Radio Flyer’s EZ Fold Wagon is designed as a full-sized wagon for two kids that folds compactly. With an easy one-hand fold, you can take or store the wagon anywhere. A vintage classic red Radio Flyer with some rust and peeling paint recently sold for $75 on eBay. It had all parts and was functional, but it needed some cosmetic attention to restore it to its original beauty. As the Baby Boomers became “wagon aged,” Radio Flyer launched some new designs to appeal to this generation. With the war over, materials like steel were plentiful again, and the classic steel wagon shape was back in production.
Radio Flyer’s corporate headquarters is, remarkably, still essentially in the same location today—although all manufacturing has unsurprisingly moved to China. It also can’t be overstated how much I absolutely love the “no drop” technology razor ride ons of the pull handle that keeps it upright and makes it so the pull handle never touches the ground. Even if you simply drop the pull handle without warning, it just springs back up, out of the way and ready to grab if you need it.
Working in Chicago as a manual laborer, Pasin bought used woodworking equipment and set up shop in a rented room. Building little red wagons at night and peddling them during the day, he saved radio flyer wagon enough money to found the Liberty Coaster Company in 1923, naming it after the statue he had admired in New York Harbor. In 1930, he began mass-producing the toys out of stamped metal.
In partnership with Enesco, it produced a series of Christmas ornaments featuring teddy bears and other animals seated in Radio Flyer wagons. It made Radio Flyer train cars, key chains, and refrigerator magnets, and in partnership with Danbury Mint, it produced miniature wagons to go with that company’s line of collectible porcelain dolls. Radio Flyer also worked with Mattel, one of the two largest American toy companies, licensing its name on the popular Hot Wheels brand of toy cars to make what appeared to be a souped-up race car-type wagon. Other licensed products included a toy Radio Flyer wagon that held a stuffed toy of the beloved Curious George monkey, and another similar toy with a Gund brand stuffed bear. Radio Flyer, Inc., maker of the famous and beloved Little Red Wagon™ is the world’s leading producer of wagons, tricycles, pre-school scooters and other ride-ons.
As of next year, the company will have been around a full century, with roots stretching back to the early 1900s when the future founder of the company, Antonio Pasin, arrived in America. The red test bike, an aluminum-framed M880 with a cloth front basket and a water bottle holder, is on the large side, and gives off an air of solidity. The styling is low-slung and retro, perhaps suggesting a 1930s motorcycle.
The classic red Radio Flyer wagon had already been in use in hospitals for more than 20 years. But this year, the company will launch a patented, upgraded version specifically designed for ferrying sick kids. 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. Below the Coaster Boy exhibit Pasin sold miniatures for 25 cents. During World War II, steel was essential war material; from 1942–1945, the company shifted production to portable five gallon Blitz cans for the US Army.
Soon, the Liberty Coaster MFG Co. was also producing tricycles, scooters and other kid vehicles—a tiny fraction of which have stood the test of time. Now that our kiddos are older and we’ve transitioned to “sports parents”, the stroller wagon is the perfect fit for our family. It can still go from farmer’s markets and park dates with us, but it can also hold a ton of gear, and then become a bench seat when we get there.