The story
Barclay Manufacturing was formed by Leon Donze and Michael Levy in about 1922.. The name of the company came from Barclay Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. The company was later based in North Bergen, New Jersey.
In 1939, Barclay acquired another toy soldier company, Tommy Toy, and its art deco sculptor, Olive Kooken. Soldiers' uniforms followed military fashion of the times, replacing closed standing collars with open ones with shirt and tie. Wrap-around puttees were replaced by canvas leggings. Prior to the company's temporary closing in 1942, the foot soldiers were purchased individually for a nickel.
Some of Barclay's first vehicles were slush-cast white metal made in the 1930s. Some of the models were in art deco style. One selection was a "Coast to Coast" art deco style bus – another a two-tone oil tanker with pontoon fenders – on both models, fenders were different colors from the bodies. One available set had a cartoon-like strip on the box lid that stated it was a "Build and Paint Your Own Auto Set" which was "Loads of fun". The set included a four-door sedan, a two-door, and a tanker truck. It included paint, and the cars had white rubber wheels.
Also about this time, and into the 1940s, the company made a variety of military vehicles – tanks, trucks with cannon, and other cars painted brown.
From Wikipedia’s article on Barclay Manufacturing Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3