From 1959 - 1974, the Hubley Company of Pennsylvania manufactured and sold accurate 1:20 scale metal replicas of 1930 Model A Fords and other brands. There were seven Model "A" Ford body styles available: roadster, roadster pickup, town sedan, coupe, station wagon, victoria, and phaeton.

The kits contain several metal body castings and an assortment of plastic parts. It takes some time to clean up all the pieces and paint them, but the results are well worth the effort. This is a great family participation project for the younger members, as everyone who races a car must be involved in some part of the building of it.

History: In 1959-1960, the first Hubley Model A models were the Roadster and Roadster pickup. In 1961, they came out with the Phaeton, Town Sedan, and the Station Wagon. In 1962, the Coupe appeared. In 1963, the Victoria appeared.

Around 1975, Hubley sold out to Gabriel who continued who continued the production of the Model A cars and trucks for several years, exactly like the original Hubley vehicles.

Around 1990, Gabriel sold out to Ertl/Scale Models who changed the packaging but the cars were 100% the same as earlier Hubley and Gabriel cars. Scale Models ceased production around 2001.

For a graph showing the Hubley production timeline, click here. You may need to zoom in to see the packages clearly.

The original Hubley, Gabriel and Scale Model vehicles can still be located in swap meets, antique stores, eBay, and many times sitting on a shelf. All the parts are interchangeable between the three manufacturers.

One day many years ago, someone got the idea that it might be fun to "race" these model cars down a track similar to the "Pinewood Derby" that the Boy and Girl Scouts use. The Hubley Derby is a gravity race using the die cast 1/20 scale metal models made by Hubley, Gabriel, and Scale Model. Many of our meets now have an event for "the kids" - racing their toy Model A cars. Usually only appearing in local and regional MAFCA events, the "Hubley Derby" came into the national spotlight when it was an official event in at the 1994 Tacoma MAFCA/MARC National Meet.

The race is a great participant and spectator sport. The crowds really get involved in the runoffs and cheer for their favorites. The format is side by side racing on a three-lane track with elimination races until the age group champion is finally crowned. Some of the fiercest competition is in the 18 and over age group.