Today on Fire Truck and Emergency Vehicle Friday we feature the Auburn #520 Motorcycle Cop! Amongst Auburn's most venerable toys was the Motorcycle Cop! This guy just looks cool, kinda like Marlon Brando in "The Wild One" riding on what I presume to be a Harley-Davidson, wearing his leather coat, bus driver's cap, and cool dude goggles! At 3 7/8" long, this toy was made in a larger scale than the fire engines and even the companion police car. I believe it was made to be kid friendly - big enough to hold in the hands and roll around the floor while playing cops and robbers or whatever. I know, because I had one as a child. You know, I have several so-called guides which feature Auburn, and they all fall short of the mark when chronicling these toys, none of them feature all of Auburn's vehicles and it gets frustrating trying to track down individual numbers and years of production. For example, this motorcycle was not listed at all in one of my guides and in another it was listed, but there were no photographs. But, as I grew up in the '50s I can say with fair enough certainty that this was a '50s era toy though.
There were a couple different versions of the motorcycle,a two-wheeler as shown here and a three wheeler which could easily satnd up on its own. You'll notice in the photos that a small block of wood has been placed under the frame. Normally there would have been small tabs protruding from the bottom of the frame on either side. The tabs would have served as a means to hold the motorcycle upright, but unfortunately were easily broken off. In any case it's still a nice little toy and one of American Pop Culture's little gems from the 1950s. Enjoy!
