Lil' American
Trucks
The beloved All-American Trucks series — in miniature. Die-cast metal, wheels that turn, a bottlebrush Christmas tree in the bed. Three classic American pickup trucks released since 2023, each one a small wonder that fits in the palm of your hand.
🚛 Miniature Format (QXM): The Lil' American Trucks are part of Hallmark's miniature ornament line — smaller than the standard All-American Trucks but rendered in the same die-cast metal with the same attention to detail: wheels that turn, a bottlebrush Christmas tree in the bed, officially licensed model-specific accuracy at a scale that fits in the palm of your hand.
All the Truck, Half the Size
The All-American Trucks series has been one of Hallmark's most popular vehicle collections since its launch in 1995 — annual die-cast metal pickup trucks, each with a bottlebrush Christmas tree in the bed and wheels that turn, celebrating the great American working truck across decades of design history. In 2023, Hallmark introduced a miniature companion series: Lil' American Trucks, bringing the same die-cast precision and truck-specific detail to the smaller QXM format.
The series launched with the 1954 Mercury M-100 — a truck that already had a life in the Hallmark catalog as #24 in the full-size All-American Trucks series (2018), where its red paint and distinctive 1950s styling made it one of the most visually striking entries in that collection. The miniature version delivers all the same qualities at smaller scale: the correct body proportions, the period-accurate details, the Christmas tree in the bed. In 2024, the 1972 Chevrolet Cheyenne Super joined the series. In 2025, the 1978 Dodge Lil' Red Express Truck arrived — a truck whose own name contains "Lil'," making it perhaps the most perfectly named vehicle the series could have chosen.
Three trucks across three years, the series ongoing. Robert Hurlburt, the artist who has been crafting the All-American Trucks entries since taking over from the series' founding artist Don Palmiter, brings the same disciplined technical approach to the miniature format: at any scale, the truck must look like that truck and no other.
"I'm always thinking about the process and the detailing that turn a simple object into a work of art. I like to know how things are put together, and I love making the practical and pragmatic look magical."
— Robert Hurlburt, on the philosophy behind his vehicle miniaturesRobert Hurlburt — Miniaturist of the American Truck
Robert Hurlburt is the Hallmark Keepsake artist who has shaped the All-American Trucks series in its current era — succeeding Don Palmiter, who founded the series in 1995 with the 1956 Ford F-100. Hurlburt's approach to vehicle miniatures is rooted in a childhood love of models and machines: he thinks about how things are put together before he thinks about how they look, which produces ornaments that are both visually accurate and structurally logical at miniature scale.
The Lil' American Trucks series gives Hurlburt a specific creative challenge: all the same accuracy requirements as the full-size All-American Trucks entries, at roughly two-thirds the scale. The 1954 Mercury M-100 miniature must look as immediately identifiable as a 1954 Mercury as the full-size version does — the distinctive grille, the cab proportions, the bed shape, the period chrome details — in a format smaller than many key chains. That Hurlburt meets this requirement consistently across three entries (and counting) is itself a demonstration of his philosophy: the practical and pragmatic, made magical.
The Lil' American Trucks Fleet
The American Truck, Distilled
The American pickup truck is a specific cultural object — not just transportation, but identity, heritage, the embodiment of a particular relationship between a person and their work. The great trucks of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s carry that identity in their proportions, their chrome, their colors, their engine notes. They are not just vehicles; they are statements about what it means to haul something, to work, to drive something that was built for a purpose and looked magnificent doing it.
The All-American Trucks series has always known this — which is why it puts a bottlebrush Christmas tree in the bed of every truck. The truck is doing what trucks do: hauling. But what it's hauling is a Christmas tree, which transforms the practical into the festive and positions the American working truck as a participant in the season rather than merely a vehicle from the past. The Lil' American Trucks series delivers that same transformation at miniature scale — all the truck character, all the Christmas context, in a format you can hold in your hand.
Three trucks and counting. The 1954 Mercury M-100, the 1972 Chevrolet Cheyenne Super, and the 1978 Dodge Lil' Red Express. Three different decades, three different manufacturers, three different chapters in the story of what an American pickup truck could be in the years before the modern era. The series is ongoing — which means the next chapter is already being chosen.
Tips for the Collection
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01Display alongside the full-size All-American Trucks for a complete vehicle family. The miniature Lil' American Trucks and the standard All-American Trucks are complementary collections — same artist (Hurlburt), same format (die-cast metal, bottlebrush tree), different scales. On a tree with both series hanging, the scale difference is immediately legible and visually interesting.
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02The 1954 Mercury M-100 appears in both series. The full-size All-American Trucks #24 (2018) and the Lil' American Trucks #1 (2023) both depict the same truck — the red 1954 Mercury M-100. Collecting both is collecting two different scales of the same vehicle, which is a specific kind of satisfaction for truck enthusiasts and Hurlburt collectors.
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03The 1978 Dodge Lil' Red Express is the series' most narratively perfect selection. A truck called "Lil'" in a series called "Lil'" — the naming coincidence is either deliberate or fortuitous, but either way it makes the 2025 entry the most self-aware piece in the collection. It is also genuinely notable as a vehicle: the 1978 Lil' Red Express was one of the fastest production vehicles of its year, a performance truck disguised as a working truck.
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04Three trucks so far — the series is growing. Unlike completed series where the full set is already defined, the Lil' American Trucks collection is still being built. Each year adds a new decade, a new manufacturer, a new chapter in American truck history. The current three are available at Already Christmas; the next truck hasn't been announced yet.
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05The perfect gift for the truck enthusiast who already collects All-American Trucks. A collector who has been following the full-size series since 1995 — or since Hurlburt took over — will immediately appreciate the miniature companion. Finding the Lil' version of a truck that's already on their tree is a specific, personal recognition of that collection's history.
All 3 Trucks — 2023 to 2025
Die-cast metal. Wheels that turn. Bottlebrush tree in the bed. Click any truck to shop.
A 1954 Mercury. A 1972 Cheyenne Super. A 1978 Lil' Red Express. Three American trucks, three decades, three bottlebrush Christmas trees riding in the back — all of it at miniature scale, all of it die-cast metal, all of it exactly right.
The next truck is coming. The fleet is growing.
✦ Part of our Series: Hallmark Keepsake Official Series, Explored ✦