{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1240226"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1240226/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GG8911/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GG8911/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GG8911","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GG8910","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EW3894","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EW3891","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EW3892","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EW3893","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GG9249","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HT3536","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HT3540","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HT3541","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GG9250","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1240226/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1240226","accessionNumber":"B.69:1 to 5-2011","objectType":"Model car","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This clockwork toy car was manufactured by Tipp & Co., a well-known German manufacturer based in Nuremberg, in the late 1930s. It was sold with four figures made from the composite material Elastolin, which were probably produced and then supplied to Tipp by O M Hausser, another well-known German manufacturer specialising in toy soldiers. The car is made from painted tinplate, which has been folded, shaped and fitted together using a slot and tab system. The wheels have rubber tyres. The metal clockwork mechanism is visible on the underside of the car. The main spring  mechanism sits under the bonnet, and is connected  to the rear wheels by gear wheels on polished  metal axles. The mechanism is wound by a key which is inserted into a hole in the middle of the radiator grille. The front wheels can be moved left and right. The four figures are painted to represent Adolf Hitler and three members of the <i>Schutzstaffel</i> (SS) a paramilitary organisation of the German Nazi Party. They include red armbands featuring the Nazi swastika on their left arms. Hitler's right arm pivots at the shoulder, to enable him to give a Nazi salute.\n\nThe make and model of the car is the Mercedes-Benz 770 Großer Mercedes convertible, which was a luxury car first produced in 1930 and used by governments as a state vehicle. This toy version has the number plate 11A-19357, which is the same as the number plate of a full-sized version used by Hitler throughout the 1930s. \n\nTipp &amp; Co. were originally a Jewish-owned company. However, members of the Ullmann family sold the company and left Germany in the early 1930s, in the face of force, threats and pseudo-legal measures which were being used to deprive  Jewish people of their civil rights and wealth at the time. Philipp Ullmann and Arthur Katz, another member of the family, moved to Northampton and set up a new toy-manufacturing company, Mettoy, in 1933. This company became very successful in the 1950s and 1960s, and is best known for the Corgi range of die cast toy cars.\n\nAlthough the representation of Adolf Hitler in this and many other toys of the period can be seen as propaganda for the Nazi Party, it is unclear to what extent the Nazis put pressure on toy manufacturers to produce toys of this type. It is likely that these politically-based figures were manufactured to satisfy a general demand amongst the German population caused by the political climate. This toy can also be seen as an example of the close relationship that has existed between toys and games and the real world of war and conflict, in which toy soldiers and vehicles in particular are produced to mirror actual regiments and changing technology in new theatres of war.","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Tipp & Co.","id":"A39560"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":"This was produced by Tipp & Co., a German manufacturer originally owned by the Jewish  Ullmann family, who were forced to leave Germany in the early 1930s, the company being, in effect, taken over by the German government and sold in a process of 'Aryanisation', in which force, threats and pseudo-legal measures were taken to deprive Jewish people of their civil rights and wealth. This process started earlier in the area around Nuremberg, where Tipp & Co. were based, than in other areas in Germany. "}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Children & Childhood","id":"THES48980"},{"text":"Arms & Armour","id":"THES48992"},{"text":"Dolls & Toys","id":"THES48967"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"YVA","id":"THES48593"},"images":["2013GG8911","2013GG8910","2011EW3894","2011EW3891","2011EW3892","2011EW3893","2013GG9249","2015HT3536","2015HT3540","2015HT3541","2013GG9250"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"SR050","id":"THES342002"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"SR050","id":"THES342002"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"SR050","id":"THES342002"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"SR050","id":"THES342002"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"SR050","id":"THES342002"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"toy car","id":""}],[{"text":"figure","id":""}],[{"text":"figure","id":""}],[{"text":"figure","id":""}],[{"text":"figure","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"Yes-general","note":"Nazi figures and imagery/symbolism"},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Germany","id":"x28873"},"association":{"text":"manufactured","id":"x29350"},"note":"Probably manufactured in Nuremberg"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"c. 1937","earliest":"1933-01-01","latest":"1940-12-31"},"association":{"text":"manufactured","id":"x29350"},"note":"Produced by Tipp & Co. after Ullmann and Katz had left Germany in late 1932, the number plate on the model being the same as one used by Adolf Hitler throughout the 1930s."}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"23.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Figures and Car assembled","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"8.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Figures and Car assembled","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"9.3`","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Figures and Car assembled","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This object was produced and sold by Tipp & Co. in Germany in the 1930s. It was purchased by the V&A at auction in May 2011. The intervening history of the object is unknown.","historicalContext":"This object would have been sold as a toy in the 1930s, and played with as such. Although its representation of Adolf Hitler can be read as propaganda, it is unclear how much official, overt encouragement on the part of the German government for the manufacture of these politically-based figures existed at the time. It is likely that toys such as this were produced to satisfy a general demand amongst the German population caused by the political climate.","briefDescription":"Clockwork car, Adolf Hitler's Mercedes limousine, painted tinplate and rubber, with four painted plastic figures of Hitler and German soldiers, Tipp & Co., German, c 1937.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Mass produced","id":"THES48863"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Adolf Hitler","id":"N1953"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["B.69:1-2011","B.69:2-2011","B.69:3-2011","B.69:4-2011","B.69:5-2011"],"accessionNumberNum":"69","accessionNumberPrefix":"B","accessionYear":2011,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","car","driver","soldier - navigator","soldier - commander","adolf hitler figure"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-05","recordCreationDate":"2011-08-16","availableToBook":false}}