Vintage Bumper Car

[Steve Moskowitz]

Anyone ever see one of these or now how to get more info?

[Guest my3buicks]

VERY COOL!!!!

[Guest R-ajax peterson]

Love IT:D

Rick

[jdome]

It looks sort of like a 27 Packard. Those look like Packard lights on the fenders too. Any running gear in it or any hardware that might indicate what gear was in it.

[JD in KC]

Looks way earlier than anything I remember from my childhood at the amusement park. I also think it looks like a Packard. Whatever it is... it's great fun to look at.

[jdome]

I think I have seen that as a pedal car without the bumper bar around it. Any pedal hardware on it?

[Steve Moskowitz]

A lady in New Jersey owns it and wants to restore it to original condition but she has no idea what original is! Looks like some of the electrical stuff has been removed but what a wonderful piece to own!

[MCHinson]

Steve,

I never knew that they made them that early. The earliest ones that I have ever seen were probably from the 40's or 50's. Your photo sent me doing some research.

The following link has some interesting history of bumper cars from the 20's. The owner may be able to get some information from the contact us link on this site as well.

Legend / History

[TheMoneyPit]

I do not think it was a bumper-car, but rather one that was on a track where you could only get so far from the center of the road - there used to be one at Kenobel's (?sp?) in PA but the cars were later. Those cars also had the huge bumpers so that you could not hit anything to hard as to cause injury.

[alsancle]

I do not think it was a bumper-car, but rather one that was on a track where you could only get so far from the center of the road - there used to be one at Kenobel's (?sp?) in PA but the cars were later. Those cars also had the huge bumpers so that you could not hit anything to hard as to cause injury.

+1

The bumpers also save the car from damage.

[Guest Jim_Edwards]

I do not think it was a bumper-car, but rather one that was on a track where you could only get so far from the center of the road - there used to be one at Kenobel's (?sp?) in PA but the cars were later. Those cars also had the huge bumpers so that you could not hit anything to hard as to cause injury.

I think you are 100% correct. The first patent for a bumper car as we have come to know them was issued in 1920 to Harold and Max Stoehrer and while quite crude in nature overall, it bore no resemblance to the amusement car in question.

The below is a current picture for a bit more sophisticated variation at Knoebels

[Steve Moskowitz]

I used the term bumper car loosely and agree that this was probably a motorized rail type car. Hersheypark also has them. This however is the coolest one I have ever seen and we would really like to find out its history before any attempt to restore it is made.

[Guest Jim_Edwards]

I used the term bumper car loosely and agree that this was probably a motorized rail type car. Hersheypark also has them. This however is the coolest one I have ever seen and we would really like to find out its history before any attempt to restore it is made.

Since Knoebel's seems to have several variations of what seems to be vintage cars of the same nature perhaps someone on their ride maintenance staff would be a good place to get more info or at least direction in finding the info needed.

[Steve Moskowitz]

Good idea...I know the people at Hersheypark and since they have the same ride as Knoebels it will be easy to ask. Hopefully there is only one company that has ever made these and they will have some archive or company historian (I know, too easy)

[Guest my3buicks]

Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh Pa has a ride called the Auto Race that was first opened in 1930 - it for some reason sticks in my mind that I have seen pictures of cars similar to this one being used when the ride first opened and then around 1950 went to the current design car that are still being used. The cars negotiate around a wooden track - you can steer but the rails/side wheels around the car keep you pretty well corralled as the picture of the older one would certainly have done. Pic of the later one attached.

Perhaps contact Kennywood for a picture of the originals

Edited December 8, 2011 by my3buicks (see edit history)

[TheMoneyPit]

I'd also try and see if the pedal car companies made anything that size for amusement parks - that looks a lot like the high-end pedal cars of the 20's.

I'd love something like that from Santa - I'm too old for the Speedway Quarter midget he brought when I was 8... And too big.

[Shop Rat]

Steve, Also look up vintage turnpike cars. There are quite a few web-sites dedicated to this type of car. I thought they were called turnpike cars and that is what I found them under.

[Steve Moskowitz]

Thanks, this is a fun challenge...it might be from a company called Luzern Custer. They were in Dayton, Ohio. Hersheypark installed this one in1936. They made a lot of amusement park rides. You would think that Dayton's most favorite son would have known this one!!!

Edited December 8, 2011 by Steve Moskowitz (see edit history)

[West Peterson]

When I think of the name, I'll let you know. I think the last name is Wright, and they were two brothers and a sister.

[keiser31]

When I think of the name, I'll let you know. I think the last name is Wright, and they were two brothers and a sister.

Oh yeah....I've heard of them Wright brothers dudes...

[Guest Gary Hearn]

I think one of those brothers must have been on Mr. Ed as I always heard "Wilbuuurrr!"

[Guest 1929model75]

I would like to know who makes the cars like Hershey uses now I would love to find one.

[West Peterson]

Thanks, this is a fun challenge...it might be from a company called Luzern Custer. They were in Dayton, Ohio. Hersheypark installed this one in1936. They made a lot of amusement park rides. You would think that Dayton's most favorite son would have known this one!!!

According to the Standard Catalog:

"Custer Electric – Dayton, Ohio – (1920-42) – L. Luzern Custer purportedly built an experimental electric car in 1898, but it was not until 1920 that he began his Custer Specialty Company in Dayton for the production of electric vehicles. The Custer was built as a Cootie (children's car), Cabbie (miniature railroad). Chair (automotive wheelchair), Carrier (factory truck) and Coupe (two-passenger city car). Of all varieties, the most significant in production was the automotive wheelchair, which was doubtless to Luzern Custer's personal satisfaction because he happened to be an invalid himself. The Cootie was perhaps the second most produced of the Custer vehicles. As for the Coupe, it weighed 550 pounds, was not much longer than it was high (78 inches versus 62), was rather cute, and might have been a marvelous proposition for crowded metropolitan areas except for one thing; its cruising speed was eight miles per hour. The Custer Specialty Company was in business a long time in Dayton (into the 1960s), but no more than a handful (and possibly only one) of the Coupes was ever built."

So, if the car in Mr. Moskowitz's photo is a Custer, it was (1) powered by electric, and (2) would either have been the Cootie (children's car) or Cabbie (miniature railroad). Depending on what is meant by "miniature railroad," I suspect it was probably the Cootie.

I will try to get over to Dayton's Carrillon Park or the historical society and see if they have any information on Custer Electric cars. The photo of the "Coupe" illustrated in the Standard Catalog has the same grille as in the car in Moskowitz's photo.

Edited December 9, 2011 by West Peterson (see edit history)

[Guest my3buicks]

Pictures are both of Custer Electric Cars

Few Untouched by Custer's Work

The following article appeared in the Dayton Business Journal, November 1, 1996

©1996. Dayton Business Journal. All Rights reserved. Reprinted with permission

Few untouched by Custer's work

by Curt Dalton

The first of Levitt Luzern Custer's many inventions was the Custer Bubble Statoscope. Its purpose: register the rise and fall of an aircraft. Since it was without moving parts and was much sturdier than models being used at the time, Custer was awarded a patent in 1912 at the age of 24. This invention was to be used in balloons, for which he had a passion. Custer was involved in the now-famous flight when he and a group of men from the Dayton Journal flew in a balloon called Hoosier, taking with them a small printing press. While flying, they printed three "sky editions" of the Journal. It was the only newspaper ever printed in the air.

As aviation grew, so did the popularity of Custer's Statoscope. The first models were sent to the Army. After testing proved the value of the device, the Navy began to order the Statoscope.

Custer had been working in a lab that was housed in an old barn at his home. In 1916, he decided to start his own company and had a four-story brick building constructed on Franklin Street, across from Chaminade High School. On the fourth floor, he built the first indoor miniature golf course. The second floor became an oceanarium, with more than 100 tanks filled with tropical fish. In later years, a large arrow was painted on the roof of the factory, which helped guide pilots to McCook's Field.

About 1925, the Custer Park Car came into being. Built as an amusement ride, the car was battery-operated and could be used on any track. It was popular with amusement park operators since any vacant lot could become a Custer Car Speedway. Custer's next success was the Custer "C" Cycle, a small, paddlewheel-propelled watercraft. It worked on the same principle as a bicycle, with the pedals turning the paddlewheel in back. It turned out to be a popular ride at amusement parks.

Toward the end of 1930, Custer patented one of his greatest inventions, the Custer Car. Unlike the Custer Park Car, this auto was not meant for amusement parks. The Custer Car was a three-wheel motor vehicle with a small turning radius. Available with a gasoline motor or battery-operated, the car came with an unusual type of transmission: The driver moved the steering handle forward or backward, and the car would move in that direction. The electric model was designed to be used by invalids as a sort of self-propelled wheelchair. It would travel 10 to 15 miles before it needed recharging and was quiet compared with its gasoline equivalent. This led to motorized sightseeing cars that were used during the 1939 World's Fair in New York.

In 1940, the company moved to Linden Avenue. The next year the war had started. Custer then invented the Custer Utility Truck. Electrically powered, it was especially needed to help haul flammable material.

One of his final inventions was the Two Passenger Buckboard Motor Vehicle. Patented in 1958, it was equipped with an electric or gasoline motor, with the parts sitting on a series of seven wooden slats, thus the buckboard title. Designed for use outdoors, it was used by former President Dwight Eisenhower's son, David, and it was said that Emperor Haile Sealssie of Ethiopia used one to drive around his palace grounds.

Custer Specialty Co.'s final location was 139 Bradford St. Custer was still president of the company when he died Aug. 30, 1962, at age 74. The company remained in business with his wife, Gladys, at the helm until Sept. 11, 1965. That's when a fire gutted the building and all its contents, causing $100,000 in damage. It was believed that children started a fire in a vacant barn behind the company, which later spread to destroy Custer's drawings, models and personal notes.

An interesting footnote about one invention: Gilbert Mannino, writing a thesis for a history class at the University of Dayton in 1965, interviewed Gladys Custer. She told him that her husband believed that corporal punishment had a place in the school system and offered to build the Dayton Board of Education a "whipping machine." The board did not seem enthused, and the device never made it off the drawing board.

Edited December 9, 2011 by my3buicks (see edit history)

[MCHinson]

Check out the second photo at this link:

3 models of the Custer Car, tiny, simple, and pretty much a go cart / county fair bumper car

[MCHinson]

I am amazed how many different websites show the same two photos of Custer Cars and have basically the same information available.

Although it does not match the photos that Steve originally posted, I thought I had seen something about Custer Cars before. Funny where I found a this information...

http://local.aaca.org/bntc/pubs/pdf/0409.pdf

(See page 3 of the pdf document)

Edited December 9, 2011 by MCHinson (see edit history)

[West Peterson]

Here are higher resolution photos:

I think I'm in love with the girl from Washington D.C.

[West Peterson]

Maybe it's just me, but if I was restoring it, I think I'd lose the bumper rails.

[MCHinson]

West,

She is cute, but I figure she would be about 108 years old now, so I think I would forget about her.

You may be right about the surround bumpers...

[West Peterson]

Although it does not match the photos that Steve originally posted

What doesn't match? They all look like one and the same, except for the addition of the bumper rails.

[West Peterson]

West,

She is cute, but I figure she would be about 108 years old now, so I think I would forget about her.

I look at it this way. Even if I had lived in her time, I would probably have had to resort to just dream about her. So, I'm dreaming now just as I would have back then, eh?

[MCHinson]

That is what I was talking about. I wonder if the "street legal" cars and the amusement park cars were the same except for the surround bumper rails, or if they had mechanical differences. From the reading, it would seem that they were somehow different (although the basic bodies certainly look identical).

[Guest Jim_Edwards]

There was obviously a huge difference in perception of what was "Street legal" back in that era.

Not all Custer Cars were electric as stated in the below.

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Looks like another object of West's affection

[West Peterson]

Naw. One at a time for me.

[Guest T-Head]

Steve, Here is one that we posted at The Old Motor. Reader Robert Cunningham posted the following about it:

These children were driving an electric Custer Cootie, built by L. Luzern Custer of Dayton, Ohio. Custer’s production of miniature automobiles in a variety of styles began in 1920. The Cootie was their best seller, and many were wrapped with spring steel bumpers for use in amusement parks, as shown above. Hollywood stars were often photographed in Cooties at a large amusement park in Los Angeles; this photo may have been taken there. Custer later produced miniature Carrier trucks, Cabbie railroad engines, and small racers. They built electric wheel chairs for the disabled, and large motorized chairs to transport tourists over the grounds of the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair.

[Steve Moskowitz]

THANK YOU EVERYONE!! YOU CAME THROUGH IN A BIG WAY!

[jdome]

This is a photo of an amusement park ride car that I re-powered with 3 deep cycle batteries and the motor & transaxle from a 70 GE "ElectraK" lawn tractor.

[Guest smackey22]

To all your car lovers, Thank you for helping me find what I am restoring. I will send you all some updated pictures later this week. Does anyone know where I can find an owners manual??

[roadkillontheweb]

Very interesting and much earlier than the ones I deal with.

The ones below were made by the pretzel amusement company and used bodies made by the Powercar company of Mystic CT.