People ask me about a photo I use on my bio page and in some marketing materials. It’s me in my first car, a Fireball pedal car that I received for Christmas in 1967. My father and uncle assembled it on Christmas Eve, just in time for Santa to park it under the tree. Made by Murray, the Fireball was built from the early 1960s to maybe the early 1970s and related to a similar model called the Super Tot Rod. Most pedal cars of the time were the “push/pull” variety and were supposed to look like 1940s and 1950s cars and trucks.
The Fireball was the Ferrari of pedal cars, with was a tube-frame (just like a real racecar!) and chain drive. It was a lot faster than the “push/pull” jobs. Plus, it looked cooler — like a miniature version of the front-engine Indy roadsters that were raced into the ’60s.
I have only two photos of the Fireball, including this one. Both are Polaroids — my father had the kind before the SX-70, where you had to pull the photo out of the camera and wait a minute for it to develop before your eyes. As I recall, Polaroid film was pretty expensive. The photos held up reasonably well for their age, but I had this one restored by Best Photo Repair. Cost was $30 and turnaround was a couple of days.
Like lots of toys, vintage pedal cars have their own following, including folks who restore them and sell parts for them.
The Fireball has apparently grown up, too. My next post will show the 21st century adult version.
