Pedal Car Restorations

After the rise of the automobile, it didn’t take long for children to take to the pavements in cars of their own. In the 1890s, the first pedal cars were scratch built from parts found lying round. By the turn of the century, the car became a plaything of the rich, and the pedal car became an exquisite, commercially built toy. Sheet steel covered the pedal car’s wood frame, and full size carriage lights,starting cranks and licence plates furnished the pedal car’s trim. The pedal cars of the 1920s gaveway to larger and heavier pedal cars in the 1930s, with chrome hubcaps and prominent ornaments, reflecting the decade’s romance with speed. By the 1970s, a declining birth rate, high inflation and the increased use of plastic body shells sealed the fate of the metal, old style pedal car.

Here are a few examples that we had restored to bring back those childhood memories.