View The Complete FunHo History Website Here!
http://history.funho.com
For over 70 years Fun Ho! has been a household name in New Zealand, suggesting robust, quality toys. Still found in sandpits and toy collections around the world, the original Fun Ho! toys are a highly sought after collectable.
The story of Fun Ho! began in a Wellington basement in the mid 1930s, when Jack Underwood created his first toys. A few years later the Underwood factory made its home in Inglewood on the West Coast of the North Island of New Zealand, eventually employing up to 200 workers!
The first toys were manufactured in lead (1935 - 1945) and showed remarkable attention to detail, footballers, soldiers, bullfighters and much much more.
After the lead collection, came the extensive range of aluminium toys (1942 - 1982), hand made, sand cast, tough and durable. These iconic New Zealand toys were unique 'Kiwiana' made for outdoor use, they do not even rust when buried for years in the sand pit.
Competition from cheap imported plastic toys saw toy making cease in 1982, but fortunately this was not the end of Fun Ho! The Fun Ho! National Toy Museum opened in 1990 in the old factory and moved its new, more expansive Inglewood facility in 1999.
The museum is now open to the public 7 days a week. A foundry has been established at the museum and now a ever changing selection of Fun Ho! models is produced using the original moulding plates and furnace. The models are reproduced in small runs and the range includes tractors, trucks, cars, planes, trains and other miscellaneous toys.
Richard Jordan is the toy maker and museum curator. He is available to give toy making demonstrations to tour groups visiting the museum (Bookings essential). The toys are available to be ordered through this web site.
Repairs and spare parts are also available.
Visitors to the museum arrive from all over New Zealand and around the world. With the shifting of the museum and its transformation into a 7 day a week visitor attraction, interest in Fun Ho! toys has soared with indications that this upward trend will continue into the future.
