The heyday for pedal cars in the United States occurred between the World Wars. For example, pedal cars were fixtures in Sears catalogs. Unfortunately, they could only be sent to customers who lived near railroad tracks because mailing a steel car, even a small one, was simply not possible. Other companies that made pedal cars in the ’20s and ’30s included American National Automobiles of Toledo and Steelcraft of Murray, both based in Ohio.
Among other products, Steelcraft made GMC pedal trucks, as well as Mack dumptrucks, Model T Roadsters, Dodge Runabouts, and a Chrysler Roadster, which had bullet-shaped headlights and rubber tires. Steelcraft’s Chrysler was 50-inches long, and could be yours for only $31.50.
When the car made its appearance, the pedal car soon followed. Pedal car history goes back to the 1890s when most were modeled from the real cars on the road at the time – even thought there weren’t that many cars in ownership at that point. Of course, every child wanted one. However, at the turn of the century, there cost really meant that it was only for the wealthy families. With many families reeling from the financial devastation of The Great Depression, pedal cars were often toys for upper class children. Those not so fortunate played with basic homemade ride-on toys, what we used to call go-carts. In the 1920s and 1930s it was still the toy of the wealthy and you could see the ‘modern’ designs of the cars reproduced in the pedal car. No pedal cars were produced after the bombing of Pearl Harbor as all metal was needed for the war effort.
Reaching the peak of popularity in the late 1920s and early 1930s, pedal cars experienced a resurgence in the 1950s to 1960s with chain-driven models. With postwar prosperity in the 1950s, pedal cars grew more popular and were available in all major stores. From the early 1920s through the late 1960s, pedal cars, like automobiles, were produced in many different models and colors. Designed to incorporate the most current trends of the automotive world, pedal cars featured working lights and horns, moveable windshields and ragtops, chrome detailing and hood ornaments, and white wall tires and custom paint jobs.
In the 1960s, interest in pedal cars began to wane as the burgeoning field of space exploration began to capture the attention of children. New safety standards for children’s toys also made them less cost-effective to manufacture. By the 1970s, plastic pedal toys like the Big Wheel had virtually put pedal cars out of business.Lets have a look at selection of these cool pieces of history – did you have one?
Pedal cars have become collector’s items, in some cases selling for thousands of dollars. They can be purchased on the Internet at sites such as PedalCars.com and PedalCarUsa.com, to name two. Many have remained in good condition because of their construction, as most were made of metal or steel.
Popular Models
According to ClassicPedalCars.com, one of the most popular pedal car models is the 1965 Ford Mustang, which is a replica of the first year edition of the classic Ford vehicle. Other favorites include the Model T, police pedal cars, and racer pedal cars, as well as fire engines and the “sad face” models
The daguerreotype process was the first practicable method of obtaining permanent images with a camera. It was invented by Louis-Jaques-Mandé Daguerre and introduced worldwide in 1839. By 1860, new processes which were less expensive and produced more easily viewed images, had almost completely replaced it. During the past few decades, there has been a small-scale revival of daguerreotypy among photographers interested in making artistic use of early photographic processes.
To make a daguerreotype, the daguerreotypist would polish a sheet of silver-plated copper to a mirror finish; treat it with fumes that made its surface light-sensitive; expose it in a camera for as long as was judged to be necessary, which could be as little as a few seconds for brightly sunlit subjects or much longer with less intense lighting; make the resulting latent image on it visible by fuming it with mercury vapor; remove its sensitivity to light by liquid chemical treatment; rinse and dry it; then seal the easily damaged result behind glass in a protective enclosure.
Portrait of a Daguerreotypist Displaying Daguerreotypes and Cases. source
Daguerreotype of Louis Daguerre, a French artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the daguerreotype process of photography, 1844. source
A photograph of a daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe, American writer, editor, and literary critic, 1848, first published 1880. source
Adolph Friedrich Vollmer, a German landscape and marine painter and graphic artist, ca.1845. source
Alexander William Doniphan, 19th-century American attorney, soldier and politician between 1844 and 1860. source
Benjamin Perley Poore, a prominent American newspaper correspondent, editor, and author in the mid-19th century, circa 1850. source
William Murray, Democratic Congressman from New York, between 1844 and 1860. source
William Frederick Havemeyer. a German-American businessman and politician in New York, between 1844 and 1860. source
The first authenticated image of Abraham Lincoln was this daguerreotype of him as U.S. Congressman-elect in 1846, attributed to Nicholas H. Shepard of Springfield, Illinois. source
Solomon N. Carvalho, author, autoportrait, 1850. source
John C Calhoun, American politician and political theorist, 1849. source
Each daguerreotype is a remarkably detailed, one-of-a-kind photographic image on a highly polished, silver-plated sheet of copper, sensitized with iodine vapors, exposed in a large box camera, developed in mercury fumes, and stabilized (or fixed) with salt water or “hypo” (sodium thiosulphate). The image does not sit on the surface of the metal, but appears to be floating in space, with the illusion of reality, especially with examples that are sharp and well exposed is unique to the process.
Jakob Venedey, a German journalist, and politician, 1848. source
Heinrich Joseph Compes, lawyer, and politician, 1848. source
Ezra B. French, United States Representative from Maine, between 1844 and 1860. source
Portrait of Franklin Pierce (1804–1869), 14th president of the United States, original 1855–1865. source
Edwards Amasa Park, American Congregational theologian, between 1844 and 1860. source
Edward Troye, a painter of American Thoroughbred horse, circa 1870. source
Donald McKay, American Ship Builder. around 1854. source
Daguerreotype portrait of Tennessee politician Neill Smith Brown, 1849. source
Daguerreotype of Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States. source
Daguerreotype of Supreme Court justice Joseph Story, 1844. source
Daguerreotype of Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States at the age of 77 or 78 (1844 or 1845). source
Cornelius Vanderbilt, American business magnate, between 1844 and 1860. source
Several types of antique photographs, most often ambrotypes and tintypes, but sometimes even old prints on paper, are very commonly misidentified as daguerreotypes, especially if they are in the small, ornamented cases in which daguerreotypes made in the US and UK were usually housed. The name “daguerreotype” correctly refers only to one very specific image type and medium, the product of a process that was in wide use only from the early 1840’s to the late 1850’s.
Although the daguerreotype process is sometimes said to have died out completely in the early 1860’s, documentary evidence indicates that some very slight use of it persisted more or less continuously throughout the following 150 years of its supposed extinction. The daguerreotype experienced a minor renaissance in the late 20th century and the process is currently practiced by a handful of enthusiastic devotees; there are thought to be fewer than 100 worldwide.
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