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Wishful Thinking
ou’d think I’d know better by now. I’ve been hunting and grooving excellent condition hooked me and, after offering the owner $80 as
on vintage toys for more than 40 years, and I’ve learned my share opposed to his price of $95, I coughed up the cash and placed the
Yof hard lessons. But this time, school was back in session. Arcade—and my rose-colored glasses—into a bag the owner provided.
Originality pushes my button in a big way as a collector. There’s At home the next day, two things jumped out at me as being off
something a little amazing about coming across a toy or a device or a when I unwrapped the Plymouth. One was the fact that the car was
comic book that’s in the same condition as when it left the factory or missing the connecting/bracing rod that Arcade placed in many of
the printer in 1939…who was its first owner? Did he or she ever use it, its toy cars. The company made its toys in two pieces, split down the
or was it placed in a box and forgotten about? Did someone else come middle, and the rods were then added to help hold the toy together.
along decades later and discover it and how did that happen? I could plead ignorance on that one, as my knowledge of cast iron
A result of this appreciation of construction would fit on the head of
(obsession with?) originality is that Arcade’s five inch Plymouth a pin. The tips of the connecting rod
there are very few pieces in my collec- sedan: not everything it still being on both sides of the car,
tion that aren’t in perfect original appeared to be. though, should have been at least a
condition. Once in a blue moon, I’ll yellow flag.
acquire something that’s worn or But I have no excuse for missing
damaged, but there has to be a really the red flag in the paint finish. Had I
good reason, such as the object’s rarity taken the time for a proper look at the
or its association with a special person paint, I would have seen two clues.
or event. One, the paint on the roof overall was
Last September, a good friend from much smoother than that of the rest
Indiana visited us here in Connecticut, of the car; and two, the roof also had
and we spent a Saturday hitting flea several sanding marks that became
markets and antique shops in the visible when you turned the toy under
northeastern part of the state. One of a light. The cherry on top (so to speak)
our stops was a vintage toy shop that is the fact that the blue paint used to
we got to just as the owner was closing Your correspondent failed to notice re-paint the roof and sides of the
up for the day. When I told him my the absence of the connecting rod and model doesn’t match the blue of the
friend lived in Indiana and might mismatched paint on the Arcade. fenders, running boards, and rear of
never be back this way again, the the car.
owner was kind enough to let us come The repair work got past me
in and look around. I found a couple because I let it get past me. I wanted
of small 1940s Pep cereal comic that Arcade to be what it appeared
character premium buttons (Kayo and to be, and I allowed that to guide
Skeezix, beautiful condition) and was my decision.
at the register paying for them when I The experience, though, didn’t put
noticed a case on the wall with several me off cast iron. A month or so later at
cast iron cars. the Allentown antique toy event, I
Now, cast iron generally isn’t on spotted a beautiful-looking tow truck
my radar screen. I’ve found that the made by Pennsylvania-based Hubley
vast majority are chipped or otherwise in the 1930s, a little less than 4 inches
in less than original condition. But the in length. It helped that it was sitting
five-inch-long blue Plymouth sedan in The Hubley tow truck passes muster in terms of originality, on the table of a friend who is known
the case looked gorgeous, so I asked even if it does sport a few small paint chips. for buying and selling only original
the owner to let me take a closer look. toys; nonetheless, I gave that wrecker a
It weighed a ton, of course, as cast iron good going-over, eyeball-wise, until I
always does, and it sported its original was satisfied that it was all original. It’s
tires – which were brittle and cracked, sitting on a side table as I write this in
but that’s the kind of patina that our toy room. Kinda looks like an only
actually can help an old piece. child wishing for a new friend.
Made by Arcade in Freeport,
Illinois during the 1930s—their line of Douglas R. Kelly is the editor of Marine
Plymouths was based on the 1933 Technology magazine. His byline has
models—the sedan just looked right appeared in Antiques Roadshow Insider;
to me as we stood chatting at the Back Issue; Diecast Collector; RetroFan;
cash register. Its pre-war charm and and Buildings magazines.

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