Sturdi-Bilt toy trucks were designed, assembled and distributed by the Sturdi-Bilt Toy Company in Norway, Oregon, a lumber town near Coquille, Oregon and 18 miles south of Coos Bay, Oregon. Casting was done by both the Pacific Die Casting Company and later the Product Engineering Company (PECO), both in Portland, Oregon. Through a royalty arrangement, PECO also distributed and sold Sturdi-bilt trucks outside the four Western states. Production started in the Spring of 1950, and is estimated to have ceased in 1955 or 1956 due to the entry of lower priced toys to the market. Sturdi-Bilts are similar in size and heft to the Smith-Miller trucks produced in California, and those produced in Salem, Oregon, All American.
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Company history
Sturdi-Bilt Toy Company was founded in 1949 by Mr. Enno J. Dornath. The production facility was located along Highway 42 between Coquille and Myrtle Point, Oregon. The original factory can be found at the intersection of Highway 42 and Old Norway Road. Mr. Dornath was a self-taught fabricator and tinkerer with an extremely well developed mechanical aptitude. He is described as someone who could conceive and then produce very complicated production machinery.
As a log truck driver, Mr. Dornath hand-built a log truck for his son, Larry, as a Christmas gift in 1948. The truck was most likely constructed using a Structo cab, and he built the rest from wood. Proving popular, a second similar toy was built for the son of Mr. Dornath's best friend. This toy is still in existence.
It is speculated that the Sturdi-Bilt cab was patterned after a 1948 Dodge. Contracts were made with Pacific Die Casting Company of Portland, Oregon, and blueprints for dies produced in October 1949. A patent was also filed in October, 1949 and was issued March 25, 1952. The patent was filed by Clarence A. O'Brien and Harvey B. Jordan.
Mr. Dornath's brother, Stanley, was a traveling salesman, and he covered the Pacific Northwest taking orders. Pacific Die Casting and Product Engineering Company cast the components, which were taken back to Coquille for preparation, painting, assembly and distribution. Production was done by family members and friends. Completed toys were put into generic brown boxes and stamped with a model number and description. Orders were filled by family members, who loaded their cars and drove throughput the Northwest.
Mr. Dornath invented machines to make fabrication and assembly easier, quicker or better, including a drying oven. He is also known to have customized many of these trucks for local folks, including toys representing county highway and utility companies.
The family lived at the same location as the toy company. This site had formerly been an implement sales company before Mr. Dornath used it for toy production in 1950. Between 1952 and 1956, Mr. Dornath also started a shingle manufacturing company and later an arrow manufacturing company. According to family members, his last involvement with the toy trucks was in 1956. Company records were stored in the attic when arrow manufacturing began, and the records were destroyed by new owners of the building.
There is much speculation about the original dies. According to family members, Product Engineering made an effort to contact Mr. Dornath in 1962 requesting he retrieve the dies. He did not receive the letter, and the dies remained at PECO. A former PECO employee indicates the dies were kept until 1972 or 1973, at which time they were destroyed. During 1972, Sunne Controls purchased PECO, and it is normal for new owners to inventory assets and conduct housekeeping.
Toy Trucks
There are seven original toy trucks made by the Sturdi-Bilt Toy Company. Original Sturdi-Bilt truck castings had a "PD" stamp (for Pacific Die) inside the cab and frames, but with later castings the "PD" is obliterated and replaced by a crude "PECO" stamp. Besides the variation in casting stamps, there are considerable differences in the color, tires, wheels and mechanisms to mount the wheels. Later model log bunks also have the PECO casting stamp.