It runs.....on gasoline. The '55 Chevy in the background is brand new. It has forward and reverse. The dual sidepipes are functional. It was featured in Popular Science and The Cleveland Plain Dealer.
i don't know what it is ,but the grille is a 38 lasalle,or copy thereof.it looks like the emlem says so. jack
its one of those things that instantly makes you the most popular kid in the street..make that the neighbourhood
very cool. looks like a LaSalle grille. nowadays the parents would be arrested for child endangerment for not having helmets and seatbelts.
I dunno, but I WANT one!! Look at the kid's sneering, contemptuous glance at the Corvette...he knows he is going to SMOKE that thing!
A friend had one of those. He remembers it sitting by the curb for the garbage man when he outgrew it.
Well you know you'd be just scooting around in it one day and disconnecting the governor the next!! Those little tires wouldn't stand a chance!!
It was bright red. All hand hammered metal bodywork. Yes, that is a Lasalle grill....slightly sectioned for height. Built for me by my Dad and under construction before I could walk. (He's still around and barking orders at 81......Mom too). Was about as fast as a modern riding tractor. Put me in it at three and said I took right to it; no instruction necessary. There are pictures pulling a 3 wagon train of neighbor kids. That's me driving in all of the pics. I don't recall ever being "supervised". Still have the engine, trans, rearend, grill, front axle, side panels with trim spears and some other miscelaneous bits.
OK...time to hang up on whatever project you're putting your time and money into and get that little car back in action! Whatever you are doing, this thing is WAY cooler and more important to our way of life!!
Man that thing is awesome. I want one for my kid but lets be honest, I would be running that thing around the block!
You'll get a lot more HAMB cred as an FNG if you put it back together. Tell your dad that he's cool as hell to build that for you. Ruined you for life,didn't it?
Might have some pics in color but they are at my parents and they won't be home from Florida until next month. I think there is even a picture of my dog "driving" it. Engine was from a gas powered "reel type" mower, 2.5 hp Clinton I think, turned north and south. It had a tailshaft with a reverser built in just like a real car. Rearend was from a garden tractor and, again, looks like a real 1:1 setup with a driveshaft & U-joints. The exhaust was plumbed into the side pipes and puffed nicely in cold weather; sounded nice and deep too.
Holy crap...ruined for a lifetime!! How cool are those? Can you imagine trying to build and market those now a days? Anyway, thanks for sharing my friend...those were the days.
Influences: Here is me and younger brother Denny Here is Denny on the cover of Mopar Muscle and Denny talking to Don Garlits and Ted Jones
man, that is the kind of shit we all WISH we'd been exposed to.... i got a picture of me in a pedal car, a fire chief's rig, about 1965? outgrew that one WAAAY too fast, because i don't remember it very well.