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