The Hess Truck is here — in its 60th year: How the beloved toy turned into a collector’s craze

They’re in it for the long haul.

John Howard will never forget his first Hess tanker truck gifted by his grandfather many Christmases ago — a green, yellow, red and white 1968 model with a fuel hose and working lights.

The oil company had only just begun selling its now-iconic holiday toy in 1964 — and Howard, 67, who grew up in Essex County, NJ, was a lucky tween who enjoyed one of the originals.

As an adult, one of the 1969 trucks caught his eye — nearly identical to his own, except for a difference in the packaging, reflecting a corporate relocation from Perth Amboy to Woodbridge.

He’s now 35 years deep into collecting the seasonal favorite that has delighted young tristaters for generations.

Today, that ’69 model is worth thousands on the toy circuit for the tweak on its box.

“That one will still sell from $2,000 to $4,000, contingent on its condition,” Howard, who now lives in Cape May, told The Post, adding that his first truck is another hot collector commodity, currently on sale for $1,150.

Collecting playthings isn’t new — rare Lego sets, for example, can earn serious traders hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But as the Hess truck brand celebrates its landmark 60th anniversary with a splashy holiday commercial, the skyrocketing value of the green guzzlers can be attributed to one simple thing — nostalgia, said Justin Mayer, who oversees the production as the truck’s general manager.

“That’s the key here — tradition and the loving nature of this,” Mayer told The Post.

“It’s about the person who got up on a cold Thanksgiving morning to stand in line before the turkey was put in the oven to get one before it sold out,” he offered. “It creates a bond between children and their family that gets passed on.”

Getting on the road

The truck came about thanks to the late Leon Hess, an Asbury Park native who grew up during the Great Depression. He was the founder of the company, which began as a door-to-door oil delivery outfit. He later purchased the New York Jets, which is why the team has the same color scheme as the gas corporation.

Hess wanted to offer customers an affordable toy — the first one was $1.30, or about $13.15 today — so that parents could put something under the tree for their children to unwrap Christmas morning no matter their financial status, Mayer explained.

Since the original 1964 model, now worth over $3,000, the sky has been the limit for six decades as the early gas trucks morphed into creative aerospace, police, fire and rescue concepts. There were two exceptions in 1973 and 1979 when gas shortages kept the truck off shelves those years.

The 60th rendition is a fire truck with a companion motorcycle and quick-response vehicle on sale for $45.99. Howard said the annual anticipation of what each new model will be is half the fun of collecting.

Making a Christmas toy so desirable year after year — Mayer said a million are produced and sell out every year — and selecting a theme is anything but child’s play.

“It’s a very fine balancing act with a long lead time. We’re working almost two years out on a new product. We already know what 2026 will be,” the toy boss said.

A space shuttle released in 1999 took six years of dedicated research and development to bring to market, Mayer said, adding that other concepts might “jump the line” ahead of planned trucks, and sometimes shelved ideas will get a second chance.

“We also want to make sure we balance what is new and different with what a collector would like to see, which is very traditional.”

Fueling the market

The fan base, young and old, has religiously demonstrated a passion for Hess trucks since engines first revved in 1964.

Mayer said that 10 years ago when Hess sold its gas stations to Speedway, customers were more worried about the Christmas tradition’s future than where they would be pumping their gas.

“There was such a concern over the truck that we had to issue a second press release that day just to make sure that people were reassured that it would continue,” he said. Last year, Chevron acquired Hess — and it was again made clear that the trucks would not be tampered with.

Before sales moved exclusively online in recent years, diehards showed their affection in person at the pumps. Hess-teria would start on Thanksgiving morning when they first went on sale.

Howard recalled a wild Turkey Day morning off New Jersey’s Route 46 in Rockaway, circa 1994. That year’s model, a fire truck, was initially designed and ultimately retained the look of a tow truck.

However, bigwigs at Hess feared it would send a wrong message about their gas quality, according to Mayer. The model was quickly reworked into a peculiar hybrid rescue vehicle.

Howard said the change came too late, though, as word had gotten around to toy shows and rabid collectors. Its interesting lore suddenly shot up the product’s value ahead of the traditional Thanksgiving release.

“The line became so long that people began parking erratically along Route 46, and the police had to come,” Howard said. “The line began at 5:30 in the morning before the station started pumping gas around 7:30 to 8 a.m.”

Why the craze? Well, the Hess bug is easy to catch, Howard said.

“You slowly get caught up in wanting the different versions, and then you find yourself buying truck after truck … Then the fever kicks in after getting four or five. That happens with most people,” he said.

During his personal Hess collection zenith in the 1990s, the passionate plastic peddler even took out advertisements in the New Jersey Star-Ledger to promote buying and selling from his inventory.

“As a collector, I turned into more of a hunter. The hunt is what gave more gratification than having the entire collection.”

Those are bold words from a man who said he netted a cool $100,000 in his lifetime from toy trading.

More recently, Howard has sold much of his stockpile, sparing a few sentimental items, such as Hess’ 1966 tanker ship, valued at over $3,000 when in good condition.

However, dollars and cents did not drive Howard’s passion — instead, it was something much more wholesome.

“It makes me feel like a kid again,” he proudly said.

The Hess Truck is here — in its 60th year

• 1964: The original Hess gas truck was released. It was the idea of owner Leon Hess to give parents an affordable Christmas option at about $1.30, which comes to $13.15 in 2024.
• 1966: After the early trucks’ initial success, Hess released a freighter ship that became a collector favorite. Now, it resells for thousands of dollars. Hobbyist John Howard explained that the ship was not a big hit with kids at the time — because it didn’t float well in water. Hess ultimately avoided doing boat toys, except for a special collectible of the 1966 model years later.
• 1969: A nearly identical truck to its 1968 counterpart, the 1969 model features updated boxing, reflecting Hess’ relocation from Perth Amboy to Woodbridge, NJ. Howard said that little detail puts its value at upwards of $4,000.
• 1979: It was the year without a Hess truck. Oil shortages ravaging the nation influenced the company to withhold its planned 1979 model — a first-of-its-kind training van — for 1980 when the industry stabilized. Hess also skipped 1973 for similar reasons and reused its 1972 tanker truck for 1974.

• 1987: According to general manager Justin Mayer, this year’s white-and-green trailer truck was the first sold with the catchy “The Hess Truck’s back, and it’s better than ever” TV jingle — one of the longest-running advertisement themes of all time. The tune is based on the Angels’ 1963 hit, “My Boyfriend’s Back.”
• 1988: Hess breaks its pattern of selling toys exclusively connected to the gas industry. Instead, that year’s model was a tractor-trailer with the toy’s first-ever detachable race car. It paved the way for Hess’ modern approach to motorcycles, planes, helicopters, spaceships and more kid-friendly designs.
• 1994: Hess created a ladder rescue truck initially modeled as a tow truck. Bigshots at the company feared a tow truck’s image would imply that Hess had bad gas. The scrapped idea was revived for the 2019 season. The modern version is one of the company’s most innovative trucks for its movable tow line, according to Mayer.

• 1999: Hess creates its first, wildly popular space shuttle-themed truck. Mayer said the concept took six years to materialize and is recognized as one of the most significant fan favorites.
• 2014: Hess brings back the popular space concept for only the second time to celebrate the truck’s 50th anniversary and future with an interstellar jet and accompanying trailer.
• 2020: Months before the COVID-19 pandemic, Hess had prepared to release an ambulance-themed truck for the holiday season of 2020. However, fears of appearing insensitive to the global situation left corporate heads spinning as they debated last-second changes to convert the ambulance into a beach terrain vehicle. Ultimately, Mayer said Hess stuck with the ambulance as a way to honor first responders.