I was lucky enough to purchase this gem recently. As soon as I clapped my eyes on it I was smitten.
Admittedly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and this ‘ancient beast’ isn’t every collector’s cup of tea, but I absolutely love it!
I’ve always been enthusiastic about early diecast. I love their simplicity, and this is for a reason of course. They were made for one thing, and one thing only – and that’s to be played with. Not collected, put on a shelf and admired. They were made for children; made to race around a living room, a garden, a street, they were made with the intention to let imaginations run wild.
On seeing this fella, my imagination ran amok. What the hell is this thing I thought. And to be honest, I had no idea then and I still have no idea now!
All I know is that it’s non-ferrous so probably made from lead and it weighs nearly a whopping one pound (44.6g in fact) in weight! If you dropped it on your foot you’d certainly know about it!!! It measures 11 cms in length, and it may have been repainted at one time in its life.
It looks as if it’s a US car, and it has a late 1920’s early 30’s vibe with it. This led me to think it could be Hubley, possibly Arcade – but the car isn’t cast iron so could these manufacturers be ruled out for that reason?
These are the questions I need answers to:
Who made it?
What is car? Is it based on a real model or imagined?
When was it made?
If you know anything please let me know – use the comment box at the bottom of the page.
And in the meantime, I’ll keep admiring it. I think it’s been played with enough during its long life, so I let it have a rest a ‘sturdy’ shelf in one of the display cabinets.
