Double clown tin wind-up circus car HK 558 by HUKI W.Germany

Van particulier uit mijn opruim verzameling:
dubbel clown blikken flip-over [Ueberschlagauto] circus auto van H[ans] & K[raus]
Heel mooi lithographed Duits tin toy.
Vroeg 50er jaren.
In zeer goede staat, alleen lipje achter afgebroken, geen sleutel meer.

This wild flip-over circus clown car called "Ueberschlagauto" was made in Western Germany by Hans and Krauss(?) under the HUKI trademark during the early post-war years.
It has a spring loaded u-shaped bar that hooks into the upper part of the bumper and is triggered (much like a mousetrap) when the vehicle hits an obstacle. The car will then flip over on its back and continue for a short distance in the opposite direction - but now with a different clown appearing behind the wheel.

The red wheels were not designed to function and are only there to give the illusion that there are four wheels touching the ground at all times. (This is achieved through their axles moving freely by gravity inside the curved slots on the sides). The REAL driving wheels (black rubber) are those which can be partially seen on both top and bottom of the car.

There are various cartoon characters lithographed on top and bottom, with simulated wooden crate siding for the car body. All vibrant colors with only a very moderate amount of play wear.

The car is 14 cm (5.5 inches) long, comes with an on/off switch and runs in a slightly circular path.
On some rare occasion, the very thin spring unhooks from the u-shaped bar, and you carefully need to hook it back on again.

It's a very clever design that would have been fairly expensive to produce. It also must have been difficult for very young hands to set up and activate, which may explain why few of them were sold and why the toy is so EXTREMELY RARE today.