Joustra (a contraction of "JOUets de STRAsbourg") was founded in 1934 by brothers Paul and André Kosmann, two Alsatian merchants determined to compete with the major German mechanical toy manufacturers, Lehmann leading the way. Adopting the Strasbourg Cathedral as its emblem, the firm quickly built a reputation for small automatons and lithographed tinplate vehicles. After the interruption of the war, the company resumed its activities with renewed vigor: supported by abundant catalogs and ingenious mechanisms, it established itself in the 1950s as the number one European mechanical toy manufacturer. It was during this prosperous period that the "Composition Box No. 1018" appeared from 1957 onwards, better known by its baptismal name "6 trucks in 1". The principle is clever: from the same set of hard plastic parts, the child assembles six different vehicles in turn – a flatbed semi-trailer truck, a dump truck, a tractor-trailer for cable transport, a crane truck, a logging truck, and a tow truck. A real "transformable truck", as announced in the instructions; whose presence here we obviously appreciate. The object is all the more interesting as it testifies to a Joustra still queen of tinplate, but already experimenting with plastic, long before this material supplanted zamac throughout the industry in the 1960s. The cabin illustrated on the lid – a robust profile with typical early 1950s curves – does not reproduce a specific production model: it is rather a generic-inspired truck, faithful to the utilitarian spirit of the era. The charm of the box lies primarily in its playful ingenuity and its neat format, with an interior insert, precisely produced to house each element. To top it all off, you won't be able to ignore the presence of the "Vêtements Herz" stamp on the lid of the box. It should be known that at that time, there were few or no toy stores, and this type of object was generally sold in certain high-end boutiques. The Hertz store did exist in Strasbourg in 1957, at 32, rue du 22 novembre; one of Strasbourg's main arteries. The store was next to Galeries Lafayettes! Quite an era! The offered box is complete and particularly fresh. It includes the bright red molded plastic cabin, the dumpers and platforms, the cable-carrying cradle, the large cable reel (orange), as well as the original accessory bag and its wheelset – ivory plastic hubs fitted with black tires. The "Composition Box No. 1018" instructions are present, as is the interior insert. The box itself, with its shimmering lithography, has remarkably withstood the decades. A telling testimony to post-war Strasbourg inventiveness, and a composition piece as rare as it is appealing for those who love transforming toys. At this price, it's a great opportunity.