An Interesting Group of Toys

Tuesday November 8, 2016
Sunny with Clouds
6 Celsius / 41 Fahrenheit

An Interesting Group of Toys

Please click here to visit this interesting ebay seller

I've been using PicClick lately, and  it most-certainly helps me find what I'm looking for very fast. 
The website is affiliated with ebay, and it works  to have viewers see results for their searches. It's a fast website, that's easy to manoeuvre and easy to use.
 Mr. Hardy Littleton is the owner of this ebay store.

In a search for cast iron toys, I came across the cast iron roadster below, and I decided to investigate further. The roadster is a reproduction by Don Lewis based on the original Arcade Buick of the 1930's. These reproductions are collectible,and people like to buy them, probably as works of art or for that matter as a toy collectible.

         Arcade Buick Coupe by Don Lewis California 

LEWIS BUICK COUPE 8 ½" long. This is one of a very limited production of coupes made in the 90's by Don Lewis of California. Original Arcade Buicks were used to establish an exact mold. Finished exactly as the originals with blue-green body, black roof & running boards, and white rubber tires with nickeled spare & driver. These are fast becoming a treasured collector item because of their extreme quality and very limited production.

VINTAGE A.C. WILLIAMS AUSTIN CAR CARRIER / HAULER

Scarce 1920's cast iron Austin Car Carrier Tractor Trailer Truck by A. C. Williams. Approx. 12-1/4" long. Features 3 cast iron Austin coupes the blue and green car both embossed "Austin" on each side. Red & Green hauler, (2) blue cars & (1) green car -all have orig pt, orig wheels, some paint loss - all with no repairs or brakes. Hauler is 12 1/2"L x 2 1/2"H x 1 3/4"W - cars are 3/12"L x 1 1/2"W x 1 3/4"H. 

You don't often see the A.C. Williams tractor trailer. 

This one's quite nice with its' accompanying 3 Austin Cars.

VINTAGE HUBLEY MILK & CREAM ORANGE DELIVERY TRUCK

All original milk cream truck in overall good condition. No brakes or repairs. 

Painted cast iron, 3 3/4" long, original rubber tires. 

The  # 314 Hubley milk truck above is  similar to the # 42 Borden's milk truck. 
However, it does not have "Borden's milk" embossed on the sides of the truck. 
It's also very small, measuring  3 3/4" (96 mm) long. The numbers 42 & 314 are from a 1930's Hubley catalogue.

1935-1936 TOOTSIE TOY GREEN DOODLEBUG STREAMLINE AIRFLOW CAR TOOTSIETOY

1935-1936 by Tootsie Toy in complete and original condition showing play wear, scratches to the paint, dulling of the grill and bumpers, darkening and cracking to the wheels. One wheel missing. Measures 4 inches (101 mm) long. An unusually rare streamline prototype car of the future that still displays well in any Tootsie Toy, die cast, or vintage toy car collection.

1930s METALCRAFT Toy Truck " St. Louis " Delivery Truck VG Original Condition

Nice all original Metalcraft Corp. delivery truck, made in St. Louis, in very good original condition. Still has tailgate attached & intact. Appears that the windshield frame is missing. Truck measures approx. 11 1/2" long, about 5 1/4" tall, approx. 4 1/4' wide. 

Metalcraft was a successful company inn the 1930's and later. It produced nice pressed-steel toys.

VINTAGE HUBLEY CAST IRON SLANT NOSE OPEN WHEEL RACER 

MARKED HUBLEY, 4-1/8" LONG, ORIGINAL RED PAINT, NICKEL PLATE STEEL WHEELS 

The red racer above is also from the 1930's catalogue and is # 331. This toy came in 2 colours - orange and red. Those rectangular parts between the wheels are radiators.

So that was a nice eclectic grouping of toy cars and trucks, and if you venture over to ebay and this seller, you'll see more interesting toys as well.

The Tootsietoy Doodlebugs and Zephyrs

 Monday, February 2, 2015
Cloud with snow to follow, very, very, cold!

The Tootsietoy 

Doodlebugs and Zephyrs

  I'm not following my own plan for my blog lately. The plan is basically to have several posts prepared in advance with their respective screen captures and the photos and their respective descriptions already worked on. So what I'm doing is loping at my e-mails to see if anyone has written, and periodically going to Liveauctioneers and other places to see what might be of interest for tomorrow's post. It must be the long winter or what feels to be a long winter. 

   I did go to Liveauctioneers, and found some nice Tootsietoys that had been auctioned by the  Lloyd Ralston Gallery. However these Tootsietoys were "special". I'm sure I've presented them in my numerous posts about these exceptional American small die cast toys, but I never realized something. The Lincoln Zephyr  sand the Doodlebugs are 2 different toy models, even though they appeaser to me quite similar. So this is the post for today.

Please click here to visit this fine American auction company

The Doodlebugs

These small toy cars were die cast and had rubber tires. They were originally presented at the Chicago World's Fair as "The Car of Tomorrow". The toy came in multiple colours and could be purchased separately. One option was to purchase  an trailer called the "Tootsietoy Roamer". The trailer could attach to the back of the car, and children could then play with two toys instead of one. 

The metal  grill is exceptional on this toy,and of course the entire car is beautiful. If you look at the last green car below, you can actually see the small hold at the back of the car, where the "Roamer" would attach.

The Lincoln Zephyrs

The major differences between the Tootsietoy Doodlebugs and Lincoln Zephjyrs are:

1. The Doodlebug has a separate grill that attached to the front of the car.

2. The Lincoln Zephyrs are windup toys. They came with a key and the toy could

 be wound up and later could roll along the sidewalk or indoor wood floors or linoleum.

3, The Lincoln Zephyr came in 2 versions. One had what appears to be a large rear light at the back of the car. The other version was called a wrecker and had a large-sized hook to be able to tow cars.

While I was researching this post, I decided to search for "Tootsietoy windup toys". Other than the Lincoln Zephyr, I only found one other windup toy - the #1018x Jumbo  Sedan Windup.  I 'll be loping for other Tootsietoy windups. I'm wondering if the wind-up mechanism would have added too much cost to the toy, or if the winding mechanism would have stressed the metal  over time, due to the added force of the wind-up. 

Dinky Toys have outlasted Tootsietoys. The Tooysietoy Company closed down long ago. However, these are my favourite small-sized toy. The Tootsietoys started almost at the very beginning of the both century; 1901, to be precise.  Instantly they made fine small die cast toys, and  4 decades later were making toys in the millions. You can always find them on the "usual websites of Liveauctioneers and ebay, and I'm sure you'd find them at any antiques fair or flea market.

I did find an actual listing by Lloyd Ralston Gallery of a toy that came with the key. 

I'll have to add this at another time.

Thanks for visiting and as always

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com