As noted in earlier postings, Art Anderson did a great service to those of us who collect and drive real Bantam cars and trucks when he adapted the Ertl Coca-Cola Bantam Panel Truck die-cast bank/toy for use by Coca-Cola in 2004. In his posting he said he was the one who brought the model to the retail market in 2004. However, development of the Ertl toy was a joint effort between myself and the Ertl team in 1996. Ertl wanted to create models for NAPA Auto Parts but needed to find an actual Bantam to measure. Two designers met me in Des Moines and we drove to the home of Mort Staggs, who owned a nicely restored 1938 Bantam Pickup. It was a cold and misty winter day when they took photographs and measurements. Several months later they sent photos of the prototype pickup, panel truck and roadster-pickup models to me. I had them make 11 corrections to the models, and then they went into production. The first vehicle completed was a pickup painted to exactly match Mort's truck, which they gave to him as a gift. The first model to be put on the retail market was the panel truck in 1998, followed by the pickup, and eventually the roadster-pickup. Retail versions were sold by JC Penney, Disney, Coca-Cola, NAPA, John Deere, Kroger's, and dozens of other companies. I documented the entire project from start to finish with photographs and wrote the story for the American Austin Bantam Club News.
