| Founded: | 1948 ā Hamburg, Allied-occupied Germany |
| Ā | (modern day Germany) |
| Ā | Ā |
| Currently: | AgfaPhoto GmbH |
Iloca was a German brand founded in 1948 in Hamburg as Illing Camera or Ilca. The original founder, a man with the surname Illing, ran the company for two years before Wilhelm Witt took over in 1950 and changed the company name to Iloca to avoid trademark issues.
Iloca produced two main types of 35mm products: stereo cameras and fixed lens viewfinder and rangefinder cameras. Driven by foreign exchange rates, Iloca put heavy emphasis on exporting their cameras for sale abroad, particularly in the United States. Many of its cameras were rebranded for sale by mail order and department store giants Sears and Montgomery Ward as well as other camera companies like Argus and Graflex.
One of Iloca’s last and most innovative cameras was the Iloca Electric (also sold as the Graphic 35 Electric by Graflex in the United States) of 1958 which was the very first production camera to feature a built-in motor drive. Shortly afterward in 1960, Agfa acquired and absorbed Iloca.
McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 2001-2002. (Grantsburg, WI, USA: Centennial Photo Service, 2001), p 298-301.
The Tower 51 is a conventional fixed lens rangefinder produced by Iloca Kamera-Werk in Hamburg, Germany as a direct variant of the Iloca Rapid-B and sold by Chicago-based department store and mail order giant Sears, Roebuck and Co. under their Tower brand. Over the years, Sears sold a wide variety of rebranded cameras produced by different manufacturers such as the Tower 39 Automatic (made by Mamiya) and the 2.8 / Easi-Load (produced by Ricoh).
