BILOfix history and items

History

In the late 1950s plastic toys and especially the LEGO brick had nr. 1 priority for LEGO. So in 1959 it was decided that the wooden toys should be split away from the LEGO brand, so that "LEGO" would only be used and associated with the plastic brick. The wooden toy section was therefor rebranded to BILOfix. With the rebranding came a new building system and some new toys which we will be taking a look at later.

In early 1960 a lightning strike hits the wooden toy department and it burns down. The third big fire LEGO has had to deal with through their history. However, this time it is decided not to rebuild the wooden toy department and discontinue the wooden toy production, focusing everything on the LEGO System.

The two LEGO brothers Karl Georg and Gerhardt Kirk Christiansen are not fully in on the idea of discontinuing wooden toy production. They still believe in BILOfix and end up leaving the LEGO company to work on bringing BILOfix back to life. Already in 1962 production is back up with a big new factory in Kolding which is not too far from Billund.

The new BILOfix company does quite well and sell toys in all of Scandinavia as well as some of the big European countries like Germany and The United Kingdom. Eventually, around 1967, the name BILOtoy started being used, and in 1970 just BILO. The different names were likely used to advertise different toys.

Sometime during the early 1970's BILOfix is purchased by the Danish toy brand HANSE and rebranded HANSE Tec, before it eventually disappears sometime in the later 70s.

Logo types

Only from 1959 to 1960 the BILOfix logo was blue. This means that all BILOfix toys with this logo were made while BILOfix was a part of LEGO, and are considered LEGO toys. All BILOfix toys made from 1962 with the red BILOfix logo are therefor not considered LEGO toys. An easy rule to remember.