This is an IHeart podcast.

And we're back with our American stories.

For nearly 60 years, Hess trucks have brought smiles to children and adults

up and down the East Coast. Today we bring you the story behind this iconic brand, both from the

Hess Toy Truck director and a super fan. Here's Robbie with the story.

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

For many families across the country, the holiday season doesn't start until they hear the Hess jingle come across the airwaves.

These green and white toy trucks and race cars and spaceships have been found underneath Christmas trees since 1964.

But where did this all start?

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

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

who is the Hess Corporation founder, before he started the company.

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

He was born in 1914.

His father was originally a butcher, but when he came here to the states, he actually got into the

cold delivery business.

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

here in America.

And people are doing what they can to make ends meet.

That business went bankrupt, and Leon Hess was working for his father at the time.

So here we are in the Great Depression.

The family is not doing well to be frank.

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