Farm
Toys For Fun
Al and
Cathy
About
Us - history below
Farm
Toys For Fun
- 2307 N.E. Bel Aire Drive - Ankeny, IA 50021 - PH: 515-964-3548
- updated
4-25-13
We are starting our 30th year in the farm
toy business and we value customer satisfaction. When you call
us to place an order, you will be talking to the owners! Al and
Cathy answer the phones, take the orders, and ship the orders.
We operate out of our house, so we are open by appointment or
chance, toys are in boxes on shelves so you will need to know
what you are looking for if you come. We stock over 1500 different
1/64 scale farm toys made by Ertl, Die-Cast Promotions, Spec Cast, Scale Models, and others (new and
older tractors and implements) including Case, Case-IH, Allis,
Deutz-Allis, IH, John Deere, Ford, Massey Ferguson, White, AGCO,
Big Buds, Knudsons, Versatiles, and Steiger. If we don't have
it in stock, we will try to find it for you.
We also carry a large inventory of custom
made tractors and implements, show tractors, and all older 1/64
tractors made by Ertl in the 70's and 80's. We also handle 1/16 scale Precisions by Ertl.
You can receive a complete 10-page price
list of over 1500 farm toys by sending a business size self-addressed
stamped envelope and $1.00 to the above address or by clicking the complete price list
link below and printing it out on your printer. You will be amazed at the
number of different 1/64 scale farm toys on our price list.
Van Kley Farm Toy
History:
Al started collecting 1/16 and 1/32 scale
farm toys in 1977. His dad had retired from farming and he was
starting to collect IH 1/16 scale tractors. They attended the
first National Farm Toy Show in Dyersville, Iowa, in 1978 and
many different shows after that. Al collected 1/16 and 1/32 4WD's,
combines, and wagons. He has now sold most of his collection.
Cathy grew up green (JD) on the home farm
near Eagle Grove, Iowa, and Al grew up red (IH) on the home farm
near Ocheyedan, Iowa. Al graduated from Iowa State University
and worked in the fertilizer and ag chemical industry for 37 years
before retiring in 2000 and going to work for Cathy. Cathy graduated
from Iowa Central Community College and worked as a secretary
for several companies. Cathy married Al in 1983 and worked until
1985 when Mitch was born and she decided to stay home and work
on toys full time.
In 1983 we started Van Kley 1/64 Farm
Toys (now Farm Toys For Fun) and started setting up and selling
1/64 scale farm toys at many shows in the Midwest. Making 1/64
scale saddle tanks was our first venture into custom toys and
we have sold thousands of saddle tanks over the past 30 years.
Our first employee was the middle son Jeff.
He was the one with an engineering mind that liked to customize
tractors and implements and came up with many unique ideas. The
oldest son Jamie escaped the farm toy business working "regular",
good paying jobs to make money and would help out when asked.
Then when Mitch was born in 1985, he became the lone employee
along with help from several neighbor kids. Mitch learned a lot
about the business world from the toy business and retired from
our toy business in 2003 when he graduated from high school and
went off to Iowa State. Most of the people who have known us for the last
29 years, have seen Mitch grow up at shows. Mitch was married to
Emily Vaughan on October 15, 2011. They are both CPA's and offer their
services to the company.
Now we set up at about 5-6 shows per year
while most of our business comes from our website:
www.farmtoysforfun.com. We were one of the first farm toy websites
over 16 years ago.
We continue to concentrate on 1/64 scale
farm toys and have many great customers all over the United States
and the world and we are very thankful for their business.
12 Tips for Collecting:
1. Collect whatever you
want.
2. Collecting is for fun,
enjoy it.
3. It's your money - buy
what interests you.
4. Most all farm toy dealers
will treat you fairly - listen to their advice - ask questions.
5. Prices on toys vary because
of condition: rough, good, repaint, mint, and new in the package/box.
6. Know the difference between
originals, customs, repaints, and reproductions (find out who
built the toy).
7. Investment should not
be the main reason for collecting farm toys (in most cases).
8. Most farm toys hold their
value - some go up and some go down.
9. Farm toys left in their
original packages will always have more value.
10. Farm toy auctions set
a value for pricing many toys - attend some farm toy auctions.
11. Check farm toy web sites.
Look at eBay, but be careful.
12. The farm toy world is
a great bunch of people - attend some farm toy shows and meet
them.
- FARM TOYS FOR FUN
-
- 2307
N.E. BEL-AIRE DRIVE
- ANKENY,
IA 50021
- PHONE
- 515-964-3548
- FAX
- 515-965-3834
- E-MAIL:
sales@farmtoysforfun.com
