Coachbult.com - Anchor Top & Body Company



Anchor Top & Body Company - Anchor Carriage Co. - Cincinnati, Ohio

Anchor Buggy Company 1880-1910		The largest buggy ever built was made by this firm for advertising purposes. It had massive 80" front and 88" rear wheels and was exhibited at a number of carriage-builders conventions in the late 1800s.
Anchor Top & Body Company 1910s-1920s		Built professional cars on Dodge chassis during the 1920s The Anchor Motor Car Company was the automotive branch of the Anchor Carriage Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. Anchor manufactured a touring car from 1910-1911 that had a 35hp 4-cylinder engine but were better known for their hearse and ambulance bodies. Anchor Top & Body Co. - 340 South St, Cincinnati, Ohio ad 1920 Motor pp142
Anchor Buggy and Carriage Company, Inc. 1958		Anchor Buggy and Carriage Company, Inc. In 1953 Stuart sales increased. Dexter Balterman moved the company to larger quarters at 337 W. Fifth Street at the beginning of 1958. Stuart made 30 different western sets from 1953 to 1960 and introduced a new line of 15 combination sets in 1960. Some of the sets had a series. Sam Levinson retired from Stuart when the company relocated to Fifth Street and started his new business at the former Stuart location - The Anchor Buggy and Carriage Company. The name was borrowed from the original company that made real carriages at the turn of the century in Cincinnati. It's likely that Como Plastics cast the buggy horse used in Anchor's historic carriages but the ten historic model carriages were cast at a another company (see the Anchor Connection page). xxxx STUART AND ANCHOR In 1932 Samuel Levinson established the Stuart Manufacturing Company at 9 East Third Street in Cincinnati, Ohio. Stuart made children's night lights and other items before producing a line of 60mm Western toys in the 1950s and 60s. Levinson sold the Stuart Manufacturing Company to his partner, Dexter Balterman, in 1953 and stayed to help Balterman run the company. By 1954 Stuart had moved to 215 W. Fourth Street. Because of growing demand for Stuart's Western toys, the company relocated to a larger facility at 337 Fifth Street in 1958. Levinson retired from Stuart at that time, staying at the Fourth Street location to create The Anchor Buggy and Carriage Company, Inc. The original Anchor Buggy and Carriage Company was a leader in the production of carriages in the 19th. century. It is a hallowed name in Cincinnati. Samuel Levinson had gotten permission in 1935 to revive the name for creating exact miniature plastic carriage models. ANCHOR MODEL CARRIAGES Anchor made colorful plastic carriage parts which snapped together for easy assembly. The detachable rubbery harnesses in black or brown were made for Anchor solid-bodied prancing horses. Anchor carriages were sold in toy stores, department stores and hobby shops. Anchor made 10 historic carriage models: Two Horse Sleigh (popular in 1885), Runabout (first vehicle of the early West with steel springs), Buckboard (used in the Western frontier), Surrey (1800s canopy-top family vehicle), Sulky (used as a racer), Landau (built for President Grant), Phaeton (six-passenger carriage popular up to the days of the motor vehicle), Victoria Carriage (built for Queen Victoria), Lincoln Carriage (built for President Lincoln) and Buggy. Anchor also made a set of 3 Champion horses. Anchor soft plastic horses are 3 13/16 inches tall. Išve seen them in white, pale cream, black, variations of marbled gray and silver. White is more common. The only probable Anchor knockoffs that I know of are 1/72 scale versions made in Hong Kong. In the United States, Anchor carriage toys were especially popular in the Pennsylvania and Ohio Mennonite areas. One newspaper article dated July 6, 1962 said that Levinson sold a million models in the U.S. before receiving offers from companies to market the toys in Europe. And, that he was traveling to Europe in August to complete arrangements with several toymakers who wanted to make and distribute carriage models to the (then) Common Market countries. Anchor sold its model kits all over the world. Samuel Levinson died October 15, 1964 at age 80. I believe he would be happy to know that his wonderful model carriages are still being collected and appreciated.
		For more information please read: The Professional Car (Quarterly Journal of the Professional car Society) Gregg D. Merksamer - Professional Cars: Ambulances, Funeral Cars and Flower Cars Thomas A. McPherson - American Funeral Cars & Ambulances Since 1900 Carriage Museum of America - Horse-Drawn Funeral Vehicles: 19th Century Funerals Carriage Museum of America - Horse Drawn - Military, Civilian, Veterinary - Ambulances Gunter-Michael Koch - Bestattungswagen im Wandel der Zeit Walt McCall & Tom McPherson - Classic American Ambulances 1900-1979: Photo Archive Walt McCall & Tom McPherson - Classic American Funeral Vehicles 1900-1980 Photo Archive Walter M. P. McCall - The American Ambulance 1900-2002 Walter M.P. McCall - American Funeral Vehicles 1883-2003 Michael L. Bromley & Tom Mazza - Stretching It: The Story of the Limousine Richard J. Conjalka - Classic American Limousines: 1955 Through 2000 Photo Archive Richard J. Conjalka - Stretch Limousines 1928-2001 Photo Archive Thomas A. McPherson - Eureka: The Eureka Company : a complete history Thomas A. McPherson - Superior: The complete history Thomas A. McPherson - Flxible: The Complete History Thomas A. McPherson - Miller-Meteor: The Complete History Robert R. Ebert - Flxible: A History of the Bus and the Company Hearses - Automobile Quarterly Vol 36 No 3 Beverly Rae Kimes - The Classic Car Beverly Rae Kimes - The Classic Era Beverly Rae Kimes - Packard: A History of the Motorcar and Company Beverly Rae Kimes & Henry Austin Clark Jr. - Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 Richard Burns Carson - The Olympian Cars Raymond A. Katzell - The Splendid Stutz Marc Ralston - Pierce Arrow Brooks T. Brierley - There Is No Mistaking a Pierce Arrow Brooks T. Brierley - Auburn, Reo, Franklin and Pierce-Arrow Versus Cadillac, Chrysler, Lincoln and Packard Brooks T. Brierley - Magic Motors 1930 Nick Georgano - The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile: Coachbuilding John Gunnell - Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975 James M. Flammang & Ron Kowalke - Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1976-1999 Daniel D. Hutchins - Wheels Across America: Carriage Art & Craftsmanship Marian Suman-Hreblay - Dictionary of World Coachbuilders and Car Stylists Michael Lamm and Dave Holls - A Century of Automotive Style: 100 Years of American Car Design Thomas E. Bonsall - The Lincoln Motorcar: Sixty Years of Excellence Fred Roe - Duesenberg: The Pursuit of Perfection Arthur W. Soutter - The American Rolls-Royce John Webb De Campi - Rolls-Royce in America Hugo Pfau - The Custom Body Era Hugo Pfau - The Coachbult Packard Griffith Borgeson - Cord: His Empire His Motor Cars Don Butler - Auburn Cord Duesenberg George H. Dammann - 90 Years of Ford George H. Dammann & James K. Wagner - The Cars of Lincoln-Mercury Thomas A. MacPherson - The Dodge Story F. Donald Butler - Plymouth-Desoto Story Fred Crismon - International Trucks George H. Dammann - Seventy Years of Chrysler Walter M.P. McCall - 80 Years of Cadillac LaSalle Maurice D. Hendry - Cadillac, Standard of the World: The complete seventy-year history George H. Dammann & James A. Wren - Packard Dennis Casteele - The Cars of Oldsmobile Terry B. Dunham & Lawrence R. Gustin - Buick: A Complete History George H. Dammann - Seventy Years of Buick George H. Dammann - 75 Years of Chevrolet John Gunnell - Seventy-Five Years of Pontiac-Oakland

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