Company Profile: Pola
History in a Nutshell
Pola was founded in 1957 by Horst Pollak,
a merchant from Schweinfurt, to produce fine-quality toys. In the early 1960s, after relocating to Rothhausen, Pola began collaborating with
Vau-Pe Modellspielwaren und Formenbau GmbH to produce injection-molded plastic kits in G, HO, TT and N Scales.
In April of 1985, the company founder died in a plane crash. Eckhard Braun, a former Noch employee, took over; he
bought former partner Vau-Pe as well as the company Quick, relocated Pola-Spiel und Freizeitartikel GmbH to Wangen im Allgäu, and continued to expand their product range. Then in 1992,
Dr. René F. Wilfer, owner and manager of Piko, assumed management of Pola.
In 1997, competitor Faller
acquired Pola; the Pola name was retained for their G Scale structures, while the rest of the product line was integrated into Faller's own by 2005.
Some of these kits, now nearly 50 years old, still sell well.
N Scale Products
As was the case for Faller, many of Pola's older kits have been rebranded for years by many importers, including AHM, Atlas, Aurora, Life-Like, Model Power, Precision Miniatures, Parkway Industries and probably others.
