In Progress - Comming Soon!
Comprehensive Hess Toy Tryck History Main page with decriptions and photos of the program and links to individual issues with detailer descriptions and photos.
These children’s toys look simple, however, the process of creating and building them is anything but.
Hess doesn’t give too many clues into what it refers to as the “secretive process” of developing its annual toy. But we do know it usually takes two to three years to get the collectibles from the drawing board to the shelves. However, it’s taken up to six years in some cases.
The process begins with a collection of images to narrow down a possible theme. Then some initial sketches are drawn up. The top two or three of these designs are chosen and developed into 3D rotating images. Finally, handcrafted models are built, and final design decisions are made. As corporate toys go, Hess trucks have always been well ahead of their time when it comes to quality and craftsmanship. Early models comprised about 75 different pieces. Today’s models have anywhere between 200 to 300 pieces. Once the pieces are made, the toy is assembled and undergoes numerous quality tests before being packed in its box.
On a personal note: I do wish they would return to tanker or semi-trucks delivering supplies to stations, even if they aren’t HESS stations now, they could add the proper company label with Hess built in somewhere, if even just HESS-YEAR on the license plates. Although I do like the year on the plats. Chevron trucks were discontinued in 2011.
Here is a year by year list of the releases with link to detailed information about each:
1960s
1964 First release of the Hess B-Mack tanker truck.
1965 Hess Re- release of the B-Mack tanker truck.
1966 The USA made Hess Voyager oil tanker ship release is a failure so Hess Re-re- releases existing B-Mack tanker truck stock.
1967 USA made Hess Tanker with Red Velvet base.
1968 Square foot Hess Tanker. Production moved to Hong Kong.
1969 Re-release of Hess Tanker, new stock added updated box address and Hess Amerada special edition tanker.1970s
1970 Hess Fire pumper. 1971 Hess re-releases Fire Pumper and “Season’s Greetings” box shortage. 1972 Round foot Hess Tanker released. 1973 First of three years no Hess truck promotional was offered due to the U.S. oil crisis. (’75) Hess Box Trailer originally slated for release.1974 Due to fan letters, Hess re-releases existing Round foot Tanker stock and existing Fire Pumper stock.
1975 The Hess Box Trailer with 3 oil drums is released.
1976 Hess Box Trailer (a re-release according to Hess Corp.) comes with now-labeled oil drums.
1977 Hess Red foot Tanker [bottom stamped 1977].
1978 Hess Red foot Tanker re-released* [bottom stamped 1977]. *The 78’s that were released were already built and originally intended for 1979. The (’80) Training Van was originally supposed to be released but had shipping issues.
1979 Second of three years no Hess truck promotional was offered due to the U.S. oil crisis. Originally (what we know as the ’78 Tanker) was to be released.
1990s
1980 The Hess Training Van released [bottom stamped 1978]. Two plus years in non climate controlled storage resulted in leaking and yellowed glue. (‘82) “The Hess First Truck” was originally to be released but held [bottom stamped 1980].
1981 Final of three years no Hess truck promotional was offered due to the U.S. oil crisis. It’s possible the “Hess First Truck” would have been re-released this year.
1982 “The Hess First Truck” is released [bottom stamped 1980].
1983 “The Hess First Truck” is re-released [bottom stamped 1980]. It’s possible this may have been existing stock. Evidence suggests the “The Hess First Truck Bank” was to have been originally released.
1984 Hess Tanker Bank released [bottom correctly stamped 1984].
1985 “The Hess First Truck Bank” released [bottom stamped 1980].
1986 Red Hess Fire Truck released without sound. First use of dual switch (possible theory: “flashing lights” was cheaper to add than adding sound feature).
1987 White Hess Box Truck Bank released. China production introduced. Green & white color scheme introduced.
1988 Hess Truck & Racer released. Production was evenly split between China and Hong Kong.
1989 White Hess Fire Truck with sounds released. This may have been a (now white) re-release of the ’86 red fire truck design due to the implementation of the (originally held back) sound feature. All China manufactured going forward.
1990s
1990+ Pretty straight-forward annual releases onward…
1992 A “Hess First Truck” prototype reveals there was to be a re-release of the 1985, but with sounds and figures this year. Hess Trucks
...2000s
2010s
2020s