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Ironman Toys Limited Edition Hubley Cast Iron Nickel Plated Harley Hillclimber

We have for you a highly desirable cast iron nickel-plated Harley Hillclimber that is a limited-edition creation made by Arnie Prince of Ironman Toys of California.

What a great toy by one of our favorite artists– Ironman!   This is a Hubley Hillclimber toy by Ironman that was Nickel Plated.

He took the Hubley design and decided it needed nickel plating. It is likely a combination of older and newer parts and then upgraded for a glossy display. Ironman chose the high-end spoke and solid wheels, then added the right amount of accents with flesh hands & face, along with black on the H.D. tank.

Ironman has recently closed his California location. He relocated and as of this time, isn’t open for business anymore.

Enjoy this beautiful display toy!

A brief history of Ironman Toys of California:

Ironman Toys is a business created by Arnie Prince in California to help with cast iron toy restoration. His business spun off to make extremely limited and custom toys in the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s. He created his own Chevy Roadster, cast iron motorcycles, and reimagined Ford roadsters (among many others). Arnie is considered one of the best restoration artists, and a premier custom toymaker. His toys have been rising in price as collectors enjoy the metal art.

A brief history of Hubley Manufacturing Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania:  

The Hubley Manufacturing Company was first incorporated in 1894 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania by John Hubley. Their slogan was “They’re Different”. They were occasionally known as Lancaster Brand Iron Toys which manufactured electric toy train equipment and parts. In 1909, they purchased the Safety Buggy Co. factory and moved to the site. The first Hubley toys appeared in 1909 and were made of cast iron, with themes that ranged from horse-drawn vehicles, fire engines, circus trains, different breeds of dogs, tractors, steam shovels, horses, banks, and cap guns.  

The Hubley Manufacturing Company produced a wide range of cast-iron toys, doorstops, and bookends. Toys, particularly motor vehicles and cap guns, were also produced in zinc alloy and plastic. The company is probably most well-known for its detailed scale metal kits of Classic cars in about 1:20 scale. Starting in 1960, Hubley participated for a couple of years with Detroit automakers as a plastic promotional model maker. Many Hubley toys are now sought-after collectibles. Hubley’s main competition in the early years was Arcade as well as a bit from A.C. Williams.  

By the 1930s autos became the headliners. By quickly converting to cheaper smaller toys during the Depression, they avoided the financial woes experienced by many other toy companies. Iron shortages in WWII and commitments to fill war contracts did stop the toy division in 1942, until after the war.  

As of 2019, Wikipedia tells us that, “Perhaps Hubley’s diversification in the 1960s overtaxed its profits, weakening it financially by the 1970s. Hubley was purchased by toy maker Gabriel about 1969 who continued to make its regular kits and diecast kid’s toys through the 1970s. A series of colorful but rather unexciting generic make diecast toy trucks were available in a variety of forms (dump trucks, tow trucks, etc.) up until about 1980. Gradually, the Hubley name was downplayed in favor of Gabriel.  

Around 1980, Hubley was acquired by CBS Toys which later sold many dies to Ertl and Scale Models, both of Dyersville, Iowa. For example, the Hubley Ford 4000 tractor was reproduced by Scale Models, up through the 1990s and perhaps later (Scale Models 2010). In the 1990s, some Hubley vehicles like the school bus were also reissued with minor variations from the original casting.  

Ertl has now stopped production of all of the original toy dies and molds purchased from Hubley. As a result, all remaining Hubley/Ertl metal kits are fairly rare. They can be purchased from auction websites as well as from collectors and older hobby stores.”