Buddy L

Buddy L (or Buddy "L" or Buddy-L) is an American toy brand and company founded in 1920 as the Buddy L Toy Company in East Moline, Illinois, by Fred Lundahl.

Buddy "L" toys were originally manufactured by the Moline Pressed Steel Company, started by Fred A. Lundahl in 1910. The company originally manufactured automobile fenders and other stamped auto body parts for the automobile industry. The company primarily supplied parts for the McCormack-Deering line of farm implements and the International Harvester Company for its trucks. Moline Pressed Steel did not begin manufacturing toys until 1921. Mr. Lundhal wanted to make something new, different, and durable for his son Arthur. He designed and produced an all-steel miniature truck, reportedly a model of an International Harvester truck made from 18- and 20-gauge steel which had been discarded to the company's scrap pile.

Buddy L made such products as toy cars, dump trucks, delivery vans, fire engines, construction equipment, and trains. Fred Lundahl used to manufacture for International Harvester trucks. He started by making a toy dump truck out of steel scraps for his son Buddy. Soon after, he started selling Buddy L "toys for boys", made of pressed steel. Many were large enough for a child to straddle, propelling himself with his feet. Others were pull toys. A pioneer in the steel-toy field, Lundahl persuaded Marshall Field's and F. A. O. Schwarz to carry his line. He did very well until the Depression, then sold the company.

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