Our loyal reader Jim holds a special place in his heart for this macho machine. When he was growing up, the Grader Tonka toy was always his favorite Tonka toy of the bunch. A car guy in the making, Jim favored the Grader because its reason for being was to make roads flat and smooth. Anyone who loves driving has to appreciate that glass-smooth curves don’t appear out of thin air – they come from awesome machines like this. The brand of this older example, spotted on an off-ramp between AZ and CA, was unclear but Jim did catch an eyeful of Detroit Diesel under the yellow sheet metal – so you know it has logged its fair share of work hours. The wood handled blade and extra chunky treads mean business.
Thanks for the memories Jim
I had all these toys when I was a kid. great sighting! this thing is so rad! Would have been cool so see it in action.
I always liked the Tonka toy dump truck best but this grader is pretty awesome in its own right. nice find.