From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
EARLY TOY CARS: Throughout history, toys have been a part of every culture in our world. Toys have provided countless children with the opportunity to experience a grown-up's world in miniature and to learn essential skills of survival. Wheels have featured in toys since the first century BC in Greece but it was the explosion of skills in the 19th century brought about by the Industrial Revolution which brought new methods to the manufacture of toys which enabled more children than ever before to own a toy.
From as early as the 1800s tin began to be used in making toys for the children of wealthy parents. The scientific principles of the swinging pendulum, the application of centrifugal force and weight counterbalancing found their way into the toys of that period. By the end of the century the car had appeared on the roads of Europe, and it was not surprising that this period saw an enormous proliferation of automotive toys on to the market.
Almost invariably made of tin-plate, these toy cars reflected the great city-to-city races which caught the imagination of the public, and were often the toy manufacturers' fanciful imaginings of what one of the new-fangled automobiles should look like.
The development of the machine press allowed the mass production of toys which then became available to a far wider audience of eager children than ever before. Decorated by 'chromolithography' before the metal sheet was formed or hand-enamelled after pressing, these toys allowed a standard of realism and detail which had not been possible before.
Around 1903 - when the Gordon Bennett races were at the peak of their popularity - the quality of these toys improved dramatically and reflecting the popularity of these races numerous toys of 'Gordon Bennett' cars flooded the market. The way was led by the German companies such as Carette, Bing and Marklin who were the undoubted masters of the tin-plate toy, and by French companies such as Jep and Fernand Martin.
The introduction of clockwork mechanisms to these cars added a whole new dimension and broadened the possibilities of play, particularly to the very popular models of racing cars.
By 1915 there was even an electric racing car set available - the 'Famous Lionel Racing Electric Automobiles' - predating the familiar Scalectric sets by over 40 years! By the early 1920s, toy automobile construction sets were available and proving very popular, particularly in the US. One such model, constructed of wood and tin and made by the A Schoenhut Company in America, even allowed the young builder to construct a racer, roadster, coupé, limousine or delivery van from the parts which were all interchangeable and could be taken apart for reuse again and again.
Not surprisingly, this expertise in turn led to the development of pedal cars. Pedal cars had been an item in the nurseries of large houses almost from the first appearance of the motor car but now they developed into quite sophisticated products which were the objects of every small boy's desire. In France, in particular, around 1906, pedal cars developed into just about the most popular toy available.
Today, surviving examples of these early toy cars fetch staggering prices on the open market and are highly collectable.