Maytag Racer
The Maytag Toy Racer
One of the most highly prized Maytag collectibles is the Maytag Toy Racer. Collectors now
know there were 498 toy racers which the Maytag Company made between 1934 and 1941 are the
only toy racers associated with Maytag. Toy racers, however, appear to have been powered
by with the Maytag Multi-Motor since the early days of Multi-Motor washer production. A
1929 biographical sketch of Fred Maytag, II, indicated that as a teenager he had become
the sensation of Newton with his homemade toy racer powered by an early Multi-Motor.
Maytag advertisements published in the early twenties mention that a company had been
organized in the west to manufacture Multi-Motor powered racers. However it was not until
after the introduction of the model 92 Multi-Motor that toy racers became a widespread
phenomenon. Several dealers in the late twenties placed model 92 washers on wagons and
used the Multi-Motor to power these wagons in local parades.
Service managers for the local dealers were soon making small Multi-Motor powered cars for
their children. Mechanically adept teenagers also found the Maytag Multi-Motor useful as a
power source for their home built go-carts. With the development of rural electrification,
local dealers exchanged electrical motors for Multi-Motors as electricity was installed in
rural communities. Many such dealers found encouraging the construction of toy racers by
local teenagers to be a convenient method of disposing of their surplus Multi-Motors and
advertising their products. In Communities where a significant number of these home made
racers were constructed, the dealer would often join with the local newspaper in
sponsoring parades and races for toy racers using Maytag Multi-Motors. Store owners would
often provide decals for these racers and encourage their use in advertising the local
Maytag dealership. These home made racers were often given names such as "Washing
Machine Flyer" or "Gas Driven Tub".
By 1931 Regional Maytag distributors were bringing national attention to these Maytag toy
racers. In that year a Fox Movietone News short showed fifty or so Maytag powered racers
racing and parading in Salt Lake City's Liberty Park.
Questions soon arose as to whether these toy racers were automobiles requiring license or
toys which did not require plates. In Utah, teenagers demanding license plates for their
toy racers were turned down by Secretary of State Milton H. Welling. Licenses were also
denied in Tennessee. However, Maytag Multi-Motor racers were licensed in Texas and
California.
While the unnamed firm organized in the 1920's to make Maytag powered toy racers may have
made a few small cars, the Winston Corporation, of Joliet, Illinois, appears to have been
the first large scale manufacturer of Maytag powered toy racers. In 1932 it began
manufacturing "Winston Racers" which where sold to Maytag dealers and carnival
rides as well as to individuals. In early 1933 a group of dealers in Virginia and west
Virginia sponsored a series of races using six Winston Racers. These races, which were
held in various communities, were used to promote the local dealership and regularly drew
audiences between four and five thousand. These racers were geared to achieve a high speed
of around twenty miles an hour.
Winston Racers became the center of attraction at the carnival rides in the Chicago
Century of Progress Fair in 1933. They were far more stylish than most of the home made
racers and dealers soon found they could be put to effective use in promotions. A local
salesmen would often get children to distribute his leaflets in turn for rides in his toy
racer. Some gave rides in return for children obtaining a washer demonstration in a
local home. Others held contests in which a Winston Racer would be given away to the child
who obtained the most points based upon demonstrations and sales. The
Maytag News promoted the Winston Racer as an ideal marketing tool for dealers and
salesmen.
By early 1934, dealers could also purchase a Multi-Motor powered "toy truck"
from the Grimes Manufacturing Company of Urbana, Ohio. Although the Grimes truck did not
receive the same promotional space as the Winston Racer in dealer publications, several
were sold to dealers in states immediately surrounding Ohio.
Although it is not known whether they manufactured toy racers for sale to the public, the
Quick Tool and Manufacturing Co. of Wichita, Kansas, produced a special Multi-Motor
powered toy racer for "Speed" Bradford, a well known race car and stunt driver,
who used the racer in promotional appearances for dealers in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma
in 1934. A promotional stunt, sponsored by Emerson Dole's Wichita Maytag Co. and the
Wichita Beacon where "Speed" Bradford and Miss Betty Lou Mason would drive a two
person Multi-Motor powered "Quick-car" all the way across the United States
apparently was dropped after they were unable to come up with additional funding from
dealers outside the region.
In November of 1934 Maytag be an selling their toy racer to dealers for promotional
purposes. Maytag Toy Racer's coexisted with the Winston Racers and Grimes Trucks in
campaigns encouraging children to arrange for demonstrations in homes in their
communities. Many of these Maytag Toy Racers were given away in local contests. Others
were retained by regional managers or local dealers for use in parades or to give rides in
payment for children distributing their sales literature. Quite a few were purchased as
gifts for children. Maytag also sold toy racers to carnival rides such as the Grove City
Amusement Park, Lancaster, Pennsylvania and to the Texas Centennial Exposition. In
addition to providing carnival rides, one or two Maytag Toy Racers at the Centennial
Exposition Maytag Toy Racers were attached to trailers and used as press vehicles.
The Maytag Toy Racers built between November, 1934, and December, 1937, were powered by
the single cylinder Multi-Motor. However, beginning with serial number 934 the single
cylinder Multi-Motor was replaced by the new twin cylinder Multi-Motor.
In California, Craft's Twenty Big Shows, which toured the carnival circuit on the west
coast manufactured their own Maytag Multi-Motor racers for use in their carnival rides.
Some Craft racers were also shipped to Belgium for use in European carnival rides in
1935.14 By 1937 one or two other carnival companies were utilizing Maytag Multi-Motors to
power their own carnival racers. Unfortunately these carnival rides have not yet been
identified.
Maytag's production of Toy racers was halted at the end of 1941 when it became clear that
the company would have to prepare for war time production. The company had manufactured
nearly five hundred toy racers which had shown the power of Maytag Multi-Motors and helped
convince the public of the quality of Maytag washers. Around thirty five Maytag Toy Racers
have found their way into collections across the United States. However, I have not yet
heard of any collectors who have found any of the other toy racers utilizing Maytag
Multi-Motors.
Orville R. Butler
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