Collecting Studebaker Toys and Memorabilia

Along with full sized Studebakers I have collected Studebaker toys, literature and memorabilia for quite a few years now. My first piece was a 1951 Studebaker after shave bottle made by Avon. I received this as a Christmas gift when I was still a young kid but had already shown the interest in Studebakers. My father worked with a man who had this so he got it for me as a gift. Little did he know what he would start.

When I began searching out and collecting Studebaker toys and memorabilia on my own I had no idea how much stuff there was out there. I’ve found a lot of old toys and currently have over 500 different items. The memorabilia is almost endless with dealership items and give-a-ways from a by gone era.

One of the more unusual items I’ve found was Jell-O Wheels. A give-a-way item in packages of Jell-O starting in 1961 and only available in Canadian packaging the colorful disks are 1 3/8" in diameter and cover automotive history form the beginning til the time they were made. There were 200 different wheels in all, each with a different picture of a car. Each decade of manufacture has a different colored disk and they are numbered so you could see easily if you were missing a certain vehicle. All the major and quite a few minor manufacturers are depicted and Studebaker shows up seven times throughout the run.

The Studebakers available are #38 a 1907 Coupe, #65 a 1915 Touring Car, #96 a 1927 Rumble Seat Coupe, # 139 a 1947 Commander Starlight Coupe, #151 a 1950 Commander Sedan, #157 a 1953 Commander Starliner and #183 a 1960 Lark Convertible.

The artwork on the Wheels is quite good with drawings being used instead of photos. The Wheels themselves are made of colored plastic with heavy paper inserts. The back of the Wheels are marked "Jell-O Brand Desserts" in the center and "Save All 200 Picture Wheels" around the edge in both French and English. The plastic side is molded to look like a wheel with a tire.

I also have seen other series of Jell-O Wheels that depict animals and aircraft. They are generally quite inexpensive to buy and make an interesting addition to your collection.