Hess Toy Trucks Keep Rolling Along

 

NOTE: This week marks the 11th anniversary of this blog. It also marks a milestone in readership with over 458,0000 views. To commemorate both events, I'm presenting an update of my very first post on Hess Toy Trucks. 

QUESTION: I want to buy a Hess toy truck for my grandson for Christmas. I saw an ad for the newest one on T.V. which said I could buy them online. Aren’t they being sold at local Hess gas stations anymore? I remember my first Hess truck. I played with it until it literally fell apart.

ANSWER: A lot has happened since you first received your first Hess truck for Christmas. In fact, a lot has happened to the company in the last seven years. The Hess Oil Company underwent some major changes, the biggest being the selling off of all of their gas stations to Marathon Petroleum, converting their retail outlets to Speedway stations. So naturally, Hess trucks haven’t been sold in gas stations for quite some time. Hess Oil has set up a special Web site to sell its latest truck.

Hess Oil's first toy truck from 1964

Starting in 1964, the Hess Oil Company wanted to thank their loyal customers by making small replicas of their trucks as a token of appreciation for their business throughout the year. The company was the first one to manufacture toy trucks that had working lights and sound. The Hess toy trucks, helicopters, police cars, airplanes, space shuttles and rescue vehicles have been popular Christmas gift traditions for over 50 years. In fact, it’s one of the longest running toy brands on the market.

Because the company produced these trucks in limited quantities, they limited each customer to two of them. That first truck sold for $1.29, and today can sell for over $2,500. Unfortunately, only the oldest Hess toy trucks have increased in value. Those produced from 1990 on in many cases are now selling for less then their original retail price. 

Hess periodically has a rare truck such as the 1995 chrome truck with helicopter and the 2002 chrome Mini, which the company gave away at a stockholder meeting. In  2006, it gave a special truck to New York Stock Exchange employees to commemorate its name change from Amerada Hess Corporation to Hess Corporation.

However, more than half the value of each truck depends on the condition of its box. If the truck, itself, is also in perfect condition, then it’s considered to be “MIB” or “Mint-in-Box.”  Most people have trucks they bought to give to their kids for Christmas. Unfortunately, their children played with the trucks and now they’re worth a fraction of the mint ones.

Plus values of these toys tend to fluctuate, depending on who’s buying them. While dealers pay the lowest amount and then double it to sell them, some collectors will pay just about anything to get the truck they want. In fact, one collector drove four miles to meet a woman in a rest area on an Interstate highway just to look at a truck she had for sale. But true value of a truck is whatever anyone is willing to pay for it.

While the first trucks were tankers, succeeding ones ran the gamut from transports to fire trucks and car carriers.  In 1966, Hess deviated from its line of trucks by producing an ocean-going tanker, based on the Hess Voyager, a patrol car in 1993, a helicopter in 2001, an SUV in 2004, and a race car in 1988, 1997, 2009, 2011, and this year, 2016. but it wasn’t until 1993 that the company offered a police car and in other years sold a helicopter carrier and monster truck. In recent years, boxes have contained one larger vehicle transporting smaller friction-motor vehicles, such as motorcycles, race cars, or cruisers. 

The 2020 Hess Ambulance and Rescue Truck is Hess Oil’s premier tribute to first responders. The heavy-duty Type I truck-style medical transport includes an oversized passenger compartment that doubles as a carrier for its Rescue partner.  Designed for high visibility, the bright, attention-grabbing red and white cab displays 70 lights. The lights flash in four different flashing patterns, each activated in tandem with a unique siren sound via the four cab-mounted buttons. A switch under the chassis activates lights in steady mode and for the first time ever, a “Mute” mode is included to keep those amazing lights flashing without the accompanying siren sounds. The sparkling chrome accents add detail. A top-mounted button at the rear of the see-through passenger compartment releases the rear door which acts as a ramp for the Rescue truck.   

The accompanying Rescue is a rugged on/off-roader pickup truck with a fold-down tailgate and a pull-back motor that can be revved-up and released . Its bright red color is complemented with sparkling chrome-look accents and another 26 lights that work in steady mode.

Later versions became more complex and expensive

Because Hess toy trucks didn’t gain mass popularity until the 1980s, those few collectors savvy enough to pack one away in its box without touching it are the only ones who can cash in on the higher values of Hess toy trucks from 1964, when they first came out, through the 1970s.

This monster truck was one of the oddest

The Hess Toy Truck is one of the longest-running toy brands on the market. However, the price has gone up considerably from that first truck selling for $1.29 in 1964 to $36.99 for this year’s Ambulance and Rescue Truck.

Remember, unless a Hess truck is an early model and still new in a pristine box, it has little value. Unfortunately, the market for Hess trucks has been flat for nearly a decade,  so selling all but the oldest trucks is a real challenge.

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