Bigger Not Necessarily Better By Steve Butler

Lacking a complete assembly of Hubley factory catalogs, ads and other vintage literature, it is difficult to determine the production period for a series of trucks that Hubley would in part call “Shovel Trucks.” That identification would generally be pre-fixed with either “Panama” or “General.” The multiple, larger sizes available were in lengths from 7-inches to 13-inches with white rubber tires mounted on wood wheels or completely cast iron tires/wheels. Despite the size and model names, all the steam shovel trucks were C-cab macks with a steam shovel mounted on the rear of the chassis.

Despite the definite probability of outdoor play in sand, dirt and mud plus the potential for periods of remaining outdoors to face adverse weather, a bit of research turned up a surprisingly large number of the larger issues in reasonably decent collectable condition. Poor paint, repainting, replaced rubber tires and rust were the major condition detractions. To the contrary, very few examples of Hubley’s smallest steam shovel truck, a 4 1⁄2-inch toy, were located. That suggests that scarcity condition-wise, the smaller out ranks the larger.

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