We received the photo above of an early Taylor chain driven tricycle that has relatively small gauge tubing when compared to the later Taylor tricycles. The tricycle was probably made in the late 1920′s or early 1930′s. The owner wants to know our thoughts on whether or not he should restore it. It’s really hard to tell from the photos whether it is rusty or just really dirty. If most of the original paint remains, you might want to leave it as is. If it’s mostly rusty, then it might be a nice project.
The problem that you’re probably going to run into with a tricycle like this is the pneumatic tires. They’re about impossible to find and extremely expensive if you can find them. If the tires are not in bad condition (doubtful, though from the pictures it’s hard to tell) you might be able to have a tire place fill them with the foam that they use in equipment tires. This would keep them looking original…but again, only if they are in pretty good shape right now.
Q: Dear Tricycle Fetish – Can you tell me anything about this tricycle ? My brother had it when he was a child in the 1940′s. The emblem on the front of the bike is missing.
A: Your tricycle appears to be a Colson chain driven trike from circa 1940, give or take. To see some other photos of Colson tricycles and some info, visit our Colson manufacturers page.
Q: Can you please give us some info on this tricycle?
A: Your tricycle is a circa 1950 Mercury chain driven tricycle made by Murray. It looks to be in quite a shambles. If you’re looking to restore it, it’s going to cost you a fortune in that condition. It’s bent, missing pieces, etc. It’s probably just a parts tricycle or garden decoration at this point.
Q: Hello, I recently bought this tricycle at auction. I have not been able to find any pictures on your site that look like this tricycle. Can you give me some more information on the year. Thank you for your help……..John
A: Your tricycle looks to be circa 1920′s or possibly early 1930′s. The model is a Skippy Racer made by American National or by Gendron, depending on whether your tricycle was made before or after the 1927 takeover. Determining the exact year is difficult without having the original catalogs from that time period, and many tricycle models were made for numerous years.
UPDATE: Shortly after posting the original photo and question, we received another question about the same model tricycle from another visitor to the site.
Oddly, that Skippy was photographed in front of a fireplace too.
The Skippy brand was named after the Skippy comic strip that started in the mid-1920′s. Skippy trikes were produced by the American National umbrella corporation that included such lines as American, Skippy, Gendron, and Pioneer.
February 13th, 2010
admin
Q: Here are some pictures of the tricycle, I was told it was a 1952-1958 VanDuren? I had it sand blasted and painted the color which was under the hand spray painted coats of red. I am assuming this is the original color. I also had the rear bearings pressed and replaced. Could you PLEASE tell me what kind of bike it is, as well as a good site where i might be able to see pictures of the identical bike so i can get the decals painted on.
I might also be interested in selling it, can you please assist me on this as well? Not sure about the seat…. the fur is rolled under and seems to be permanently attached, Is this original????? THANKS!!!!
A: We’ve never heard of a maker by the name of Vanduren. Your tricycle looks to be from the 1950′s period that you suggested, but it looks to be a Murray chain driven trike. The original color, if a greenish color as you suspect, was probably a metallic green.
Your tricycle appears to have pedal tractor wheels and tires on the back. They are not stock on any tricycle that we’ve ever seen. The saddle is also not original to the tricycle. Its hard to tell from the photo if the fur is original to the saddle, but most certainly the saddle was not original to the tricycle, at least with the fur on it. For more info and pictures of other Murray tricycles, you can visit out Murray tricycle information page.
We do not really assist with selling and buying of tricycles at this time.
Q: This lucky kid had a cool tricycle and he lived at an amusement park! Could you tell me what kind of tricycle it is?
A: He’s riding a 1940′s era Colson chain driven trike. Exact year is unknown, you’d probably need to have a color photo as well as a Colson catalog from the year that they used that color scheme to know for sure. To find more info on Colson tricycles, visit our Colson tricycle manufacturer page.
