Marx 5-Piece Artillery Outfit

Marx 5-Piece Artillery Outfit: 1940, 40” long overall

In the early 1940’s the 5-piece truck set sold for .98 cents. The advertisement describes it as a “Complete truck outfit for military duty-loads of thrills right in your playroom. 

There’s a military truck, a supply car, covered car, a mounted cannon car (the cannon actually shoots toy bullets) and an ammunition car which has 12 bullets. Heavy gauge steel with khaki baked on enamel finish-40 in. long overall. Looks exactly like real army equipment. Each car has wooden wheels.”

I know there are at least two versions of this 5-Piece Artillery Set. Both sets are uncommon and difficult to find complete. The first version is described above in the advertisement, the color of the trailers and truck are khaki. The second version lacks the khaki coloring and each trailer is a different color. This much more colorful set looks more civilian than military. Another difference between the two are the use of hubcaps. The khaki version has red hubcaps, the civilian version has copper toned hubcaps. Although the advertisement does not describe all of the trailer loads, it is believed the supply car came with trench bags.