1945ish Junior Toy Co. tricycle cleanup

[Gimletbikes]

I'm helping my friend spruce up this little post war kiddie trike. Really don't know the exact date, but it belongs to a woman who is now 77 years old and she would like to have it as a memento of her childhood. Originally blue, it was hand painted by her at some point with a sweet little "M" of maybe a "W'" on the front fender. It was obviously ridden hard. The handlebars have been welded back together at the middle. The seat is kinda broke. One of the rear wheels is a replacement that matches only in diameter and I have had no luck tracking down a rubber tread with a matching profile. I've found other trikes like it for sale with semi-intact rear wheels but nothing less than $100. The project is just not worth that to any of us, so we're going an unorthodox route - I'm planning to 3D print a new tread and rough it up and make it look as believable as I can. It will be in 2 halves since I can't print anything flexible enough to do it in one piece.

 

[Gimletbikes]

additional photos

 

[Gimletbikes]

Tire reference - rim diameter is 8"

 

[ridingtoy]

If the seat chassis is not too easily repaired, here's one on ebay you could use to replace it with:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/174943875556?campid=5335809022

The Junior Toy tricycle seats are easily recognizable by their distinctive molded top design. They also used this design over several years from the '40s to the '50s. The seat top on the ebay listing has some cracking issues on the rear but has a good chassis that could be swapped out. Might be worth making an offer for it if you'd like to make the trike rideable again.

Dave

 

[Gimletbikes]

This is an excellent find - Thank you! I think that could be perfect

 

[Gimletbikes]

The tread halves are printed black ABS. It took a couple hours of sanding to remove the striations and make the texture kind of match the other original tread with a dremel. I will put wooden dowels in the holes and glue them, so that if I ever want to replace the tread with something more authentic, they'll be somewhat removable. The fit is nice and snug so if some grandchild does manage to hop on and ride it around some, it should be fine. ABS will take some abuse and I used an almost solid infill.

 

[ridingtoy]

Pretty neat, what you can make with those printers.

Dave

 

[Gimletbikes]

I painted the silver wheel cream, then red and I'm doing some distressing with various implements this evening. Some old grody steel wool stained dark is my source of dark faux patina. The 21st century tire tread is doweled and glued into place now.

 

[Gimletbikes]

I wet sanded a little and caught a glimpse of the original headtube decal before the red repaint from decades ago.

 

[ridingtoy]

This photo of a reproduction Junior Toy decal is pretty much what this one originally looked like: