Wednesday, June 25, 2013
The Hubley Harley-Davidson Motorcycles
Introduction
The history of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle company is a true American story. It's had its ups and downs, but has survived to this day. There's a large-sized motorcycle store near me, that sells all kinds of motorcycles, but the Harley-Davidson's still have that "tough guy" appeal. Whenever I hear that famous rumble of a motorcycle, there's little doubt in my mind that it's a Harley, and most of the time, when it comes into view, I'm correct.
Two days ago I wrote about the "Indian" brand of Hubley cast iron motorcycles. I had originally intended just to write about Hubley motorcycles, but when I looked more closely at my screen captures from Bertoia Auctions, I noticed that I had both "indian " and Harley-Davidsons. So I did a "detour", and decided to focus on Bertoia Auctions "Indian" brand of motorcycles, and then go to Morphy Auctions for the Harley-Davidsons.
For those of you who don't know, I prefer to use only one auction house, collector, or E-Bay seller for each blog. I appreciate the help these fine people have contributed to the success of my blog, and it wouldn't be fair to mix toy images from several sources. I receive between 160-350 page views per day. That's not on the top 100,000 blogs in the world, but after about 2 years or more, I'm happy for now.
History
In working on the images and descriptions from Morphy Auctions, I was able to learn a lot about the Hubley Harley-Davidsons. I'm still missing a lot of the puzzle, but there is a lot of information that was quite interesting to learn. I don't have a lot of dates, but as it turns out, the early Harley-Davidsons and the Indian motorcycle toys had decals (stockers) on them. Later, the stickers were replaced by the Harley-Davidson name that was raised up from the cast iron mould.
The story behind the above toy is quite interesting. I'm a bit confused by the written description, so perhaps some export might help me out. The toy above was made after Hubley had stopped using the "Indian" and Harley-Davidson names. My confusion lies in the fact that the decal "Harley" was still on the side of the toy.
Julian Thomas had received this unique toy from Mr. J. E. Buubaker's family. Mt. Brubaker was a Hubley toy designer. Mr. Julian Thomas is a highly-successful toy parts seller, as well as an author and authority on toys. When I was buying and selling toys on E-Bay, I initially would sometimes buy "wrecks", and then purchase parts from Mr. Thomas to put the toys "whole" again. However, these "restorations" are not for everyone (buyers). When I needed a particular part or needed assistance, I would phone the company, and would speak to Mr. Thomas' son or his daughter Julie. Julie would always help me, and keep me up to date regarding my "small orders". Now thats service! Mr. Thomas even made a new generation of cast iron toys from old cast iron toys, that I assume were no longer owned by anyone. His toys nowadays are quite in demand, and I was surprised to see how much that they sometimes are purchased for at auction!
Notice that the toy has a yellow ball and a cord attached to the front of the toy on a ring. These toys are called "pull toys' as they were pulled by children on the road or on sidewalks. THis particular toy was a showroom model,hence it is almost in perfect condition!
The above cast iron Hubley Harley-Davidson is described as having a "sport rider". The lady rider and the "sport" driver are quite rare.
Here's the "sport" driver only. If I ever edit this post, I'd like to find out when Hubley changed from nickel-plated spoke wheels and rubber tires to simply metal spoke wheels.
If you compare the 2 orange police officers on the above 2 pairs of photos you'll notice several things that are different between the two:
1. Notice that the lower photos have round decals compared with the original rectangular decal of the topmost photos.
2. The smaller bracket under the policeman's feet has changed in the paint theme, as well as from steel wheels to wood wheels and white small rubber tires. As well, this particular model of motorcycle would make a "clicking" noise to represent the roar of the Harley.
3. The angles supports from the steering wheel to the front wheel are different between the 2 motorcycles. The top one has both supporting rods straight, while the bottom one has one straight and one curved towards the rider.
4. The top has a dual pair of headlights, while the bottom one has a single headlight.
There are a few more differences still to be noticed between the two models.
Notice the raised gold letters of Harle-yDavidson.
If someone out there knows when the transition from decal to raised lettering occurred, would you please send me the information.
On this particular Harley, the lettering is not raised but embedded (etched) into the gas tank. Also, only the initials H-D are presented compared with the entire names before or would that be later?
Here's the final model with the letters raised for comparison to the previous orange model where the lettering is "etched' into the side. It's not actually "etched' but was part of the original mould.
Thanks for droping by,
and as always, have a great part of the day,
wherever you may be.
Stacey
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