Who remembers having a pedal car when they were a kid?
Bet you wish you still had it, or even if you didn’t — that you’d like one of these little beauties.
Almost 800 pedal cars are part of 2000 no-reserve lots set to go under the hammer in a little over a week at Elmer’s Auto and Toy Museum in the US.
Organisers have spent months taking inventory, capturing photography, performing research and preparing the nearly 2000 lots that make up the Elmer’s Auto and Toy Museum Collection.
The full list of consignments has been announced by Mecum Auctions for the entirely no-reserve sale to be held September 14-17 in Fountain City, Wisconsin.
Nearly 800 pedal cars, pedal planes and pedal tractors, more than 230 bicycles and tricycles, 120 classic and collector vehicles, an estimated 120 sleds, carriages and ride-on toys and more have attracted global attention for their historical significance and provenance by the most discerning of collectors.
Among the coveted pedal cars and planes to be auctioned are a 1927 American National Lincoln Pedal Car (Lot W377) that, with its windshield frame, hood ornament, headlights, bumper, fenders, suspension, spotlight, horn and spare disc tire, is considered to be one of the finest original pedal cars available.
There’s also an original 1925 American National Pedal Car (Lot F84) that was previously used as a barber shop chair and an original 1920s Steelcraft Spirit of St. Louis Pedal Airplane (Lot W523) with a metal body and chain drive mechanism.
1925 American National Pedal Car
1920s Steelcraft Spirit of St. Louis Pedal Airplane
Known worldwide as a pre-eminent authority and collector of pedal cars, the late Elmer Duellman purchased his first pedal car in 1971 and ultimately amassed one of the world’s largest and most encompassing collections of its kind.
Throughout his time collecting, Duellman became so knowledgeable about the hobby and so well-known within its realm that he contributed to a series of books on the topic and was sought out by others compiling reference and price guides for contributions of information and imagery from his collection.
Elmer and his wife, Bernadette, even gifted one of their pedal cars, a circa-1953 Kidillac, to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. in 2003 to be featured as part of a display called “America on the Move” within the National Museum of American History.
The 120 cars and 160 motorcycles from Elmer’s collection will be auctioned on Saturday, Sept. 17 all at no reserve.
The selection is headlined by a 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T (Lot S182) showing just 55,787 miles on the odometer and powered by a matching-numbers 383 CI Magnum V-8 engine and original TorqueFlite automatic transmission, along with a 1970 Ford Torino GT Convertible (Lot S128) showing 36,020 miles with a 429 CI V-8 engine and 4-speed manual transmission and a one-owner 1978 Chevrolet Corvette Silver Anniversary Edition (Lot S155) showing just 5.4 miles.
A 1951 Harley-Davidson Model S 125 (Lot S56) from the collection shows just 21 miles, and other enticing motorcycle offerings include a 1950 BSA Bantam D1 (Lot S57) with a 1948 Harley-Davidson 125cc single-cylinder engine, as well as a 1959 Indian/Royal Enfield Chief (Lot S68) with a 700cc carbureted OHV parallel-twin engine and 4-speed manual transmission.
But back to the pedal cars. We bet they’d put one ina box for you and ship it back to Australia.
To bid, however, you need to register.
Bidder registration starts at $100 and can be completed online and on-site at the auction.
For those unable to attend in person, enhanced remote bidding options are available, including both online and telephone bidding.
Only registered bidders will be permitted on the grounds during the auction; no general admission tickets are available.
For more information on the Elmer’s Auto and Toy Museum Collection and all other scheduled auctions, visit Elmer’s Auto and Toy Museum Collection Auction.
CHECKOUT: Putting the pedal to the metal
CHECKOUT: Has anyone seen my pedal car?