ridingtoy
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
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.
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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