Christmas Hess Trucks

Leon Hess, if you didn’t know, was the CEO of the Hess Corporation—yes, the same corporation as the gas stations you see dotting the nation’s landscape.

During the 1960s, Hess began to realize that the toys of the day weren’t very affordable for many families. Many parents struggled to afford the toys they wanted to offer their kids, and some were just too busy to actually go shopping for their Christmas gifts.

So, Hess decided to create a toy that was affordable and fun to help ensure that kids didn’t go without a toy during the holidays. Little did he know that the truck would become one of the best-selling toy brands in America.

It’s not like there weren’t cheap toys in the 1960s. There were plenty of cheap toys, but the issue with them was that it was clear that they were also cheaply made. They’d break in an instant, or they just wouldn’t do anything.

What made Leon Hess’ concept different was that it was an upscale toy at a low-scale price. Working class families loved this tradition, and quickly started to gift trucks to their children to give them a luxurious Christmas present they otherwise couldn’t afford.

It was the 1964 Hess Tanker Trailer, and it was designed to be a perfect replica of the company’s B61 Mack truck. The truck had working headlights and taillights, as well as a tanker that could actually be filled with water using a rubber hose.

Surprisingly, there was no fanfare about the Christmas Hess Truck’s reveal. The company didn’t air commercials on television or even mention it on the radio. Only a couple of newspaper clippings were used to promote it.

The hard plastic trucks were sent out with a price tag of $1.28, a very cheap price for toys of the time. Despite the lack of coverage, the truck was a hit.

Every year, Hess would roll out with another truck to add to their fleet. And, every single year would herald a new cool feature kids could enjoy. For the first decade or so, every single truck the company made was a replica of a truck the company actually used.

If you got a Hess truck model, it was extra cool because you could see real-life models driving by on city streets. The only exception to that rule was the first Hess fire truck model, which was debuted in 1970.

It didn’t take too long for kids to ask for a Christmas Hess Truck by name. By the mid-1960s, Hess rolled out with “Hess Trucks” that took the shape of oil tanker ships, fire trucks, as well as cool combination trucks.

Making a high quality toy on the cheap isn’t easy, which is another reason why Christmas Hess Trucks are so coveted. Each design takes about two years to finalize, with some of the more complex models taking as long as six years to invent.

The earlier models were made of no less than 75 individual pieces of hard plastic, wiring, and other materials. These days, it’s not uncommon to hear of Hess Toy Trucks that have as many as 300 individual parts that need to be assembled.

Once the parts are individually tested, they undergo quality assurance so that they can remain held to the highest standards. The Hess toy line actually has one of the most stringent toy testing policies out there.

Taking a cue from the truck’s design process, the box undergoes some design care too. Over the years, the Hess Truck box has had velvet lining, extra padding, a wide range of different logo designs, and more.

These days, the boxes are a bit more simple. However, that doesn’t mean that the care isn’t there; it’s just that design has become a lot more streamlined in recent years.

The story of Christmas Hess Truck toys is one that was born out of a desire to see kids happy in the holiday season and to provide parents with inexpensive gifts for kids. By bringing the joy of toy trucks to kids who didn’t always afford good presents, Leon Hess created a new holiday tradition for tons of working-class families.

It’s been decades since the first Hess Truck was found in gas stations across the nation, but in some ways, not much has changed. These days, kids still look forward to the Hess Truck unveiling—even those who are parents themselves.