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[The photo above is the building which once housed Crown Fasteners. It was here that Topper Johnny Lightnings were produced, assembled, and packaged between 1969-70. The photo (below) shows some discarded wheels in an area in back of the plant that was used for "dumping" many items when the plant closed it's doors in 1971.]
When Henry Orenstein (the president of Topper Toys) was looking for a place to assemble their new line of toy cars in 1969, he found it in my backyard. Traveling 5 hours north from Topper's home base in Elizabeth, N.J., Henry and the boys agreed to sub-contract the production of their "fastest cars in the world" to Crown Fasteners, a mere 5 minutes from my home. Crown was a division of Coats & Clark Inc. and was located in Warren, Rhode Island. The local workers there were content in manufacturing items such as metal zippers which were a staple in their operation for many years. That all changed in 1969 when "Johnny" came to town.
My friend, Ray Falcoa and I have had the pleasure of speaking to many of the people who manufactured Johnnies and look forward to hearing from anyone who has a question or is in the market to buy or sell Topper Johnny Lightnings.
ref:
http://toyaddicttom.tripod.com/Topper.htmlUsed with permission from the author
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Tom Brown and Ray Falcoa were able to acquire a small stash of vintage Topper era pieces from a former employee, enough to make about 500 copies...except for wheels. These were then made available to Tom Lowe of Playing Mantis, who then issued a very special edition of real, genuine, authentic "brand new" Topper Deuces with Playing Mantis era wheels. This special edition was not available in stores, and sold for a healthy premium through the online Collector Club.
Here's Tom Brown's (Brown/Falcoa) personal kit: