Treasured Toy Car

Bill Breyfogle, c. 1938
color enhanced by myHeritage

My father-in-law (Bill) recently shared some of his boyhood treasures with my husband. This week as I was unpacking one of the boxes, I came across this well worn toy car. Not having any idea about its provenance, I asked my husband. He said that this was a toy car that his dad had been given when he was a little boy from a “cousin”.

I uploaded one of the photos and using Google Lens found an eBay result below that helped identify at least a manufacturer and era for it. I was curious to hear a little more about the story, so I called my father-in-law.

He was delighted that I was interested and shared with me that he remembered meeting the person who was the original owner and he thought he was about the age of his 1st cousins, Joe and JC DeBoer (so born around 1919) and he also knew the sad fact that this man served in WW2 but didn’t return. He wasn’t sure how he was related and it might even have been cousins of his cousins and it might have been his cousin’s mother’s side. In answering questions, he shared with me that the car is pretty much as he remembers receiving it, without the back license plate or spare tire and the painting of the silver was done before he received it.

The Original Owner

I love a good mystery, so I spent some time delving into my father-in-law’s family tree looking for a man who would have been a boy in the 1920s, who would have been able to enjoy a toy car like this around 1927 and served and died in WW2. At first I thought this was going to be easy, how many people could this be?

Since Bill said it wasn’t a 1st cousin (he actually only has 2 on the DeBoer side–Joe and JC) and thought it was related to their mother’s side, I looked into her. Since she married into the family, I hadn’t done much work on her line and it was all new. She was born Johanna “Anna” Smith on 5 June 1894 to

Anna and Joseph DeBoer
c. 1915

Earl Kyse Smith (1865-1900) and Grietje Hermans “Maggie” Van Bloois (1869-1951). Earl was married before Maggie, his first wife died shortly after the birth of their first child. Anna’s father, Earl, died when she was around 6 and with 4 children under 10, and Earl’s one just a little bit older it was not surprising that her mother, Maggie remarried quickly. She married John Stouten (1869-1950) and they had 2 more children together and he brought 5 children into the marriage from his first wife who also died. Not knowing if the original owner of the toy car might be a step-sibling, I felt I needed to investigate all 11 possibilities, which meant finding all of their spouses and children. After an exhaustive search, I found 1 man who died in Pearl Harbor, James Stouten (1901-1941), the son of John Stouten and his first wife. This didn’t seem right because he wasn't a child in 1927 and didn’t match being born in the 1919 timeframe. I looked for a son of James, but couldn’t find any indication he had children.

William and Eva Van Dam DeBoer Family
c. 1911

William and twin Martin
DeBoer c. 1880

So on to the possibility of 2nd cousins, which means investigating the families of siblings of Bill’s grandparents. His grandfather was William Joost (Joseph) DeBoer, a twin with Marinus (Martin) DeBoer born on 5 Oct 1871 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and they were #4 and 5 of 11 children. Whew! That’s a lot of kids to check out, but fortunately most of them I had already researched. This exhaustive research brought no possibilities! 

On to Bill’s grandmother, Aafke (Eva) Van Dam born 24 September 1871, also in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Unsurprisingly, they attended the same Dutch Reformed Church in Grand Rapids). Eva was the 2nd of 10 children! Let’s hope that each child didn’t have 10 children! Again, I had researched many of her siblings, so it didn’t take me long to find a likely candidate. The 5th child, Harmon Van Dam (1881-1954) and his wife Dorothy Froman (1893-1965) had 6 children (3 boys and 3 girls). The youngest of these boys was Peter Charles Van Dam born 1922 and served as a Tordepoman’s Mate Second Class aboard the submarine, the SS Kete. According to the

Naval History and Heritage Command, the Kete departed “Guam on 1 March 1945 headed for her second patrol in the vicinity of Nansei Shoto. In addition to performing a normal patrol, Kete had orders to submit special weather reports, and to carry out rescue service during an air strike by carrier based planes.” After firing some of their torpedoes on a small enemy cable laying vessel, they were directed to depart the area on 20 March and proceed to Pearl Harbor. They sent their last update on 20 March. They should have arrived to Midway (a refueling stop) by the 31st of March but never made it.

Here is the Obituary of Peter C. Van Dam published in the Grand Rapids Press on April 13, 1946. I am fairly certain that Peter was the original owner, or at least the boy who passed it along to my father-in-law, Bill.

More about the Toy Car

We don’t know exactly when Peter handed down his toy car, but it would have been well before he left for the Navy, since little Billy would have enjoyed it in the late 1930’s, when Peter was in high school. 

I did some more investigation on the car, which led me to the Antique Toy Collectors of America. (Are you surprised there is a club for this? I am no longer surprised since it seems like there is a club for everything!) Their website provides a plethora of information including the 1926 and 1931 catalogs for the Kingsbury Manufacturing Co. Another website called Pressed Steel & Metal Toys of the 1920s & 1930s provided some added photos and background of the Kingsbury toy company (but none of the exact car). Little Billy’s car does not appear in 1926 catalog but a version of it appears for sale in 1931 for $3. (Adjusted for inflation that would be $69.72 in today’s money).

The No. 340 Cabriolet is advertised as “A perfect reproduction of the artistic models seen on Fifth Ave. Finished blue with orange striping and wheels. Rubber tires and motor.” I’m thinking that earlier models were in green but the orange striping, rubber tires, and a wind up motor are still present. 

There appears to be a market for these antique toy cars (it is nearly 100 years old!), but my husband has no desire to give it up, especially now knowing its provenance!