1970-71 Hess Toy Fire Truck

Inspiration for the 1970-71 Hess Fire Truck came from the real fire engines that were stationed at the company’s Port Reading Refinery located in Perth Amboy and Woodbridge, NJ. Noted for its brilliant red color, this outstanding model featured a swiveling water cannon and had two detachable rubber hoses on one side with a ladder attached on the opposite side. On the cab it had a rotating lighting dome. Only 300,000 of these were manufactured and are considered one of the more dramatic detailed toys from the early Hess Collection. The 1971 Hess truck was the same as the 1970 toy with the only exception being the box. When Hess ran out of the boxes with the graphics, they had to improvise in order to get them out in time for the holidays, so they sent plain white boxes along with a ‘seasons greetings’ sticker that the service station attendants were to apply when they arrived for sale. Of course this anomaly has made the 1971 ‘Seasons Greeting’ plain box toy extremely rare.