Pedal car kits

[cobraman]

Wondering if anyone here ever painted and built one of these kits ? 

[doorsovdoon]

Is it an actual pedal car? I have one like that rusting away in my back garden, been meaning to restore it for years.

[cobraman]

Yes it is a kit for kids under 5 or so. Thinking of building one for my 15 month old grandson.

[Tom Geiger]

Hey Ray-

I don't know what they have it listed for on eBay, but go directly to their website...

The unpainted kit is $199 with free shipping.  And they'll give you $10 off your first order to join their mailing list.

There are also painted versions for $239.

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Search?query=pedal+car

[cobraman]

Thanks Tom. The finished ones don't cost much more but I am  thinking like it could be a fun project.

[Toner283]

I don't have one exactly the same as that but I did get the little speedster from Speedway Motors. Looks a bit like a Model A Roadster. I bought mine pre-painted as we were on a deadline for our wedding and my little guy needed something to ride down the aisle in because he couldn't walk yet.

My observations on the kit that I bought were:

Take all of the hardware (nuts bolts washers) that came with the kit, save yourself the aggravation and pitch them.  They are twist and toss offshore garbage. You just about get them tight  and they either strip or they skip. That and the cheapy Chrome that was on the ones that came with the kit - after the car sat outside overnight after the wedding were rusty already in the morning. Hate to see what they look like after they've been the summer outside. Replace them with good quality mild steel bolts or if the pedal cars going to get played with a lot and be outside a lot, replace them with stainless. Minimal cost for the number of bolts and nuts etc that you need to buy. The ones on my son's pedal car are getting replaced now that the wedding is over with. As an added bonus, quality stainless Hardware can be polished to a pretty nice shine.

Don't expect any two holes to line up while assembling the pieces. If they do it's a bonus. Several of the parts that I had the holes were not a big enough diameter for the provided nuts and bolts to go through. In addition to this, most of the holes were not round, off center, or both. A couple of the pieces, the hole pitch was off causing me to have to re-drill 1/2 a hole to get things to line up.

Other than those minor assembly irritations, the car looked really cool at the wedding and was a big hit with both people taking pictures and other kids taking it for a ride after the ceremony. I can't wait for my little guy to get big enough to be actually be able to pedal it.

My biggest advice if you were buying an unpainted one, would be to totally assemble it and make sure everything fits properly and runs smooth then blow it apart to paint it. That would save any nasty surprises and having to drill holes in the freshly painted body.? I've been there and it's no fun. ???

[Toner283]

I should add to my above statement that what were minor assembly irritations for me may be major assembly frustrations for someone else. (I'm no smarter than anybody else, I have just spent lots of time dealing with poorly manufactured stuff) I have spent quite a few years working with and installing automotive aftermarket parts. Stuff where "bolt-on" never does without being re-engineered and Universal fit just means not designed to properly fit any vehicle yet manufactured. Having to finesse stuff to make it fit is just an accepted fact of life. ?‍♂️

Edited January 13, 2021 by Toner283

[cobraman]

Thanks for all that info Chris. Sounds like building an early Revell model with opening everything !  I almost bought one of the old Murrey (?) replica kits from Speedway. It came in bare metal. I read info on youtube about that kit and found it needed quite a bit of body work . That soured me on that project.

[Oldcarfan27]

At first I thought this was a 3d printed model kit.

I didn't realize it was a "kid size" kit!

[GLMFAA1]

I built the 1/24th resin kit years ago. Even made the pedals, linkage,S axle in the rear and working steering.

 

greg

 

 

[Mark]

On 1/12/2021 at 11:35 PM, Toner283 said:

Universal fit just means not designed to properly fit any vehicle yet manufactured.

Universal fit = doesn't fit anything in the universe...