Saturday, April 6, 2013
The 3 scans presented above are from 2 great catalogues from that era. One is the Montgomery Ward and Company catalogue, while the other one is Butler Brothers. For those who don't know, purchasing merchandise from catalogues was very popular "way back". The USA was still very rural, and much of the country had not been settled. Consequently,the main mode of transportation was by train, since there were not may roads. You have to remember that the "automobile" in terms of production (e.g. Henry Ford's assembly line) was really only about 20 years old. Also trucks could not travel those long distances as the roads were poor (unpaved with asphalt), and the trucks were in their infancy as far as quality and development went.
The scanned images may not not American National toys. I can't tell, as the catalogues do not identify the manufacturer. What's interesting to note is the cost of these toys. Although the price by today's standards is low, there were also transportation charges via rail Also relatively low). However, considering the very low wages at the time, $5.00 - $12.00 was a lot of money at that time!
American National Pedal Cars
I've often seen pedal cars on the Net, and I even thought that I had written a post about them, but I was wrong. The reason was probably because when you look at toys that are auctioned, there are never any reference items in a photo,compared with an advertisement type of photo. So a toy presented on a solid colour does not give a clue as to its size! A pedal car is a large-sized toy that moves. It can be anywhere from 48"-88" (1.22M - 1.272M ) in length. A young child sits inside with his or her and pushes on rotating pedals attached to a gear that turns the wheels of the car.
American National was a successful toy company that manufactured these toys from the early 1900's-mid 1930's (to be verified). Naturally, the toy cars evolved with the evolution of the "real" cars, and so we can see the changes in the toys on smaller level relative to the "real cars".
What's interesting about these "toys" is that for some reason, there are many that still exist. I would have thought the opposite.Yet if you do a search through Google, or Bing, or Blekko, you'll find lots of references and sites about the peddle car. And if you go to Pintarest, that photo site, where people add ("Pin) photos, there are lots of photos of these pedal cars. There's even a few sites that sell replacement parts for these wonderful toys.
The
The 3 scans presented above are from 2 great catalogues from that era. One is the Montgomery Ward and Company catalogue, while the other one is Butler Brothers. For those who don't know, purchasing merchandise from catalogues was very popular "way back". The USA was still very rural, and much of the country had not been settled. Consequently,the main mode of transportation was by train, since there were not may roads. You have to remember that the "automobile" in terms of production (e.g. Henry Ford's assembly line) was really only about 20 years old. Also trucks could not travel those long distances as the roads were poor (unpaved with asphalt), and the trucks were in their infancy as far as quality and development went.
The scanned images may not not American National toys. I can't tell, as the catalogues do not identify the manufacturer. What's interesting to note is the cost of these toys. Although the price by today's standards is low, there were also transportation charges via rail Also relatively low). However, considering the very low wages at the time, $5.00 - $12.00 was a lot of money at that time!
You can easily see how the peddle car evolved over the years akin to the "real car". The early cars were very square-shaped or boxy., with lots of straight lines. The tires were thin and mounted usually on spoked wheels. By the late 1920's and 1930's the car had curved lines and was smoother with rounded car parts such as the fenders and trunk. . Also, the tires and rims were much larger.
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