Thursday, January 8, 2009

Is it a Cushman Truckster...a Mailster...or a Scooter Truck?


We love these little utility scooters, even if we don't always know what they are, or what they were originally made for.

This one looks like it has a fiberglass shell (won't rust out), and the seller says that it has a reliable Onan engine. (NOTE: The reliable engine isn't running right now.)

If you crave the unusual -- and you are close enough to Oregon for it to make sense -- this might be a fun fixer-upper. Check it out on eBay.

2 comments:

deb said...

The WIPER motor isn't working. The Onan engine is.

MINUTIA Editor said...

Robert VonHeck, an industrial design consultant from San Diego, added some information to the eBay listing.
It is a very rare survivor 'PonyExpress' triwheeler that I designed and patented & prototyped for the USPS back in 1964, which won a design-contest awarding initial production/contract for 65,000 to then German-owned TAPCO Inc. of Van Nuys, California. While exceedingly well-made, with full-2" tubular-steel frame, and stability far superior to the crude earlier Cushman Mailster, only some 350 units were actually produced. (A Cushman tipped over, killing its driver, and the Postmaster in his Limousine on the way to his Washington DC USPS, office picked up his car-phone in an ignorant panic reaction, and canceled the entire order on this wonderful advanced-design!!!) I never made a dime on the contract; -however, I still have the prototype & patent, and am contemplating a modern electric-powered version.