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The Ertl Toy Company

With the slogan "Just like the real thing, only smaller", the Ertl Toy Company got its start manufacturing toy replicas of farm machinery in 1945. (Wikipedia.org) Fred Ertl Sr. started the company in the basement of his house and young Fred Ertl Sr. would start a career that would last a lifetime. It was Fred Jr's business savvy and leadership that truly propelled the Ertl Toy Company into the forefront of the toys market. He had success with early licensing attempts and international market expansion. He is also credited for a shift in the toy industry to higher safety standards, later founding the TMA Safety Standards Committee. In 2000, he was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame alongside Milton Bradley and Ruth and Elliot Handler (Toy-Tia.org) By the 1970s, Ertl had expanded their product line to include a variety of toys including tape recorders, diecast cars, and plastic model kits. Through Fred Jr's innovative leadership and dedication to detail and safety, the Ertl Company remained a viable competitor in the toy market.

Racing Champions

RC2 Racing Champions was founded in 1989 with the goal of creating accurate and affordable diecast replicas. They became a leader in NASCAR diecast cars and sold their replicas in over 20,000 North American retail stores. In 1999, the Racing Champions Corporation acquired the Ertl Company and with it, a broader share of the collectibles and toy market. The new merger was recognized by a new corporate name, Racing Champions Ertl. Later, Racing Champions Etrl went on to acquire other brands such as Learning Curve International, Inc and then changed names one last time to the RC2 Corporation. (RC2 Corp)

Brands

What does this mean for the hardcore diecast muscle car fanatics out there? They have been a long running player in the muscle car replica segment. Currently, they manufacture cars under the American Muscle and Johnny Lightning brands with several different American Muscle edition cars. For the detail obsessed, the top of the line Authentics brand has been a favorite. These models feature over 200 individual parts per car. For more information on these ERTL / RC2 brands, check out the links below.

Recently the Ertl American Muscle brand line was purchased by the former operators of the model division and renamed AutoWorld Round 2.

References: RC2 Corp | Wikipedia