In the era of the station wagon, Radio Steel began producing its Radio Rancher Convertible, a high-capacity wagon with removable steel stake sides. Beginning in 1957, the company branched out, for the first time making garden carts. These were not toys, but metal carts designed to haul yard waste, perhaps a shrewd line extension in view of the growth of suburbia and suburban gardens.
These were meant for putting on a shelf more than playing with. Over the past 20 years, Radio Flyer has donated more than 15,000 fan-favorite wagons to Starlight, who distribute the wagons to children’s hospitals, helping bring a little light to patient transport. You get a wagon that carries kids and cargo and an easy-to-push stroller. Stroller frozen ride on toy wagons are easily identified at a glance because of the difference in handles. Where most wagons have a single bar handle attached to the front axle, the handle on stroller wagons is a broad push bar that is attached to the rear of the frame. Stroller wagons have highly agile steering because the front wheels are mounted on casters.
“As a company at the time, we weren’t talking to consumers as much as we should,” says Robert. “We weren’t asking moms what they wanted in products.” So the popularity of these plastic wagons caught them off guard. Even in the depths of the downturn, the company sold around 1,500 wagons a day. More important than the longevity of the souvenirs themselves, though, Pasin had indeed ensured the lasting popularity of his full-size product. The classic red frozen ride on toy became one of the great American toy brands of the 20th century, and perhaps even more impressively, the company behind it remained independently and family owned every step of the way.
Its real rubber air tires are made for rolling on any type of terrain, and its extra long handle is made to fold underneath the body of the wagon for convenient storage when not in use. These wagons are a departure from the classic all-steel bodied wagons Radio Flyer made famous. Instead of steel bodies that sit up high, plastic wagon bodies sit down low. Instead of the flat floor you find on a metal wagon, you get molded-in seats, deep footwells and high seat backs for kids’ riding comfort. Three-in-one plastic wagons quickly and easily convert from two-passenger face-to-face seating to fold-down bench seating to cargo mode.
But when Antonio Pasin—inventor of the Radio Flyer—decided to invest $30,000 into a coaster wagon exhibit for the 1933 World’s Fair, he considered it the riskiest make-or-break moment of his life. The Hero Wagon was introduced as part of Radio Flyer’s 20-year partnership with Starlight Children’s Foundation, which over the years has helped Radio Flyer distribute more than 15,000 wagons to hospitals nationwide. For generations of American children, the Radio Flyer “Little Red Wagon” has been a classic toy.
With the war over, materials like steel were plentiful again, and the classic steel wagon shape was back in production. Because steel was needed for the war effort, the Radio Flyer wagons of the World War II era were made of wood. The company redesigned the wheel bearings to be smooth and quiet during this period. A 45-foot wood and plaster statue of a child riding one of his wagons and set up a booth at its base, where he sold mini Radio Flyer replicas to fair-goers for 25 cents each.
The founder of the Radio Flyer® Wagon company, Antonio Pasin, was born in Venice. His family helped pay for his journey, and soon he was living in Chicago. He was a woodworker by trade, but had a difficult time finding work in that field. Eventually, after worker odd jobs, he saved up enough frozen ride on toy money to purchase his own equipment and began making wooden wagons in his basement. During the day, he walked the streets of Chicago peddling his samples. Pasin worked tirelessly and alone until 1923, when his wagon business had picked up enough that he was able to hire helpers.
By some estimates, Pasin’s sales team sold more than 120,000 miniature coaster wagons by the time the fair concluded in 1934. Many were red, like the one in our collection, but blue and green were also available, among others. Considering the volume of the souvenirs produced, many of these special 1933 mini Radio Flyers are still in circulation. But as evidenced by the condition of our artifact, time can take its toll on the rubber wheels and paint job.
Since 2002, the company has produced plastic as well as metal-bodied wagons. The Hero Wagon redesign came about largely because the two organizations began to hear how hospital staff were customizing the wagons themselves to fit their needs, says Pasin. So Radio Flyer assembled a team of designers, researchers, and engineers to visit children’s hospitals and conduct interviews with nurses and families to learn firsthand about the user experience. These in-person customer discovery sessions were crucial to the product’s eventual design, Pasin notes. Before purchasing a wagon, consider its size and structure and what you’ll be using it for.