The 1930's Toy Racers

Tuesday, November 21, 2016
Overcast and cold
0 Celcius  32 Fahrenheit

The 1930's Toy Racers

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Almost as soon as the  automobile was invented, races of various sorts were organized. The first recorded race was in 1867. Early races were more for the reliability of the automobiles, in order for manufacturers to exhibit the reliability of their products. By the 1930's specially-constructed automobiles were constructed exclusively for racing.  There were long distance races, racing on a specially designed oval with angled embankments, and there were the famous land-speed racing on the Bonneville Salt Flats (Utah, USA), as well as on the beaches of Daytona (Florida, USA).*

* Citation:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_racing

Most of the autos presented today would race around a closed-circuit oval, with the audience seated in the grandstands.  However, there are 2 autos that were designed exclusively for land-speed records. They are the Kingsbury Golden Arrow,  the Lindstrom land speed race car, and the Buffalo Blue Bird Land Speed Racer.

Most  toy racers were manufactured from pressed steel or tin, and would have been lithographed with the design and colours of the toy. Of course, in the 1930's cast iron was still used for many toys, and several manufacturers did design and manufacture race cars.

Like all popular real-life things, toy car racers were quite popular for people to go to watch, and these events were photographed for newspapers. As such, most of the toy manufacturers manufactured toy car race cars for the marketplace.

French Tin Clockwork Race Car

Extremely thin pressed tin.

Lithographed tin with clockwork "motor".

Circa: 1930's

Length: 8"  204 mm

Buffalo Toy Company Silver Dash Racer

Light weight tin, lithographed tin men.

Movement via the spiral rod winder that was used on most of their toys.

Scarce racer.

Circa 1930's

Length:  13 1/2" 342 mm

Citroen (France) Clockwork Racer

Large heavy pressed steel with rubber tires.

Key wound clockwork mechanism.

Circa 1930's

Length:  17"  430 mm

Lindstrom Land Speed Race Car

Lithographed tin with clockwork wind-up (key) "motor".

Circa 1930's

Length: 5 1/2" 140 mm

Hubley Cast Iron Closed Cabin Racer

Painted cast iron with nickel-plated driver.

Rubber tires on wood rims (appear replaced).

Circa 1930's

Length:  8"  203 mm

Kingsbury (USA) Golden Arrow Land Speed Racer

Pressed steel based on the famous Golden Arrow Land Speed Racer.

Painted pressed steel with clockwork motor.

Circa 1930's

Length:  19"  482 mm

Buffalo Toys Blue Bird Land Speed Racer with Original Box

Rare to find an accompanying original box with this toy.

Painted light weight tin.

Powered by a long pull rod attached to a coiled spring.

Circa 1930's

Length:  21"  520 mm

Mettoy 1930's Tin Racer

Lithographed tin with a windup clockwork "motor"

Marx Rocket Racer

Very light weight construction.Difficult to find in this condition.

Wind-up clockwork mechanism

Circa 1935

Hubley No. 5 Cast Iron Racer

A smaller-sized cast iron Hubley racer.

Painted cast iron with nickel-plated driver.

Pressed steel wheels with nickel-plated driver

Cast Iron Racers-Part 4-The Hubley Animated Racer

Saturday, September 20, 2014
     Sunny and still unseasonably cold

Cast Iron racers

Part 4

The Hubley Animated Racer

Of course, no discussion of cast iron racers would be complete without the Hubley cast iron "animated racer". I actually bought and sold one of these, and it's a most unique toy. I'll ass the post about it, so you can read how it works. Bertoia Auctions  is actually auctioning one today,and it's their nice photography that attracted my attention to this toy.

Please click here to visit this fine American auction company

This green  Hubley Golden Arrow Racer is up for auction today. You can view it on Liveauctioneers, or at the Bertoia Auctions website.

Superb photography on the part of Bertoia Auctions!

Like the other manufacturers, you can see that Hubley also offered 
their racer sin a selection of different colours.

With this model below, notice that the wheels are nickel-plated disc wheels,which are different from the nickel-plated spoke wheels with black rubber tires. Although the disc wheels below have lasted longer than the spoke wheels with black rubber tires, I prefer the spoke wheels.

This is the final instalment of the 4-part series on the cast iron racers of the 1930's.
Below are my own links within this blog to the other 3 parts.

Please click here for Part I of the series

Please click here for Part 2 of the series

Please click here for Part 3 of the series

Thanks for dropping by to visit,
and as always,
ave a great part of the day or night,
wherever you may be,
Stacey
toysearcher@gmail.com

Old Cast Iron Racers

Sunday, May 26, 2013
         (Indy 500 Race- USA)
(USA Holiday Monday May 27) 

Old Cast Iron Racers

   I just remembered that today is the famous Indy 500 race in Speedway, Indiana, USA.  This race has been running since 1911.  It's sometimes called "the Brick Yard". The reason for this name was that initially, the raceway had 3, 200,000 paving bricks for the racetrack. The first president of the raceway, Mr.  Carl Graham Fisher who also was a parts designer (GM  or General Motors - Body by Fisher). The purpose of the bricks as for better safety on the course. There are still bricks that have remained on the course as a memento of times long ago, but they now function more as symbols that for safety.  The course is  two and a half miles in length, with four turns of 1/4 mile that create a sort of rectangular shape. The race is more one of speed than endurance or strategy as the formula 1 races. Very fast speeds are achieved, and the racers are always alert for dangers thst in the past have claimed lives! 

Please click on this sentence to be redirected to the fine Morphy website

The car above has what simulated fire form the pistons. An irregularly-shaped front axle moves to push 2 moveable rods that move up and down. The red projections that you see coming through the hood (bonnet in Britain) move up and down as the toy is pulled. If you look closely, there is a small hold for a piece of cord to be attached at the front of the car.

You can see the similarity of the "elevated projections" on the hood of this car. to the first green car.

Notice that the 2 cars above are the same, but for a missing reflector in the top car. I mentioned in a previous post, that it's important to visit  the auctioneers that I write about or go to Liveauctioneers. In this way, you can look at the same toy from many different sellers, and see what is the complete condition and parts to that particular model.

The above car has the removable side panels. This allows you to see inside the engine compartment.

Notice that these 2 cars have different colour combinations., so that a child would have a choice when selecting this particular toy. The small hole at the front of the core is again for a string attachment, as this is also a "pull toy".

Once again, I've presented 2 "almost" identical cars. However, in this case, the tires or wheels are different. So the question for you, the potential buyer would be to find out if:

1. 1 car was more costly or valuable than the other

2. Perhaps someone added replavcement wheels which never really came with this particularr car

Here is a trio of 3 similar Champion toy racers. Once again you can see different variations of the dsmae toy. The top and bottom cars have painted drivers, compared with the nickel-plated middle car. As well, the car at the top has nickel-plated wheels, compared with its 2 lower siblings, which have rubber tires mounted on  red wooden hubs (rims). 

When I was buying and selling old toys on E-Bay, I was able to purchase most of the toys above from the last 2 composite photos. These particular toys are not expensive (costly), but they're nice to see "up close" or to collect. 

That's a very nice  A.C. Williams racer! 

Sometimes, the proportions and scale (relative size dimensions to the "real car") are not precise. I like the exaggerated hood ornament and the size of the driver relative to the smaller-sized car.

Last but not least are a trio of small, but nice cars. Unlike the next generation of toys that were to come later, these 1920-1930's cars were much simpler in design and construction. The "real" cars were of course, simpler, but also the process of making moulds with for molten cast iron was limiting. As such, only so much detail could be reproduced through the process.

However, for children of that day, and myself today, I still like the "simplicity with elegance" design of these very old toys!

So I finish by with the famous works of the start at the Indy Raceway -   

Gentlemen, start your engines!

Thanks for dropping by, 

and I hope you all have had a restful Sunday or whatever day you 

may be dropping by to visit. 

And to my  viewers, have a happy and pleasant 

Memorial Day holiday tomorrow. 

Stacey