Wilbur Shaw Cars

Another popular area of Indianapolis 500 Memorabilia collecting are the Wilbur Shaw aluminum toy race cars sold by souvenir stands at the Speedway. The cast aluminum cars are reproductions of Shaw's 1939 & 1940 winning Maserati which began production in 1947*. The cars measure 8 1/2" long by 3 1/2" wide at the outside of the Firestone tires (yes, these actually had Firestone stamped on the tires just like the real tires). New tires and other parts are available from: https://thomastoysantiquetoyparts.com/

They do have boxes which are a plain white box with no markings of any sort and were made of thin cardboard. The Little Bill Toy Company of Chicago Illinois did use a box and it will be discussed later.

At least *9 different types of Wilbur Shaw car are known to exist.

Plain, which has no markings except Indianapolis Motor Speedway stamped along the frame rails. The seat and lettering are all painted red as are all Shaw cars except those noted.

Note the hole drilled into the bottom near the front where are spring could be attached and placed around the rear axel so the car could be self propelled.

Signature, which is the same as the plain car except Wilbur Shaw's signature is stamped on both sides of the the cowl.

The Little Bill Toy Company of Chicago also sold Wilbur Shaw Signature cars as seen on the box below. Several years ago, a white painted Shaw car, like the one seen below, with the Little Bill Toy Company box was sold at auction.

Signature cars were advertised for sale in the Indianapolis Motor Speedways photo catalog for 1947.

With the above in mind, a 1946 Wilbur Shaw car?

Clabber Girl, which is the same as the plain car except Clabber Girl Spl. is stamped above the frame rail. Tony Hulman owned the Clabber Girl Baking Powder Company and used the Shaw cars to promote it. This version was more than *likely given to friends, employees, VIP's, etc. by the Hulman family.

Note the card from Tony Hulman which went with Clabber Girl Spl. versions of the Shaw car.

There is also a version which has a sticker in place of the stamped Clabber Girl. This was done because “Clabber Girl Spl.” was weakly struck on some cars so to distinguish it from a plain version the sticker was added however, it is not certain if this was done at the time or at a later date.

Note how weakly “Clabber Girl Spl.” appears on the bottom examples.

Clabber Girl Signature, which is a Signature car with Clabber Girl stamped as above. We do not have a picture of this version and are going on the memory of a 35 year collector of Shaw and toy cars who had this version at one time.

Painted, which are found with and with out the Shaw signature. The known colors are: red, yellow, white, *blue and *black. A marroun version has been seen, but it is not sure if is was an actual color produced at the time.

Note that for obvious reasons, the seat and lettering are in yellow on the red version.

Pace Car, which are signature cars which feature the Nash pace car from 1947 or the Chevrolet pace car of 1948.

The Nash slogan was "Nash Sets The Pace" which is seen engraved on the unpainted version below left with "Nash" in red on the nose and "sets the pace" also in red along the left side of the hood. There are five known painted versions; Dull gray, tan and yellow which have a red "Nash Sets The Pace" decal on the hood and maroon with "Nash Sets The Pace" in yellow. There is also an unpainted version of this car as seen below which also has "Nash Sets The Pace" in red.

The 1948 signature pace car version from Chevrolet comes in two known colors, red, below right and yellow, bottom left. Each has a blue letter decal which states: "Chevrolet leads again!" ""The Pace Maker"" "500 Mile Race Indianapolis Motor Speedway May 31, 1948".

In the mid-2010’s a well done custom made signature version, probably made in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s and more than likely unique, came to light. Here’s what the current owner had to say: “…(the person I purchased it from) bought it several years ago at a garage sale in Indianapolis from the mother of a boy who had won the car in a newspaper selling contest for the Indianapolis Star. I have not done any microfilm research to verify this, but since it is a painted signature model (and the lettering is not a different color, it certainly appears to be a well-done customized car--the tires are also larger than the standard Wilbur Shaw car.

Another recent find is the “Orange Juice Special” version. The outline of a sticker of an orange (which had no writing) remains on the hood. At least two are know so there may be others out there. Could they be related to the 1964-1965 Vita-Fresh Orange Juice Specials?

90th Anniversary, which are an exact scale Stainless Steal reproduction made especially for the 90th Running of the Indianapolis 500 May 28, 2006 and are made by the Greenlight company. These are the same as the Plain original version except stamped on both sides above the frame rail is "90th Running Indianapolis 500" in black. On the bottom is the date "May 28, 2006" and unlike the original version, this one has a small sticker at the rear of the car which states "Made in China".

There are also green and blue color versions which were made in a limited number of 250 each. The seat is painted silver and the lettering is in black. These were not sold at the Speedway and had to be bought off the internet.

There is also a Clabber Girl version which has "Clabber Girl Spl." stamped in place of "90th Running". It is unclear if this version is like the original Clabber Girl Spl. version which was used for promotion. They are not listed on the Greenlight website as being for sale and the one shown above was found on eBay in March of 2007. The boxes are much sturdier and have a lot of information on them.

When purchased at the Speedway gift shop, they came wrapped in white tissue papper.

For the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2016, Greenlight released a gold painted stainless steel 100th Running Wilbur Shaw car. These are the same as the Plain original version except they’re painted gold and stamped on both sides above the frame rail is "100th Running Indianapolis 500" in red.

Plastic and resin copies, like the two below, have been made over the years but they have no where near the value of an original.

Don’t be fooled by similar cars that look like a Shaw car like the two below.

As to a value or rarity, the Pace Car versions would rank number one, with a *Signature Clabber Girl next followed by the Painted versions, Signature and Plain. Condition is also a factor. Those cars which were heavily played with or have been altered command less value than those in unaltered excellent condition. It is common to find cars with a name, year or both engraved into the car, usually on the hood or nose (see the yellow car above). This is a personal issue when it comes to value as some may feel this decreases the value while others feel it adds character to the car and it's authenticity. Painted (and Clabber Girl) cars are tougher to find so it is generally felt this doesn't detract too much from the value as much as it would on a Plain or Signature version. Value is increased if one has the plain white box and especially so if it is the Little Bill Toy Company box which demands a premium. Clabber Girl Spl. versions which have the card also demand a premium. For the Stainless Steal versions, the Clabber Girl Spl. followed by the color versions then the Plain version.

* This information is to the best of our knowledge. If anyone has more information, please contact: NI500CC@NI500CC.COM