Hammer (W. Germany)
See? This is exactly why I put up this site. I had originally placed this as "Anker," because the car I purchased on Ebay was presented as an Anker (which was an East German company). I was surprised when I got the car and it said on the bottom "Made in W. Germany." It turns out that the car is more likely a Hammer. Eric Kersbergen, webmaster/editor of www.87thScale.info was kind enough to to send the following note (abridged):

"...the company that made your Alfa model is probably Hammer. If you have a closer look at the logo at the 'Anker' on your website you'll see that it is made of an 'H' and a picture of a hammer. You can find a list of all Hammer models at: http://www.87thscale.info/hammer.htm"

Ahhhhhh.... I get it. It LOOKS like an "A," but it's actually a perspective "H." I have to admit I thought it was a little stange that a company named Anker (Anchor) had what looked like a hammer on it.

The car I have is slightly larger than Matchbox (more Impy-sized). It's a plastic Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider which is pretty cute -- each axle is a single piece of plastic along with the tires and wheels, and the dashboard is clear, formed out of part of the windshield. are one piece of plastic.

Thanks to Eric Kersbergen -- and again, if you haven't yet stopped by www.87thScale.info yet, please take a look. You'll be hooked on it...

Hammer Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider
Hammer Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider bottom scan

Holland Oto (Spain)
(See Auto-Pilen)

Hot Wheels (U.S.A, Hong Kong, etc.)
You've got to be kidding, right? Along with Matchbox there has been more written about Hot Wheels than any other brand. There are enormous resources in both book form and on the Internet.

Hubley (United States, Canada)
One of my vivid memories as a kid was painting and putting together a Hubley metal model. It looked better than I usually did with plastic models, but I still stunk at that kind of thing.

According to Steve Butler (see below), Hubley was incorporated in 1894 in Lancaster, Pennsylvanie. Hubley had a diverse range of model toys, but concentrated on vehicles because of -- well, people like us. And what most of us remember is probably the range of approximately 6" toys made of metal with no interiors, glass or bases -- like the Ford Ranchero. (A small aside about that Ranchero. I just saw one listed on Ebay as a "50s pickup" in the headline, and a "40s" pickup in the body of the listing. Difficult, since it is definitely a riff on an early 60s Ranchero, even if it isn't marked that way. Caveat emptor, y'all.)

Hubley also made "Real Types" vehicles in Canada -- or did Hubley just distribute them in the U.S.? There's a question, because apparently (and I'm only going by shots of the box on the Internet. I haven't been able to get a reasonably priced one yet) the cars were manufactured by "Burslem Industries Limited, Toronto, Canada." In my collection is a Studebaker Golden Hawk (about 3", no glass or interiormetal base, gray wheels) in deplorable condition -- but these are tough to find on Ebay. The vehicle most often sold there is the school bus, although recently I've seen a Chrysler Imperial, a 1960 Ford Thunderbird, a Chevy wagon (perhaps a police car? There was a hole in the roof), Metro delivery trucks, and a box of "Canadian Traffic Signs In Perfect Scale." All of these went for several hundred dollars apiece.

You can check out "Hubley Toy Vehicles", by Steve Butler. 160 Pages. Softbound. Schiffer Books for Collectors.

Real Types Studebaker Hawk

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