Collecting Barclay Transports and Cars

The Barclay transports and cars interest collectors for a variety of reasons. First, these are real toys, not models. They were very inexpensive-the individual cars sold for five cents apiece in the early 1950s-yet colorful and durable. These toys are interesting because they were manufactured in four distinct series with many varieties and colors over a period of 40 years.

These toys interest collectors because people remember them from their childhood, they are attracted by their simplicity and color, they represent a classic "child's" toy of the period, they offer a tremendous variety of ways to be collected, and they include numerous scarce and rare varieties. The Barclay transport toys can be collected in any number of ways included collecting examples from a single series, collecting examples from each series, collecting either sets or the cars only, and collecting an in-depth collection, which includes the many varieties and colors.

A more subtle reason to collect this toy is that new varieties are still being found. Although the new book, Barclay Toys - Transports & Cars©, for the first time provides a detailed listing of the various varieties and variations, the authors recognize that additional varieties exist. The fun is in finding both the many scarce and rare varieties as well as new varieties that have yet to be catalogued. The Barclay auto transport toys are a great collectable because the design is appealing, they exists in many varieties-both very common and very scarce, and they can be collected in many different ways.