Introducing The "Buddy L Steel Toy Collection

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

-1° C /30 F

Sunny and Damp

Introducing the

Buddy L Steel Toy Collection

Please click on this sentence to redirect to this exceptional website resource for Buddy L Toys

I'd been to this wonderful website a fews years ago, but never decided to ask 

for permission to write a blog post. A few days ago, I  was searching for the

site, and I found it. I browsed the site, and I remembered how fascinated by this website when I first discovered it.

I wrote a note to the owner of the site, and within a few days, I got a reply 

from Mr. John Riley. It's coincidental that John lives in Vermont (U.S.A.), which is an American State that borders Quebec (Canada). I have fond memories of Vermont, because when I was young, my parents, my grandmother, brothers and sister, my aunt, uncle and cousins would vacation in St. Albans Bay, Vermont.

I received Mr. Riley's permission to write a post for him, and use his excellent photography. His website is  an excellent website resource for learning about the Buddy L Toy Company. However, when I had browsed John's website, I 

found a section of his site that moved me! 

The section was for Buddy L wood toys, which was an anomaly (something different  from the standard or normal). I thought "wood toys"

from a toy steel manufacturer? Now that's most certainly different,

and I had to investigate.

When I redirected to the section on the wood toys,

I had to stop after reading the first 4 words:

"During World War II".

I immediately knew what John was going to write and. I was very moved.

You can read the what he wrote in the screen-capture photo below. That will help

you understand why wood toys were made during 1941-1945 in the USA,

and most likely, the rest of the world.

Please read the paragraph below for the explanation:

I've never come across Buddy L wood toys, but I've written several posts on

these fine pressed steel toy. So finding Buddy L wood toys was both eye-opening

and a great discovery.

I have to apologize because I didn't enter the written description 

for these special toys. As soon as I have time, I will add the descriptions 

for these toys. 

It's easy to forget that these fine toys were manufactured during extremely hard times. As well, children still needed something to take their young minds away from the hardships of those years. It's sometimes hard to realize that

those times, more than 80 years ago, are memories of mine from reading books. 

How the times flies.....

Thanks for dropping by, and as always,

have a great part of the morning, afternoon, or evening

wherever you may be.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman,

and I can always be reached at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

 

A Rare Buddy L Wood Station Wagon

Friday, January 5, 2017
Overcast, very cold, and blowing winds
- 21C   - 5.8 F 

A Rare Buddy L 
Wood  Station Wagon

   At the Dan Morphy toy auction (December 13,2014), one of Dan's listing was a rare wood Buddy L (USA) station wagon. Once upon a time, the station wagon was a car that was made  in North America.  This was the time before the Dodge Caravan reinvented the station wagon, or the  SUV came into existence and eventually became a common sight on the road.

  My father always had a station wagon ever since he had joined my grandmother's catering business and took charge of being the representative for the company. This was in the mid 1950's, and he needed a car that would be able to hold many people (a company car with his mother, sister,his mother, and my mother in the business). When the car was not used for business, the car would be used for pleasure,especially when we went to "the country". "The country" was what we called the summer house which we rented.  His last station wagon was a 1971 or 1982 Dodge.It had a large-sized 383 V8 engine that made the car run smoothly, and it had air conditioning! This was the last car my father would have. He entered the hospital in 1976 for a  a bypass operation, but died before he could have the operation.The doctors had taken him off his medication too quickly,and the drastic change gave him a massive heart attack.He lived for a few more months and died of another massive heart attack.

  Below is a similar station wagon of the time.We had an olive green station wagon,and one of the features that I remember was a "super light" that the car came with as an option.  This was an airplane landing light that was modified to project a rectangular beam. It was in addition to the high beams on the car.  It literally lit up the area in front of the car! It's funny though that this feature never caught on! Another feature on another car (the Ford) was  a thermos-like system for keeping antifreeze warm in the winter. Up here in Canada where this would be a great feature, I thought this was another great idea. That also never seemed to have caught in!

   It's interesting how our memories of things are different from reality. When I look at the car below it appears super-long, which it was at the time. But onlooking at this car now,it was a big stretch!

Anyway, that's enough "storytelling", and let's get back to  Morphy Auctions fine rare station wagon from the 1940's. For those who haven't read my previous posts, the 1940's were a time when the USA was at war in Europe and in Asia.  The government created production limitations on  many items including metals. Consequently, toy  companies in the USA adapted by replacing most of the metal parts of toys with wood. Most of the toy companies also participated in the war effort by converting to war production. One day, I will do some research and write a post or 2 about what the American toy  companies produced for the war during WWII.

Please click here to visit this fine American auction company's website

The station wagon below reminds me the the Californian "woodies".The "woodies" were wood side panelled station wagons that entered the surfing "culture".These cars would have roof racks to hold the surfboards as the surfers went to the beach to surf.

The station wagon below has more metal than the one above. 

It would be interesting to know when it was made compared with the red one to cross-reference it with the rationing of metal during the war years. 

Bertoia Auctions

www.bertoiaauctions.com

Real station wagons did not have such a rear opening single door. 

They usually had a top portion and a bottom portion. As a toy, this would have been great to put things into! And if you were a kid living in California, you could probably make a few mini surf boards to add to the roof!

Of course, the toy still had its original box which makes it all the more valuable as a collectible.

Except for  certain toys (Lionel train set, Meccano set, Minibrix set) that has lots of pieces, I never kept the original box of all my other toys. Anyway, by the time we moved in 1963 from our  triplex unit in Outremont  to a duplex in Ville Saint Laurent, all of my toys ( I was 15 then) had mysteriously disappeared. I don't even remember being asked by my mother if I still wanted them - they just vanished! Of course girls, the country  in summer, and high school took care of keeping me busy, so toys somehow got lost  among my interests.

Now, if I had just been more preoccupied with toys and saved those boxes as well!

Thanks for dropping by and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com