As a child, who built one of these?

[bob46320]

We used to give French students Immersion English. Some of them weren't that much interested in academic studies so one pair we set the challenge to design a "soap box", gave them a couple of axles and wheels etc. Within 4 days, they had a cart and no idea of how to use it. First time down the slope, one of them lost control and rolled it - fortunately not too much speed and no injuries - phew!

[John Cornforth]

Me too !

Round our way they were known as go-carts

Pram wheels and axles used, with parental help needed for drilling the fixing holes through the half inch square iron axles. Seat was an army surplus wooden box that probably once held spares for radios. Come to think of it, Army surplus from St Mary's Street in Southampton was normally Dad's source for any hardware supplies - he still has some of it.

No brakes that I recall, probably used high friction shoe soles. Must have been good training for Austin Sevens !

[Adrian Payne]

Mine was powered by a Petter A engine. Cut down Imp gearbox. Front wheels off an old Howard Bantam rotavator. Used to add model airplane fuel to the tank to get the caster smell.
   
Adrian.

[andrew34ruby]

To us it was always a bogey.

[Bob Culver]

In the early 50s wheels were the great problem. Now there are sources everywhere but children do not trouble. In a flat town had to push and pull each other. My last schoolboy model had swing axle irs. At that stage towed by bike. My Dad also towed me along the much patched road by our house. I was intriged by the constant movement of the Seven shackles. With a steep drive, made one for my son using mower wheels, but drifting  collapsed them. I guess i was a bit too heavy.
The essential rule is to maintain both steering cords tensioned at all time.

[jpsmit]

My father helped me with mine - and we went to the wreckers down the street to get a steering wheel - VERY exciting! I seem to recall lawn mower wheels and that summer, the whole neighbourhood had races pushing each other around a nearby cul-de-sac. Oh and go-carts here also.

(in other news at the corner of the cul-de-sac was a guy building a '64 Mustang. Kind of a gasser design - the week before he got it on the road he was arrested and the car impounded. Turns out most of the car came from 'midnight auto parts' )

[squeak]

as a teenager I bought the remains of an A7 special that charlie watt had built, one day my mate and I decided to put together a 'billy cart'. 
The chassis had a roll bar for pushing and a swing axle ifs, no body, no motor. We bolted on a steering box etc but the pitman arm had to point UP.
The only brake was a cable strung between the front levers and we took turns,  either sitting on the nose and lifting the cable; or pushing.
There was a good hill outside the front gate and the steep roadsides lined with blackberries.
Opposite  lock takes on a new meaning; we came to grief.

[Malcolm Parker]

I always had a 'bogey' as a kid, made using old pram wheels.  My grandparents had a friend who worked at the nearby Silver Cross pram factory in Guiseley.  I must have dropped a few hints about the difficulty in obtaining good secondhand wheels because a few weeks later he gave me a set of four brand new wheels together with a neat bag, made from Silver Cross blue hood material, which contained bushes, bearings, split pins and four chromed hub caps.   More useful than an 'Action Man' doll!

[Reckless Rat]

I also had hours and hours of fun with a Jacko-skate nailed to a short plank of wood. Not like a moder day skateboard, but with the plank at 90° to the axis of the skate. It was then sat on and you could control (in a fashion) the direction by leaning the plank left or right.

After a while (and a few knuckles) you could get pretty proficient at steering hands-off. One of the advantages of being a kid in Sheffield was that you were never far away from a decent hill.

I wonder if Dave Wortley ever rode a trolley all the way from his house to Malin Bridge? It would have been a cracking ride but a long walk back...

[Dave Mann]

Mine was a bogey with shoe leather for brakes.