These toys are collectible cars
These days, if something has wheels, it can be collectible. That includes everything from toys to trucks.
While the outdoor car season still is a few weeks away, the indoor season continues next Sunday as the Greater Boston Antique and Collectible Toy Show & Sale celebrates its 33rd year at the Dedham Holiday Inn.
You’re forgiven if you expected the show to be all about vintage Monopoly games, G.I. Joes, Barbie dolls, and dollhouse furniture.
Truth be told, the big draw is vehicles—both for the vendors who sell them and the buyers who collect them.
The wheeled toys range from the antique Buddy-L riding toys that date from the 1920s all the way up to the plastic replicas of the cars from “The Fast and The Furious’’ movie series.
“Anything that Paul Walker [Brian O’Conner in the series] drove in the movies is especially collectible,’’ says Wes Pettengill, who co-owns the Greater Boston show with Mike Melito.
While “The Fast and The Furious’’ cars can range from $8 to $50, depending on their scale (size) and availability, some of the antiques are worth big money.
Checking eBay one recent night, we found 1,322 listings for Buddy-L toys. The highest asking price we saw was $15,000 for a collection of 19 restored toy trucks, 17 of which were Buddy-Ls.
The Buddy-L story goes back to 1920 and Fred Lundahl, whose Illinois business, Moline Pressed Steel Co., produced steel parts for farm equipment and the automotive industry.
Lundahl wanted to build a toy for his son, Arthur, that would hold up better than what was available.
Legend has it that Lundahl’s first effort was a replica of an International Harvester dump truck that was created out of 18- and 20-gauge steel from the factory’s scrap steel pile.
He went on to build cars, vans, trucks, fire engines, construction equipment, and outdoor train sets.
Many of those toys were big enough for small children to straddle and ride.
Later, he built a Flivver series that included replicas of the various versions of Henry Ford’s Model T.
“Those [Flivvers] were more indoor toys,’’ says Pettengill, “so you see some that are still in remarkable original condition.
“Because the larger toys were meant to be used outside, these days you’re lucky to find an original with even some of its original paint. For that reason, these are one of the few toys that collectors don’t mind buying if they’ve been professionally restored,’’ he says.
Buddy-L’s success was quickly noticed and other toymakers such as Marx, Turner, and Sturdi-Toys were competitors.
Later would come wind-ups, English-made Tootsie toys, leading to the more recent Matchbox, Hot Wheels, and die-cast vehicles.
“You have collectors who seek cars in their original packaging and others who are looking for the exact replica of a special car—or cars—they’ve owned over the years,’’ says Pettengill.
Next Sunday’s show runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Adult admission is $7 and $5 after 12 p.m. Children under 12 are free. Highly motivated collectors can enter at 7 a.m. for $25.
Diesel Dilemmas
This is a depressing time for those who hoped that diesel power would carve out a bigger niche in the United States marketplace.
Some recent developments or non-developments in the diesel and hybrid world:
1. It’s now been more than six months since the Volkswagen emissions-fixing revelations surfaced. If VW had a quick fix, it would have been rolled out almost immediately. If the company had been able to develop a satisfactory solution, we’d have learned about it by now, too. This mess has become a morass that’s swallowed an entire generation of the company’s top talent—including its top US executive—with no solution in sight.
2. The US-based Diesel Technology Forum points to diesel-powered American pickups reaching the 30 mpg highway mileage mark as an indication that clean diesel still has a future. Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the DTF, recently addressed the International Motor Press Association in New York, pointing out that as many as 24 new diesel-powered models could be introduced in them US, including 5 cars, 12 SUVs, and 7 pickups. That includes a rumored diesel Ford F-150 pickup.
3. Online market researcher ReportsnReports.com has looked at the hybrid/electric future and concluded Japan will trend toward hybrid-electrics (HEVs) and fuel cells; low oil prices will hamper US EV sales while HEVs will continue to be favored here; Europe will promote 12-volt and 48-volt start-stop systems along with EVs, plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), and HEVs; while China will focus on EVs, PHEVs, and seek even more fuel-frugal HEVs.
Annoying Drivers (con’t.)
Thanks to all who keep emailing their pet peeves from our highways.
Bernie S contributes:
“Read your column and thought this was a good addition: I was coming out of a convenience store recently and an older-than-me lady stopped me to ask directions.
“I explained that she just needed to hop back on the rotary and take the third exit.’’
“Her response: ‘What’s a rotary?’
“Yes, I was left speechless.’’
And, from Rich Johnston:
“Heading south on Route 3 in Westford, there was no real traffic, but the left lane was slowing from 75 [miles per hour] down to 55. After a while, my patience exhausted, I moved to the middle lane and passed the slow line to my left . On reaching the lead car in the line, I looked over to see a woman with a cell phone in her left hand, hunched forward writing on a piece of paper on the dashboard. And, of course, mostly paying attention to the paper. I got out of there fast.’’
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