!