About

About Andrew Clark Models

For nearly 40 years now, I've specialised in buying and selling (mainly) diecast and tinplate toys, but with a love of old toys this has extended into the world of trains, lead figures/vehicles, sci-fi, robots.

I run the business from our Skipton offices with the full-time support of Sarah Harrison who manages all things sales, marketing and dispatch related and help from my wife Ann.  Andrew Clark Models is a bit of a family affair with our daughter Hattie (Hattie Clark Illustrations) creating our logo and our son Ellis with his own model train businesses Ellis Clark Trains and Clark Railworks based in the office and showroom below us.

We pride ourselves on the service we offer. Our model descriptions are accurate and honest; we offer a variety of payment methods; all models are carefully and well packaged using bubble packing within sturdy cardboard boxes; and our speed of dispatch is superb - all due to the skilled efficiency of Sarah.

We love to chat about our stock and so are more than happy to answer any queries, please feel free to give me a ring. If a problem arises, we ensure that it is swiftly corrected with customer satisfaction always coming first.

Andrew Clark

Our story

My fascination with model cars began as a child in the sixties. By the early seventies, I no longer played with them, but couldn’t bring myself to throw them away and began to appreciate them as models and so began my collecting of them. My pride and joy, aged 8 years, were Matchbox 1-75’s which I stored in Matchbox Carrying Cases. Whilst I didn’t keep their boxes, the models were all immaculate.

My passion for model cars and my collection grew and I attended my first toy fair in York in 1976. Here my eyes were opened. What was this? Adults openly buying and swapping toys? So, it wasn’t just me!

As I became aware that I wasn’t the only one, and that hundreds of other adults were also collecting diecast toys, I found a way to feed my hobby by swapping and selling the models that no longer made it into my collection. Gradually, as I began to earn more money from selling toys than I did working for my local council I set up in business as Andrew Clark Models in 1981 and never looked back.  

Honestly? No, I don't have any of my earliest collected models. Buying our first house and getting married required an asset change - and one I don't regret. Some things are worth more the diecast cars! However, I do still have an eclectic and interesting collection of diecast, tinplate and other collectable gems that have caught my eye over the years and which I enjoy both looking at and continuing to add to. The fun is in the search.