home | Local Time: 23rd February, 2012 10:52 AM
Ride a Mobo horse...
By Julie Carter
Good design is something that works. So believed Harry Sebel, and the legacy he has left behind more than proves him right.
The story actually begins more than thirty years before the first Mobo toys hit the UK market, when Russian emigrant David Sebel arrived in the UK in 1912. Sebel established a partnership as a wheelwright in East London in 1921, and in 1928 the firm took over another wheelwright's business that also built motor and van bodies.
In the 1930s the company expanded into architectural metalwork as well as other engineering projects, at the same time as David's son Harry joined the business. As the firm entered the war years the company's output changed from milk churns and street cleaning carts to the manufacture of aircraft and tank components, along with bunks for air raid shelters and a tower for an experimental radar station. But Harry could see that things would need to change when the war ended, and he set about researching new products for the company to manufacture.
It was decided to expand into the twin productions of metal furniture and toys. The furniture range was called Stak-a-Bye, and it was so successful that it's still in production today. In fact, on the company's web site they say this about their furniture: 'If you have ever watched your favourite team score the winning goal, screamed yourself hoarse at a rock concert, sat at school desk for what seemed an eternity, visited a loved one in hospital, enjoyed a great meal at a stylish restaurant or just lazed by the pool in a top resort, then chances are you have sat on a chair from Australia's leading furniture manufacturer - Sebel. 'The Stak-a-Bye chairs, made with strong tubular frames and leatherette upholstery, were designed to fit neatly into one another when stacked, making them more economical to use, and by the 1960s the Stak-a-Bye chair had become such a manufacturing and design success story that towards the end of that decade the firm ceased making its toys altogether. But for the short period they were in production, Mobo toys were recognised for their amazing innovation.
Harry Sebel had already determined that he wanted to make a line of toys different from any other, and he had been obsessed with the way things were made from an early age. "I remember creating an entire grandfather clock, including the pendulum, from Meccano," he said. "Although it went three times faster than it should have, it still worked. But my design career started at fifteen when I began work in my father's factory. He was a wheelwright at the time, but it wasn't long before he realised horse and carts were going out of fashion. So about eighteen months after I started, he purchased a wrought iron business. Working there taught me about all the things that can go wrong in factories, and all the things that should be done better. It's where my manufacturing mindset began."
Harry's idea was to produce a rocking horse that the child rider could propel along. Basic plans were drawn up, and a full-size horse prototype was created using bicycle gears. To have a better idea of the appearance of the finished product, Harry went to a taxidermist in Piccadilly in London to procure a horse hide, but when the only item available was a zebra skin, he took that instead. And thus the Mobo rocking horse came into being.
A patent for the basic mechanism was taken out in 1942, but toy production didn't begin until late in 1947. This was primarily because Sebel wanted to manufacture everything in-house, from the arrival of the raw material to the finished product ready for the showroom, and to do so a new factory had to be completely fitted out. Having said this, however, there were a number of toys produced by outside contractors specifically for display at the 1947 British Industries Fair, held in May.
The line was launched as Mobo, a name that resulted from a brainstorming session within the company during which the more descriptive 'Mobile Toys' had been rejected. The clown on the decal was added because of David Sebel's interest in the circus, and this theme was carried through in advertising and on exhibition stands.
Probably the best-known known of the Mobo toys is the ride-on horse known as the Bronco, the body for which was sculpted by Charles Morewood. It worked by the rider sitting on the horse and pushing down on the stirrups; when the stirrups were released, the horse moved along. For its first three years of production the Bronco was limited to movement in a straight line only, but in February 1950 Magic Steering was introduced, which enabled the rider to move the horse left or right by pushing down on the relevant stirrup.
The Bronco stayed in production until 1971, and its body pressings were also used for a number of other toys, including Spring Horse, Night Rider, Prairie Prancer, Range Rider, Rocking Horse and the Bronco Merry-go-Round. The Bronco colours of red and yellow were chosen after the Sebels asked the children at a local school what their favourite colours were; the same children were also used to test the toys, and appeared in some of the company's advertisements.
Mobo toys were hugely successful in America, and a New York office was opened in 1948. In that same year the Mobo firm is recorded as having exported to the USA half of the total toy exports of all British toy companies combined, which is a remarkable achievement. Such was the importance of the American market that the Mobo Pony was first shown at the 1949 New York Toy Fair, along with the Walking Snail. This followed on from the highly successful Toy-Toise - the first small remote control walking toy to be introduced.
In 1948, Harry's sisters Tilli and Phyllis emigrated to Australia; he followed with wife Queenie in 1951, and his parents arrived soon after. A factory was established in Bankstown in Sydney and the Melbourne branch was opened in 1955, with the Brisbane factory being established a year later. Although both toys and furniture were manufactured in Australia, the toy lines ceased here in 1957. The furniture continues in production today.
Mobo toy production continued in the UK until the late 1960s. Mobo toy boats were introduced in 1955 following the takeover of Harold Flory's toy boat business, with Jetex - the model aircraft engine business - being purchased the following year. The company made a range of jet-propelled engines, and alongside produced model aircraft kits and plastic cars.
In the mid-1960s a range of injection-moulded plastic toys was introduced, along with a line of plastic pedal cars that were imported from Italy; this included the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang pedal car. But by the end of the decade the British toy industry was being overtaken by cheap imports from the Far East, and in 1970 the Mobo toy side of the business was sold to the Barclay Toy Group. The factory site for Mobo toys was closed in 1972. Harry Sebel was awarded the Order of Australia in 1999 for services to Australian design. He died in September 2008, at the age of 92. Some of his designs are represented in the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, and his portrait hangs in the National Library of Australia.
Buying a Mobo Bronco
Dents are the most common problem with the Mobo Bronco, basically because learning to ride one required co-ordination that doesn't come readily to young children! Although dents can be repaired, they can be time-consuming and expensive, especially if they are in an area that's hard to access. Rust is also a problem, particularly in the hooves. It's also a good idea to check the posture of the horse, as it should be straight and tall, and the horse should stand level. An uneven posture can indicate excessive wear to the suspension parts, which means repairs will probably be necessary. One of the best indicators of the condition of a Mobo horse are the wheels, which were made using a rubber compound very similar to the rubber used in car tyres. If the wheels are worn, the horse had had a lot of horseplay!