Pedal Car Enthusiast Here to Discover and Share

Mid 60s, it was red but I'm not 100% sure about anything else.
This was quite some time ago and I completely forgot about it till I saw this thread.

 

Here I am, maybe around 1952...I seem to remember the back part working like a dump truck, but I could be wrong, my mind is like a sieve. (Aliens ate my Buick.)
If you can tell me what it is, maybe I'll see if I can find one for sale.
Does it say "Jet-flow Drive" above the Station Wagon label?

 

You are absolutely correct. You had a Murray Jet-Flow Drive Station Wagon. Your memory is recalling the tailgate that opened and closed but there wasn't a dumping mechanism on this car. This was made during the "Sadface" grill era of Murray cars in the mid 50s. You could probably find a very nice example of this car for around $500. I was able to find one that seems to have been NOS that sold at auction in 2017 for $1200.00. That might seem pricey and frankly few pedal car collectors will step up and pay $1200 for a mid 50s car, but when you find the condition of the car in these photos, I think you go north of $1000 each time and aren't wrong. These toys were left outside, beat to death by kids and their friends, handed down, to little siblings then to the original owner's own children, passed around in a garage sale or two often as well. When you buy, if you choose to buy, be patient. Wait for condition to surface. Find one with the seat pad still in place. If you don't buy, just enjoy these two photos and REMEMBER the best you can, you and YOUR RIDE.

 

Great, thanks for the information!

 

OMG, I found one in the original box. Here is a link to the page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/414045395330397/permalink/2982332778501633/

That's a link to a post in a Facebook group page. Not sure if you will be able to view or not.

 

The '25 car weighs 125lbs? and the steelcraft is 58lbs?
I thought the 58lbs was heavy till I read the 125lbs the packard weighs.
Must have been tough to pedal it especially up a slight incline.

 

If pedaling was too difficult you could just buy an electric motor Packard for your child.

 

Wow I didn't even know those existed way back then. I thought kids these days were spoiled with electric bike/cars. Everything I had had pedals. Remember the big wheel that came out in '69? I didn't have one by one of my friends did.
I wonder what an electric packard or roadster would be worth in working condition if one exists? What type of batteries did they take?
My father had some battery powered radios from the 20s when electric wasn't all that common in homes yet.

 

Actually a number of them still exist today but during my 25 years in this hobby I only know of 3 that I consider in a presentable state of original paint. (two top up Packards and one roadster) There are half dozen that I know of that need restoration and perhaps another half dozen already restored. The cars needing restoration have recently sold around the $10,000+ area. Restored ones can run $20,000 to $30,000 depending on the restoration work. One of the three cars still in original paint that I mentioned above sold at auction 10 years ago for $13,000.00. I would consider myself lucky if I could acquire that car today for less than $35,000.00.

 

The toy visible gas pump in that catalog page is interesting.

 

Oh they had more than one scale size gas pump to choose from back in the day.

 

I had the square sided TEXACO one, sad thing was , I never had a pedal car to go along with it.......... I did make up for it later in life with my 1937 Sweetheart grill Seagrave fire engine ( Never should have sold it !) and my 1926 Armadillo Model T Speedster I still have !

 

Hey, I've posted some pics and ephemera surrounding this car on my two Pedal Car threads. Follow the link to more pics of the car and then the link on that post to the photos and other related paper.
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/the-vintage-pedal-car-thread.62616/page-3#post-4233848

 

Happy 4th of July (Independence Day) to all our US members.