Collecting Vintage and Antique Pedal Cars
Due to the fact that I have a special interest in the career of Viktor Schreckengost, because I am a Cleveland, Ohio artist, I have spent a lot of time learning about vintage and antique pedal cars. The connection is that Viktor Schreckengost was a principle designer for Murray, and designed many of the pedal cars for them.
Pedal cars were still popular children’s toys when I was a child, but I was born a bit too late to enjoy some of the coolest, most interesting of the pedal car designs. This article only touches on the many designs made by Murray and other companies, but you will get an idea of how clever the pedal car designs really were.
For collectors, antique and vintage pedal cars in mint condition are a great find. And in addition to the actual toys that children rode, there are miniature versions of the pedal cars that are very collectible.
Viktor Schreckengost died at the age of 101 in 2008, and that has made the Murray pedal car designs even more valuable. If you do not know about Viktor Schreckengost and his legacy, I suggest you learn more about his amazing contributions to art and industry.
Murray Pedal Cars
Murray is one of the manufacturers that produced pedal cars, although pedal cars is a slight misnomer, because there were pedal cars, pedal tractors, pedal planes, and pedal boats.
The pedal car pictured above, the Murray Super Sonic Jet Pedal Car, is one of Viktor Schreckengost’s designs for Murray.
Vintage AMF Pedal Cars
VTG 50’s-60’s AMF Hydraulic Dump Truck Pedal CarFire Chief Pedal CarVTG 60’s AMF Red Fire Truck Pedal Car
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Vintage Murray Pedal Cars
Murray’s Fire Truck Pedal CarMurray Pedal CarVintage Pedal Car Convertible 1960’s Murray
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Restoring Vintage and Antique Pedal Cars
If you are a collector or interested in collecting vintage and antique pedal cars, Ebay is an excellent resource for both the authentic vintage and antique pedal cars and parts to restore cars that are not in mint condition. Listed on this page are a few examples of what you can find on Ebay, but there are many more pedal cars, and pedal car parts including tires, steering wheels, wheels, windshields, and wheel caps.
When collecting vintage and antique pedal cars, you have to make a choice of whether you want to collect pedal cars in their original condition, and keep them that way, or if you want to restore vintage and antique pedal cars that are not in good condition to mint condition yourself.
Vintage Pedal Car Wheels
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Vintage Pedal Car Hub Caps
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Popular Vintage and Antique Pedal Cars
There are several popular themes that run through the designs for vintage and antique pedal cars. One of the most popular pedal car designs is that of a fire truck pedal car. There are more than one fire truck designs, but the most intricate is the hook and ladder pedal car design.
Other popular pedal car designs are replicas of several Ford motor vehicles, race cars, police cars, and several tractor styles. Some more rare designs are U.S. Air Force pedal cars, and various airplane pedal cars.
Rare pedal cars in mint condition today are true collector’s items, and they are hard to find because the pedal cars were used for children’s toys. More common is finding vintage and antique pedal cars that need restoration.
Vintage Pedal Car Trucks
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Vintage John Deere Pedal Car
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Vintage and Antique Ford Model Pedal Cars
Many of the vintage and antique pedal cars are replicas of different Ford Motors car models. One of the hot cars during the era that the pedal cars were built was the Ford Thunderbird. Mint condition vintage T-bird pedal cars are rare, but can be found. Other Ford models that were made into pedal cars are Ford Mustang and Ford Fairlane.
Besides Ford, you can also find vintage and antique pedal car replicas of other car manufacturers primarily American models.
Pedal car replicas were also made of several military models of cars, Jeeps, and airplanes. These are quite rare and can be expensive to obtain.
Vintage Ford Pedal Cars
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Interesting Pedal Car Designs
Some of the most interesting antique and vintage pedal car designs that were made by Murray were not necessarily the most popular, but still are quite fun, and highly collectible. There is a Good Humor Trike pedal car that mimics the look of the ice cream trucks that used to come down suburban streets to sell ice cream in the summer. These have almost vanished from existence today.
Another interesting pedal car model is the 1953 Murray Dumptruck pedal car, and the Murray Atomic Missile pedal car. My personal favorite is the Murray Comet pedal car which reminds me of an old Packard.
No matter which vintage or antique pedal cars you choose to collect, you can use Ebay as a resource both to help you find the pedal car, and the parts to keep it in mint condition or restore it to mint condition.
1950s Gym Dandy Surrey Pedal Car
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Rare Vintage Pedal Cars
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Guides to Collecting and Restoring Pedal Cars
There are some excellent resources for antique and vintage pedal car collectors to help determine both the cost and the value of the pedal cars. I have listed a few of these vintage pedal car guides below to get you started, and if you click through to Amazon, you can find a few more pedal car resources.
If you are interested in restoring antique pedal cars, the Pedal Car Restoration and Price Guide is a good place to start.
Pedal Car Restoration and Price GuideEvolution of the Pedal Car, Vol. 2Pedal CarsPedal Cars: Chasing the Kidillac
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