| Were you one of those lucky little kids that had a pedal car? You remember, it was probably red, plain red, or it could have been a fancy fire engine or maybe a tow truck. Pedal car history goes back to the 1890's when most were modeled from the real cars on the road at the time, mainly the Ford. Since their conception, pedal cars were all kids wished for. There were five well known early manufacturers of pedal cars: American National, Gendron, Steelcraft, Garton, and Toledo Wheel. But at the turn of the century, their cost meant they were playthings for only wealthy families. With many families reeling from the financial devastation of The Great Depression in the 1920's and 1930's pedal cars were often toys for upper class children. Those not so fortunate played with basic homemade ride-on toys. No pedal cars were produced in the mid-1940’s when all metal production was directed to the World War II effort. Reaching the peak of popularity in the late 1920's and early 1930's, pedal cars experienced resurgence in the 1950's to 1960's with chain-driven models. With postwar prosperity in the 1950's, pedal cars grew more popular and were available in all major stores. From the early 1920's through the late 1960's, pedal cars, like automobiles, were produced in many different models and colors and incorporated the most current trends of the automotive world; pedal cars featured working lights and horns, moveable windshields and ragtops, chrome detailing and hood ornaments, white wall tires and custom paint jobs. Some were copied from cars used on popular television shows, and of course the fire engines, tow trucks, and muscle cars. It wasn’t long before pedal planes, pedal tractors, and toy gas stations followed. The idea of owning one of these pedal toys is trendy to this day as many pedal toy owners are not only purchasing these products as gifts for their children, but also as collectible items. They have an emotional attachment to the memory that these cars bring to them and there is little maintenance to these models unlike the full size cars. Prices of the originals can be in the high hundreds which make reproductions popular for those that are not a true collector. |