Ironhide (Rhino in Canada, Falco in Italy) was apparently a toy way before the Transformers generation one toyline ever began. Ironhide(before he was Ironehide the Transformer toy) was a transforming robot designed by Diaclone Toys that was to be a robot that was driven by a pilot. The Ironhide toy by Diaclone Toys as opposed to the Ironhide that we all know (a self-aware, dynamic, automaton) actually came with a tiny pilot to be placed in the seat. That's why the Ironhide toy that you and I have looks nothing like the the Ironhide on the cartoon(but I'm not sure about the comics). To compinsate for the lack of a head, the repackaged toy was given a sticker that resembled a face, which was already placed onto the toy before you opened the package. This same concept also applied to the autobot named Rachet; you know the paramedic one.
From what I can figure, the Ironhide figure was based on the Nissan Vanette which was introduced in 1981 as the Nissan Sunny-Vanette, and exported as the Datsun C20 (later the Nissan C20) in North America and the Datsun Vanette (later Nissan Vanette) elsewhere. And on a final note, it was called a 'vanette' because the term mini-van was not yet in the American vernacular until 1984 when Dodge released its first Caravan.
"Nissan Vanette"
"Ironhide"
~Ronski
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