Working in Chicago as a manual laborer, Pasin bought used woodworking equipment and set up shop in a rented room. Building little red wagons at night and peddling them during the day, he saved enough money to found the Liberty Coaster Company in 1923, naming it after the statue he had admired in New York Harbor. In 1930, he began mass-producing the toys out of stamped metal. He called his new wagon the “Radio Flyer,” another patriotic reference to his homeland, this one after a famous Italian invention, the radio. Intended “for every girl and boy,” the wagons sold for less than $3 each.
This wagon’s classic and iconic design is a staple throughout generations. This nostalgic wagon features an all-steel body with no-scratch edges to provide stability, durability, and protection for everything and everyone within. Whether you’re carrying around toys or pulling around your little toddler, the wagon’s strong structure can hold up to 150 pounds. Moving around with the wagon has never been easier with its 10-inch steel wheels and rubber tires that can maneuver easily on any surface.
Since 2002, the company has produced plastic as well as metal-bodied wagons. The Hero Wagon redesign came about largely because the two organizations began to hear how hospital staff were customizing the wagons themselves to fit their needs, says Pasin. So Radio Flyer assembled a team of designers, researchers, and engineers to visit children’s hospitals and conduct interviews with nurses and families to learn firsthand about the user experience. These in-person customer discovery sessions were crucial to the product’s eventual design, Pasin notes. Before purchasing a wagon, consider its size and structure and what you’ll be using it for.
Radio Flyer has received numerous awards, including “Best Places to Work” by Fortune, “Top Small Workplaces,” by The Wall Street Journal and “5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America,” by Inc. The new Hero Wagon features radio flyer wagon a medical-grade, easy-to-disinfect fabric exterior, instead of the classic, but bulky, metal frame. The design is foldable, allowing hospital staff to collapse the wagon for storage and keep more on site.
With the war over, materials like steel were plentiful again, and the classic steel wagon shape was back in production. Because steel was needed for the war effort, the Radio Flyer wagons of the World War II era were made of wood. The company redesigned the wheel bearings to be smooth and quiet during this period. A 45-foot wood and plaster statue of a child riding one of his wagons and set up a booth at its base, where he sold mini Radio Flyer replicas to fair-goers for 25 cents each.
“As a company at the time, we weren’t talking to consumers as much as we should,” says Robert. “We weren’t asking moms what they wanted in products.” So the popularity of these plastic wagons caught them off guard. Even in the depths of the downturn, the company sold around 1,500 wagons a day. More important than the longevity of the souvenirs themselves, though, Pasin had indeed ensured the lasting popularity of his full-size product. The classic red Radio Flyer wagon became one of the great American toy brands of the 20th century, and perhaps even more impressively, the company behind it remained independently and family owned every step of the way.
His business grew until the Liberty Coaster Company, named in honour of the Statue of Liberty, was formed in 1923. The demands for these original wooden wagons, dubbed the “Liberty Coaster,” quickly outpaced production. Incorporating the mass manufacturing techniques of the auto industry, Pasin began making metal wagons out of stamped steel in 1927. At around that time, the red wagons sold for slightly less than $3, or about $40 in 2016 dollars. This wagon is a combination of nostalgia, function, and some good old-fashioned fun. Whether it’s pulling your little ones around the neighborhood, or needing something to hull all of their toys, this toy wagon has enough room to meet all of your needs.
The founder of the Radio Flyer® Wagon company, Antonio Pasin, was born in Venice. His family helped pay for his journey, and soon he was living in Chicago. He was a woodworker by trade, but had a difficult time finding work in that field. Eventually, after worker odd jobs, he saved up enough money to purchase his own equipment and began making wooden wagons in his basement. During the day, he walked the streets of Chicago peddling his samples. Pasin worked tirelessly and alone until 1923, when his wagon business had picked up enough that he was able to hire helpers.
The medical center received five specially designed red wagons in classic Radio Flyer style. Starlight Children’s Foundation is a 5013 organization that delivers happiness to seriously ill children and their families. Since 1982, Starlight’s ground-breaking and innovative programs, likeStarlight radio flyer wagon Virtual Reality,Starlight Hospital Wear, andStarlight Gaming, have impacted 17 million kids at more than 800 children’s hospitals across the U.S. To learn more and to help Starlight deliver happiness to seriously ill kids this year, visit and follow Starlight on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Changing the company’s name to Radio Steel & Manufacturing in 1930, Pasin also introduced his first steel wagon, called the Radio Flyer. The now classic toy was named for Pasin’s love and fascination of the radio and air flight. The high quality steel coaster wagons were a huge success and allowed Pasin to increase production while lowering the price. With affordable wagons, the slogan of the company became, “For every boy. For every girl.” Thousands of children enjoyed these classic toys.