The "Memories Of My Youth Come Alive At The Pedal Car Museum: Part II - The Pedal Cars" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Posting the second part of my trip through the Seiverling LLC Car and Pedal Car Museum.  The museum is located in a rather nondescript extra-long garage at 66 Lancaster Ave. in the town of Ephrata, Pennsylvania. I had made arrangements with Darren, the director of the museum which was opened in mid-1990s, for a private tour and am enjoying his full attention as I walk from one pedal car to the next, asking questions that he is able to fire answers back as fast is I ask them.  The museum is now open one Sunday a month, March to November, but when Darren's great uncle Richard and aunt Ethel, founders of the museum, were alive, a few busloads of patrons would visit weekly.  At first Richard would share his collection with smaller groups and would tell stories about every one of the 162 pedal cars in his collection.  Tours could last as long as three hours if he got too windy. I should tell you that each pedal car I viewed had a teddy bear driver in it courtesy of Ethel.  Most of the bears are color coordinated to the exterior paint color of the pedal car.  Eventually Darren reduced the collection to 140 pedal cars due to duplicates.  It allowed for more space to show the rest of the collection.  Well, time to walk through the museum with me and take a look at a few of my favorites from my trip to the Car and Pedal Car Museum.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Perhaps my favorite is the replica of Richard's 1932 Chrysler Roadster that was made especially for him.  The one-of-a-kind was made using 8 Polaroids that were sent to the builder of the pedal car.  Remarkable duplication of the original Classic car.

This is a tandem pedal car that can be powered by two people.  Both riders have pedals that work together to power the car.  

This pedal car is the only one I saw that was made in Russia.  A 1960 MockBN4 with rear suspension.

This is a green 1929 Marman Wash that was played with by Mickey Rooney when he was a child.
It was made by the Gendron Company.

A 1994 White-Grey Roadster that was made just for Richard.

What kid wouldn't have loved a Corvette pedal car.  This 1957 is #10 of 36 made.  It actually has a body made of fiberglass and has pneumatic tires.

This is a 1939 Buick made by the Thistle Company which is located in Canada.

This is a tandem-truck combination.  It is a 1955 Ford Cab with a Low Boy trailer.

This is the Caterpillar Diesel dozer that is held on the trailer of the above truck cab.  It can be taken off the trailer and can be pedaled just as the cab can.

My final choice I just had to include since it looked so much like the pedal car I rode up and down the last block of North Queen Street in Lancaster, PA when I was a child.  My car didn't have a boat behind it as this one does.  This boat can be placed on the ground and it too can be pedaled.  This is a 1957 Dodge pedal car.