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Our American Stories

Hess Trucks: The Christmas Tradition That Started at a Gas Station

Our American Stories

iHeartPodcasts

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6816 Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1964, Leon Hess set out to give children something fun and affordable at his gas stations—and ended up creating a toy truck that lit up, rolled out, and quickly sold out. Sixty years later, Hess Trucks have become a holiday tradition, with collectors, families, and fans marking each annual release like a mini Christmas of its own. Hess Toy Truck director Justin Mayer and longtime superfan Mike Roberto share how a simple seasonal idea grew into a uniquely East Coast obsession.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This is an I-Heart podcast.

0:02.5

Guaranteed human.

0:15.0

And we're back with our American stories.

0:17.7

For nearly 60 years, Hess trucks have brought smiles to children and adults up and down the East Coast.

0:25.5

Today we bring you the story behind this iconic brand, both from the Hess Toy Truck director and a superfan.

0:33.1

Here's Robbie with the story.

0:36.0

The Hess truck's back. It's a cargo plane and jet flying through the sky this year.

0:41.1

For many families across the country, the holiday season doesn't start until they hear

0:45.3

the Hess jingle come across the airwaves.

0:48.1

These green and white toy trucks and race cars and spaceships have been found underneath

0:52.4

Christmas trees since 1964.

0:55.5

But where did this all start?

0:57.7

Here's Justin Mayer, director of brand marketing and general manager of Hess Toy trucks to tell us

1:03.0

more.

1:04.0

You kind of have to start at the very beginning of where the legacy is, and that is really

1:10.3

with Leon Hess, who is the Hess Corporation founder,

1:13.6

before he started the company.

1:16.6

You know, his family emigrated here in the early 1900s.

1:20.6

He was born in 1914.

1:21.6

His father was originally a butcher.

1:25.6

But when he came here to the estates, he actually got into the coal delivery business.

1:31.3

And as everybody knows, as you get into the 20s and the 30s, times were a little tough here in America.

...

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