Buddy L International Red Baby Trucks

The International Red Baby Story

In 1922 IHC like all other farm and truck manufacturers were experiencing slower than normal sales. Their biggest competitor, Ford, had slashed prices on their Fordson Tractors and IHC immediately reacted with a significant price reduction on their McCormick-Deering tractors. In addition, they even started throwing in a plow with a tractor purchase. During this same time International’s truck plant in Springfield, OH had a large surplus of IHC truck components as trucks were not selling either. For a special promotion they began assembling 1-ton Model S trucks with these parts and painted them Harvester Red. As the trucks were being produced, they started a significant advertising campaign to their IHC dealers offering these new “Red Baby” trucks at a significant discount. These Red Baby Speed Trucks were adorned in multiple places with lettering promoting “IHC Sales & Service”, “McCormick-Deering” & “International Harvester”. The concept was for the dealers to use these trucks to visit farms and other entities making sales calls and delivering parts & supplies. Their goal was for the Red Baby to become a “symbol of service and of business”. It was a big success.

Buddy L & the Red Baby

In 1923, a year after the start of their dealer campaign Buddy L started producing a Red Baby toy truck. It was not advertised or available in any of the Buddy L marketing so it is believed it was exclusive to IHC dealers only. The truck had decaling like the real Red Baby but initially did not have the standard Buddy L radiator or floorboard decals. This tall cab doorless model continued production through 1929 and the later ones had one, or both of the Buddy L radiator and floorboard decals. In 1930 Buddy L changed their truck designs to incorporate a shorter cab with opening doors. The 1930 Red Baby came in this design too. It also included a Buddy L decal inside the driver’s side door. These 1930 or later trucks are much less common than the first style. Additionally, there is a known variation of the early Red Baby truck that are painted black. These trucks are identical to the early style production Red Baby but only have decals on the bed side that says “International Speed Truck”. We are only aware of two of these trucks that exist, and they are pictured in the gallery below. They were probably prototypes or samples.