The History of Vintage U-Haul Toys

Having been around since 1945, U-Haul has a great deal of history behind it. One small piece of this history involves some of the little trinkets that have been produced by the company over the years. The company has produced, what we now consider, vintage U-Haul toys off and on since the 60’s.

In 1975, U-Haul debuted a new collection of vintage U-Haul Toys. This particular collection has been described as, “bright, of rugged metal construction and loaded with fun”, and was thought to be a good source of moral within the company as well as increase traffic to dealers. This set consisted of 5 vintage U-Haul toys including a a classic box truck and a “Movin’ Mover” wagon towing a cargo trailer. Many of these classic U-Haul Vintage Toys are proudly presented in Executive Vice President Stuart Shoen‘s office.

Patti DeShong has a particularly extra special collection ofvintage U-Haul toys displayed in her office. In 1988 U-Haul start its Supergraphics Program. Before the graphics were placed on our trucks, the original set of Supergraphics were designed with Patti’s wall of tiny U-Haul trucks. This collection was previously displayed at the tech center and accounts for each original graphic in the District of Columbia. Dee Freeman also has a few of these Supergraphic trucks produced for U-Haul’s 50th Anniversary. According to Patti, these vintage U-Haul toys were made,” when Mark and Joe took over the company.”

Every vintage U-haul toy is pretty rare at this point, but Rick Ruiz has one unlike any other… quite literally. Rick purchased a 1956 Tonka pickup truck produced in 1997 and modified it to be a one-of-a-kind U-Haul pickup truck.

Throughout the U-Haul headquarters you are bound to spot a vintage U-Haul toy of some sort. Be it on the 8 South where a trailer has been converted into a potted plant holder or Stuart’s more intricate collection consisting of trucks and trailers of various sizes, no piece is any more or less special than the next.