Pamela, the Made In Chicago Museum is not affiliated with Radio Flyer. Radio Flyer is still in business and can be found frozen ride on toy at radioflyer.com. Did Radio Flyer ever market a wagon (circa 1930’s) with pictures and text “The Iron Duke”?
Robert’s biggest challenge has been reinventing the company, which he’s done by focusing exclus‐ ively on children’s toys, expanding product development and moving manufacturing abroad. Considerably, the Radio Flyer 3-in-1 EZ Fold Wagon With Canopy is the best Radio Flyer folding wagon for carrying kids. It has safety features, frozen ride on toy ensuring that your toddlers are safe and secure as you maneuver the cart. These features include a canopy protecting them against ultraviolet rays, thickly padded seats, and seatbelts. But no one remains on top forever, and when Little Tykes and Step2 introduced plastic wagons in the early 1990s, Radio Flyer faltered.
Whether you are keeping it at home or transporting it in your trunk, you won’t have difficulties finding space for it. Featuring high seat backs and padded seats to ensure comfort it can substitute for a stroller, which is not always so easy to push and doesn’t have much in the way of cargo space. More importantly, this wagon passed the ASTM F Toy Safety Standard.
In 1927, Pasin replaced the wooden body with stamped steel, taking advantage of assembly line manufacturing techniques and earning him the nickname “Little Ford”. 1500 wagons a day rolled off assembly lines even during the Great Depression. Since 2002, the company has produced plastic as well as metal-bodied wagons. In 1933, Chicago was the host of the World’s Fair, Century of Progress, and Radio Steel was asked to be a part of the celebration. Antonio Pasin took on major debt to fund the construction of a 45-foot tall wood and plaster Coaster Boy statue depicting a boy riding a Liberty Coaster wagon.
Kids propel forward by wiggling and twisting their bodies in a back and forth motion and moving the handle bars at the same time. The handle of this folding cart also has a telescoping mechanism. You can adjust its height for a comfortable maneuvering experience.
Changing the company’s name to Radio Steel & Manufacturing in 1930, Pasin also introduced his first steel wagon, called the Radio Flyer. The now classic toy was named for Pasin’s love and fascination of the radio and air flight. The high quality steel coaster wagons were a huge success and allowed Pasin to increase production while lowering the price. With affordable wagons, the slogan of the company became, “For every boy. For every girl.” Thousands of children enjoyed these classic toys.
Antonio Pasin started building wooden toy wagons in Chicago in 1917, selling them to area shops. He was working as a craftsman at the time, mostly selling phonograph cabinets, and built small wooden wagons to carry around his tools. After he received numerous requests from customers of phonograph cabinets to buy the wagons as well, he refocused his business on the wagons. His business grew until the Liberty Coaster Company, named in honour of the Statue of Liberty, was formed in 1923.