2 Cast Iron Taxi Cabs

Thursday, November 24, 2016
Overcast with snow - Ugh!
2 Celcius 36 Fahrenheit

2 Cast Iron Taxis

Please click here too visit this fine ebay seller

 

Please click here to visit this fine American antiques dealer

Earlier in the week, I had written a post about the Lesley Moko Matchbox toys. I had used the images from a fine ebay seller Gotham City Toys. After I finished downloading the Matchbox toys, I decided to look at other toys that he had sold. Sure enough, I came across a modern reproduction of a Hubley Cast Iron Taxi Cab. I kept this item for a future post to compare to an authentic Hubley taxi.  If you've been a regular visitor to my blog,I decided to revisit people and stores from a while ago. I decided to visit Bargain John's Antiques, and as luck would have it, I found an authentic Hubley yellow taxi.

So for today, this short post is about the 2  cast iron taxis.

Immediately below is the authentic Cast Iron Hubley Yellow Taxi from 1939

Hubley Cast Iron Toy Yellow Cab Taxi

cast iron driver with blue uniform

Circa 1939

L x W x H:  8 1/4" x 2 1/4" x 2 3/4"  221 mm x 56 mm x 70 mm

Thomas Toys cast iron 1939 Reproduction

Lincoln Checker cab with nickel grill & luggage rack

Circa 1984

Length:  8 1/2"  215 mm

You can see for yourself the basic immediately visible the differences between the 2 toys.

One is orange with a cast iron driver in a blue uniform, while the green tact has a nickel-plated grill and driver. THe "yellow Cab has  a black line running down each side,while the green Checker cab has a checkered black and white pattern running along the sides.

 The green taxi is also 1/4" (6.25 mm) longer.

For those who don't know, Thomas Toys is owned by Mr. Thomas who owns Thomas Toys.  This company happens to make and sell all kinds of toy parts for old toys. If you type in "Thomas Toys", you will easily find Thomas Toys. Mr.Thomas also happens to be a toy aficionado,  and he has reprinted old toy catalogues, and has made several cast iron reproduction toys. His toys are in demand, and in time, may increase in value.

I once purchase one of these cast iron toys, but mine was most likely a reproduction. In fact I added a post about this toy several years ago. Just like mechanical banks, some very expensive cast iron toys happen to be "reproductions" but there is no indication that they are. At least Mr. Thomas sold his toys in boxes that were identified as his having made them.

So that's it for a tale of 2 cast iron taxis that are almost identical,. One was made in 1939, while the other was made in 1934.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

Have a great part of the day or nought,

Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

Thomas Toys, Inc.- Kingsbury Replacement Airflow Parts

Monday, January 18, 2016
     Seasonally very cold with snow
    ( -10 Degrees C / 14 Degrees F)

Thomas Toy Parts:

Kingsbury Replacement Toy Parts

   Yesterday, I posted about the Kingsbury and Cor-Cor companies who happened to manufacture the Chrysler Airflow automobiles.  Although the "real" car never made it as a successful seller, and sold no more than 4000 cars, it's toy counterpart sold tens of thousands of cars. 

   Furthermore, these Kingsbury and COor-Cor cars  were made large with wind-up mechanics and battery-operated lights. Unlike smaller toys which parents could easily throw out or give away without children noticing (I should know), a 14.4-14.6 inch toy ( 368 mm - 420 mm) length toy is hard to dispose of. As a result, many of the original toys are still around to this day, some 82 years later!

   I decided to add 2 pages from the Thomas Toys, Inc. catalogue. Please not the that this 2 pages are from a 2000 catalogue, and the prices are obsolete, and should not be looked at in terms of cots for 2016!

The Cor-Cor and Kingsbury toys are in strong demand, and at auction, a very-good to excellent toy car can receive easily $1000.00-$1500.00 US dollars. Toys that are of lesser-quality, are great for restoring, especially, when a company such as Thomas Toys, Inc. have parts to supply to restorers.

The other good factor about these larger toys, is that they were well-built, and are easy to dismantle and reassemble for someone with a good (not excellent) standard of hands-on work.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

One of the Great Sources for Old Toy Parts

Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Overcast, snow and cold

One of the Great

Sources for Old Toy Parts

(Thomas Toys)

   When I used to buy toys on ebay, I'd occasionally buy toys with missing parts or broken parts. I figured that I could then write posts about repairs, and of course, I'd be able to buy toys at a discount. Of course, being Canadian, and living across the border from the USA,wasn't much in savings. There is shipping, tax collection by Canada, money exchange (now 32% with the exchange fee), and shipping.

    The positive in buying toy parts for repairs is that I had lots of fun making repairs, and I got to meet some very nice people. Two of the very nicest people that I have met are Mr. Julian Thomas, the owner and his daughter Julieann. Their son, Loren forms the third member of the quartet, of people,followed by Mr. Robbie Roberson, the husband of Julieann. I always enjoyed speaking with
all of them, and they were of course very helpful in identifying the toy parts that I needed.

Below is an e-mail that I received from Julieann Roberson 

"Hello Stacey, Sorry it took me so long to get back to you but its hard 

for my Dad and I to come together sometimes and I wanted him to read 

your blog. Just have a couple corrections; Julian Thomas actually 

formed Thomas Toys 11 years before he retired and he retired from GM 

with his full 30 years and pension. Our staff here at Thomas Toys is 

made up of Mr. Julian Thomas, Mr. Loren Thomas(his son), Julieann 

Roberson(his daughter) and Mr. Robbie Roberson(his son-in-law)

Thank-you for thinking of us and we are looking forward to talking to 

you again. Hope you are well these days. Julie @ Thomas Toys"

   If I couldn't find a part in the catalogue, I'd send some photos to the Thomas' and then phone them. I always received the orders fast and never was there a mistake. All of the Thomas' certainly knew their toy parts!

Please click here to visit this exceptional toy parts seller

I could only find a 2000 catalogue, so please excuse this. I'm sure the latest 2015 or 2016 catalogue is more up to date and has the latest toy parts and better presentation. By the way, I just decided to check out their website, and it's much faster and nicely organized.

Please note that the catalogue posted here is a 2000 catalogue and of course the prices are outdated!

Below: A sample page of tires. THe Julians have metal, rubber and even wood tires and wheels.

When I was buying parts, I could buy the smallest Tootsietoy propellers 

or the larger Hubley propellers!

Lots of people grow up and actually keep their toys. They have fond memories of their days of yore playing with them. AS such, when parts are missing they want to "restore" the toys to workable condition (but of course never to be caught playing with them!).

Below are just some of the cast iron parts available for "really old" toys.

And of course,  if you like motorcycles, there are the Hubley collection of parts…...

Of course, children would lose parts such as those from fire trucks. Ladders were meant to be removed and placed against houses to save the "imaginary people" in the burningbuilding. But talking about saving, the Julians have plenty of ladder replacement parts……..

Not all of the 2000 catalogue has photos or drawings. As such you have to look at the front page directory and sometimes you'll come across a descriptive written page.  AS such, you'll have to read what you want. Just to be sure, I'd recommend photons the Julians for help and to be sure that you are ordering the right part. And as I mentioned earlier, you can always e-mail them.

I hope that I have helped some of you with today's post. Occasionally I receive e-mails  asking me where to find toy parts, and Thomas Toys is among several that I always recommend very highly. 

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Hubley Cast Iron Cab

Friday, November 28, 2014
Cloudy with light snow, seasonally mild

The Hubley Yellow Cast Iron Cab

  Yesterday, I presented a fine Thomas reproduction Hubley Checker Cab (Thomas Toys,Inc). The cab or the more proper name - "taxi" was not produced by Hubley ( I will have to "check"). The real "Checker Cab " was in fact an American-made taxi manufactured by  the Checkers Motor Corporation of Kalamazoo, Michigan that the taxi company, Checker Taxi used. The story of the Checker Cab is quite interesting and you might want to go to the Wikipedia link below to read up on it.

Please click here to visit read the Wikipedia article on the Checker Cab Company

  Hubley's actual cast iron taxi looks exactly like the Thomas reproduction . However it was painted only in yellow or orange, and never had that checkered pattern of black and white squares alone both sides of the car body.

Please click here to visit the Bertoia Auctions excellent website

Hubley's cast iron taxi,for dome reasons I know not of, came in different variations.

If you compare the two diptychs (a larger photo of 2 smaller ones) you can see the following differences:

1. The driver varies from nickel-plated to hand -painted black and skin-toned.

2. The luggage rack at the back of the car varies from silver to black

3. The actual colours vary from yellow to orange.

The Thomas Checker Cab is an excellent reproduction of the original Hubley. Mr. Julian Thomas started his company in 1969. He had worked for GM (General Motors),and during a downturn in the economy, decided to form his own company manufacturing antique toy replacement parts. His fine series of cast iron toys were produced in the early 1990's and can be found in the resale market of older toys.

Please click here to visit Malinda Trollinger's ebay home page

Thanks for visiting, and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

A Beautiful Thomas Cab

Thursday, November 27, 2014
Variating sun and cloud, cool

A Beautiful Thomas Cab

   I met a fine guest by the name of Malinda Trollinger. She's been helping her father sell his toy collection that he's assembled over a long period.  Her ebay identification is mpt331. Her father is quite knowledgeable about toys.I posted a recent Marv Silverstein custom ambulance thank went to auction on ebay, and Malinda was asked by her father if I know of Don DeSalle.   I didn't, but now I know about him, and I will try and add post about him in he future . Malinda takes excellent photos also,which helps me save some time when creating a post. 

  Malinda's next ebay listing will be a 1939 Lincoln cast iron reproduction of a green Checker Cab. It was made by Mr. Julian Thomas as is # 82 of the production. I've seen these fine reproductions on Liveauctioneers, on ebay, and on other websites on the Net. For those who don't know, Julian Thomas  is the owner of Thomas Toys in Fenton, Michigan, USA. He worked at GM (General Motors) in the modelling and design department before deciding to create his own company of replacement toy parts. When I way buying and selling toys on ebay, I discovered Julian Thomas and his two children who work with him. I dealt with Julie, his daughter, who helped me all the time when I would phone for a part. 

   Julian produced a fantasist group of reproduction vintage cast iron toys, and they are in demand by collectors. They look like they might have come off the "assembly line" way back in the 1930's. But Julian imprinted his surname on the inside of the toy, and also Made in U.S.A. I'm sure he wanted to let people know that this was a reproduction - but an excellent reproduction!

Please click here to redirect to Malinda's ebay home page

I wonder if Malinda's father's name is David?

I like the Thomas Logo.

The Thomas markings on the toy, letting you know that this is a Thomas toy and not a Hubley original.

I like the fold-down luggage rack at the back of the toy.

 And of course, the driver, and the taxi cab roof sign. I just noticed the 2 small domed silver projections on the roof.I'll have to find out what those were. Perhaps they were meant to be lit or unlit depending on whether or not the "cabbie" (the taxi driver) had a fare (rider) or not.

Malinda certainly knows how to take excellent photos, with what she described as a $ 200.00 camera. I can't even imagine what detail I'd see if she had one of those"fancy" cameras! I like how Malinda came close to exaggerate (distort) the front details of the car, with a wide-angle setting on the lens.

This item has not yet been listed on ebay, but I'm sure it will be. Malinda's probably working on the type (text) for the description listing for ebay.

It's nice to have friends and guest to help make my life easier when blogging. Not that I have so much heartache being retired and taking an hour or two to create another new post!

Thanks for visiting, and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com