The Examico is Schuco's all-time favorite, with its 3-speed and reverse on-dash working shifter mechanism. A marvel of stamped sheet metal and cam work, the car can be wound and run on any of the gears. Produced before and after WW2, the car is loosely patterned after the BMW 328 sports car.

Many colors exist, and reproductions were made during the 1990's in China by the "new" Schuco.

The real thing is all what I am interested in, so you will not find one of those Chinese ersatz here.

The shifter mechanism on the Examico dash. It works!

The Akustico was an Examico fitted with a horn in the center of its steering wheel. There were two motors to wind up!

In the mid-1950s, Schuco introduced a more modern version of the Examico called "II"

The same mechanism applied on a "ponton" body inspired by late 1940s American cars.

It is much harder to find than the very common Examico.

Also in the 1950s was issued the "Radio", fitted with two windup clockworks, one for a music box of Swiss manufacturing. This was available with many songs, the American issues fitted with "My Merry Oldsmobile" and the likes.

Another "Radio", another color, another song... a delighful toy that must have made many children very happy. The quality of construction is simply exceptional, this toy being built like a Mercedes car...

The Tacho-Examico was a Radio car fitted with a real tachometer that worked with the speed of the motor. A lever put the car in gear and the tach's needle showed the engine speed! These are a bit more difficult to find.

The "Kommando 2000" was named "Command Car" for the American market. Its complex mechanism was voice actuated, or more exactly, used blowing from the child's lips. It also was fitted with a cute dummy engine that the child could inspect by lifting the two-part hinged hood. Produced from 1937 through 1966, and now reproduced in China. This is of course the real thing. Prewar models have metal wheels, postwar have plastic wheels and are marked "US Zone" under their chassis.