The Good Old Days

"I had an idea and went for it," CEO David R. Johnston remarked. "I feel our society is changing so rapidly that is only natural to want things that remind us of our past. You can even see this in our automotive industry with the new retro designs."

Johnston has a master's degree in fine art. A fruit and poultry producer in central California, this entrepreneur collects memorabilia from the era and restores old cars and motorcycles. He founded the company in 1998.

Starting with a Classic Picnic Cooler like the ones made in the 50s, he later produced children's pedal vehicles and proceeded to a full-size Coca-Cola Machine. His goal was to make new products identical to the old, while adhering to today's safety standards, an endeavor that met with success.

He described the plastic pedal cars from the 60s as "throw-away" toys. "With the metal pedal cars, the classic designs, a parent or grandparent could give a child something that wouldn't be thrown out in six months. I felt most parents would keep these toys, and perhaps later, pass them down to the next generation."

These vehicles are metal, so tooling is expensive. "It fits more in 'Mom and Pop' specialty stores than the big chain operations. For these reasons, I feel competition has been low."

Storeowners need space to stock these items. "Since we supply so many small stores, and since our products are large, we carry a tremendous inventory and drop ship," Johnston explained. "We encourage our retailers to advertise the fact that we can ship anywhere, directly to the end user's door."

Their bestseller is the Deluxe Fire Truck, an authentic chrome design with a flashing red light, giving the customer the most value for its $237 price tag. The Pedal Car Sedan replicas, featuring a Taxi and a design called Pretty in Pink, bring back memories of a treasured past.

He said they never have a show where fewer than a dozen people come up and tell them they had one of their vehicles as a child. "Most say it was their favorite toy. Kids want to dream about being adults. Having their own car is a natural attraction."

Johnston told friends in Korea that although that country has a longer history than the United States, out of its 5,000 years, 4,850 were passed in relatively the same way. "But the last 100 plus years everything has changed and changed so fast. It seems that every 10 years we are in a different world. We want to relive the years. They went by too fast."

His future plans are to diversify and find products like their Coke Machine. He wants to offer more than children's toys.

What follows is information on several American Retro products.