# 1950 Colson Imperial Tricycle Project



## ridingtoy (Oct 21, 2011)

This is going to be my first tricycle restoration project. Might not get completed before I retire in a few more years, but I'll keep working on it as time permits:










It's a 12" 1950 Colson Imperial which I purchased on ebay some years back. It won't be the easiest of my trikes needing fixing up, with all the badly pitted chrome parts, but I think it will be one of the most rewarding to see this little guy nice and shiny once again. I'm sure I'll need advice and plating resources along the way. This tricycle came from an estate sale in Texas and was offered on ebay for a $40 opener, of which I was the only bidder. The nice thing was, the listing also included six photos dated 1/16/51 of the little girl who was the trike's first owner, playing with it in her yard way back then. Here's a couple of them:















I also purchased a B&W copy of the 1950 Colson catalog, which included the Imperial series tricycles to help verify the model year. The one I have is listed as "Finish No. 1" having black as the main color with red trim, and outlined in gold striping where the red and black meet:









The tricycle as I received it was missing one ball end grip. The Delta Jr. headlight also had a corroded battery holder and missing lens. So far, I've found a replacement ball end grip, bought a repop Delta Jr. to snitch the battery holder and lens from, bought new plated rivets for the rubber step pad on the rear plate, cleaned/conditioned the "Genuine Leather" Troxel seat cover, and just this week bought a better condition Colson handlebar from a trike someone on ebay was parting out. The original handlebar is very badly pitted and most of the plating is gone. It would take a lot of work to build up the metal for replating, though I'll hang onto it in case I decide to attempt salvaging it. The replacement is only lightly pitted and will clean up or replate nicely. The original Firestone tires still have plenty of tread on them showing the trike was lightly used by the little girl who owned it. Shame it wasn't stored away in a better location to protect the finish after she outgrew it. 



Nice to have a tricycle with a history in photos to go with it, which was what really attracted me to it when it was listed years ago. Hope my restoration efforts will do this little Colson trike justice.


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## bobsbikes (Oct 23, 2011)

*tricycle*

cool little trike heres a 50 midwest i picked up last weekend


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## ridingtoy (Oct 23, 2011)

The Midwest models seem to be popular with collectors. Possibly because that was one of the main tricycle makers when they were children and they may have owned a Midwest. I have two of them right now and probably going to sell one sometime down the road. Interesting about the style of rubber topped seat on yours. For years I wondered what the letter "F" on the rear part of the seat top stood for. I finally found out it stood for Faulhaber, which company had been making bike saddles for years.

Dave


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## bobsbikes (Oct 23, 2011)

*tricycle*

i had wonered what the f was for also
im glad you shed some light on that i 
also have a 60 midwest and a murry rocket ray jr
the rocket ray is pretty rare because it got all 4 reflectors
still intact


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## 1motime (Jan 11, 2021)

That is a great looking trike.  Worthy project to bring back.  Did you ever finish it?


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## ridingtoy (Jan 11, 2021)

1motime said:


> That is a great looking trike.  Worthy project to bring back.  Did you ever finish it?



Unfortunately, my health is keeping me from a lot of projects I'd like to be working on. Was hoping to have more years after retirement before having issues. Only had 10 good months after retiring before problems slowed me down.

Dave


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## 1motime (Jan 11, 2021)

ridingtoy said:


> Unfortunately, my health is keeping me from a lot of projects I'd like to be working on. Was hoping to have more years after retirement before having issues. Only had 10 good months after retiring before problems slowed me down.
> 
> Dave



Sorry to hear that Dave. I am dealing with the same issues.  Hard realizations about plans for the future.  Take care and enjoy what you have


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## ridingtoy (Jan 11, 2021)

1motime said:


> Sorry to hear that Dave. I am dealing with the same issues.  Hard realizations about plans for the future.  Take care and enjoy what you have



Thank you very much for your kind thoughts, and I sincerely wish the same for you.

Dave


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