Kansas farmer and inventor Max Walker developed the first production gasoline-powered golf carts in 1957 after growing frustrated by electric carts with batteries that often failed to last an entire round of play. Walker designed a relatively simple tubular chassis with three-wheels and a rear-mounted eight-horsepower four-cycle Kohler engine. He included tiller steering and conjoined controls so it could be driven from either seat, and a tilt-up body for easy access to the mechanical bits. But what set the Walker Executive apart was its marvelous space-age styling, with a sweeping, Vespa-like front end, and skirted rear fenders. I’m currently at a drag race in St. Louis, and I bought this from an old man who bought it at auction many years ago. I’ll be in the North racing for another five weeks, using the cart as my pit vehicle, as I didn’t bring my regular golf cart. However, I’ll be racing in Columbus Oh next week, be in Western New York for two weeks, and then in southwest Michigan the last week of August. I’d consider selling it before I get back home to Texas if you’re up this way. Transporting is never a problem, because it easily fits in a pickup bed. Ushipit has trucks that transport RVs and boats. If they have something going their way, which fits in the bed, it only costs a few hundred. Last month I sold a Cushman Golf Caddy and it cost $500 for it to go from South Texas to Rhode Island. Nicely restored gas models go for $12500-$15000. This is an easy restoration as it runs great, rust free and missing nothing. If I sell quick, I’ll sell for only $8500. If I get back home with it – I’ll strip and paint, detail the engine and Chassis, and replace seats, belts and tires (about $750 and 50 hours) to get closer to the $15k. Been riding around the track all day and it runs great.
In 1948, a Houston, Texas car dealer by the name of R. J. ‘Dick’ Jackson was an avid golfer. He was not only a member of River Oaks Country Club (their old golf course is the oldest in Texas), his home was off one of the holes. Dick also had a severe case of Arthritis, and found it difficult to walk the course.
Another Member of the club was Preston Moore, who is the first cousin of former Secretary of State James Baker. Preston rode a Cushman Scooter and that gave Jackson an idea. Jackson asked Moore where he bought the scooter, and he told him Watson Cushman on Louisiana St.
Jackson went to Watson Cushman, bought a 1949 Model 60, took it to his dealership and modified it with a front bench to carry three (some sources say four, but they’d better be skinny) golfers and four sets of clubs behind them. There is also a holder for a patio umbrella to shade the driver and golfers. He named it the “Arthritis Special” and patented the design. River Oaks gave him special permission to use it because of his medical condition. Shortly after he received permission to use the “Motorized Golf Buggy”, a few other members also wanted permission to use one. Jackson sold the patent to Watson, his company made a few for the other members.
In time, River Oaks’ members complained of the engine noise, kick starting noise, engine smoking, the dust kicked up by the motorized golf buggies – and they were banned from the club. It would be a few more years before motorized golf carts would be sold in design more similar to today (albeit two rear drive wheels and one front steering wheel – often steered by a tiller), most using a Cushman motor.
I bought this 1949 “Arthritis Special” as part if a five Cushman vehicle lot, from an 85-year-old collector, who is liquidating due to his declining health. He claims that serial number 1111 is the first made by Watson. I know of only three other survivors. A yellow one in Canada, a green one in a private collection, and a blue one on displayed at a Top Rated golf club.
Mine is 100% complete, but I’ve not yet had a chance to work on restoring it. It will be many months before I can get to it. Until I do start the restoration, I’m offering this rare piece of history for $10,000. I understand that it will take a special golf fan, or another top country club to be interested, but I thought I’d throw it out there in case. If not sold by the time I can get to it, I’ll take off the market until the restoration has been completed. I have no title to the Golf Buggy – the seller claiming it wasn’t titled because it was never Street legal. It is to be sold on a Bill of Sale.
So I’ve been selling my car collection as part if my life downsizing – and taken a liking to smaller toy – Cushman vehicles. I’ve recently acquired 8 of these vehicles. I’ll tell about each of these in time – but first the Rat bike.
I bought this from an 85-year-old man in north central Texas. He had a couple of shelters (and I use that term lightly) where he kept a collection of rough but Restorable Cushmans and other stuff.
While there I bought 5 of 6 best he had.
I arrive home in the evening, and unloaded my trailer.
The next day, Frankenstein the Rat bike, was the first to have its attention drawn to it.
It is an Eagle frame with some type of 4 cylinder military engine, of which I really know little. The old man had some fun trying to make it look like an Eagle trying to catch its prey. He says its stupid fast, claiming could beat his son’s Harley.
After a couple of hours, the motor was made to run, and appears to run well. I haven’t ridden it yet as it needs a couple of chains and brakes. I have a couple of out of state races over the next couple of weeks, so it will be awhile. I plan to keep it as a Rat Bike, and will most likely flip it after its running good and safe.
Its with a heavy heart that I have to report that my best friend Buster went to the great racetrack in the sky. His health was dropping like a lead balloon over the last couple of years, but in the last couple of months he’d lost it all. I just didn’t have the heart to put him down, but he let me know that he just needed to chase squirrels in the Happy Hunting Ground. The vet broke the (Covid-19) rules and let me be with him as I insisted that I owed it to him to be there to the end.
Superbird
I had someone blowing up my dress that he wanted to buy my B5 Blue, V-code, 4-speed Superbird. So I took it out of the bubble, cleaned it up, tuned her up. Turns out the guy was all talk but too scared to pull the trigger.
I figure as long as I had to bust ass to make it ready, I might as well push hard to sell. If you know anyone interested, information and photos can be found at www.OldHippie.com
Red, White & Blue
Gone through about 35 gallons of paint at my Barnominium/Race Shop. The pictures tell the story.
Magnum
If you’ve been following along Ginger, my 78 Magnum XE, you’ll know that so far I’ve
Put a pump gas drag race big block motor in the car
Street Strip 727 transmission
8.75″ rear end from a 74 Charger, with a Suregrip an 3.55:1 gears
March Serpentine Pulley system
Schumacher headers to dual 2.5″ exhaust, with Flowmaster 40s
Gear Vendors Overdrive to Victory Driveshaft
Brand new Polyurethane paint
And most recently a Holley Sniper throttle-body EFI
The newest update was to take the dull bumpers off the GT I have, have them powder-coated gloss black, and put them on the Magnum XE. The bright chromed bumpers will go on the GT.
And finally, I ordered a pair of new leaf springs and hardware from Espo Springs and Things. She should be finished now.
Sharknose, Step through & Eagle
Many years ago, while racing at NHRA’s Hot Rod Reunion at Bowling Green, KY – I saw one of the Racers running around in an early 60s Harley Davidson 3-wheeled tiller steered golf cart. I decided that would be a natural for a Nostalgia Super Stock drag racer like me, who races a 1960 Plymouth wagon, to have instead of my 15 year old Yamaha golf cart. Then I saw the Cushman Sharknose golf carts made between 1962-1964. I knew that was what I needed as a pit cart.
Years prior to that, I dreamed about some day finding a nice 40s or 50s Step through Scooter, like I saw in my Archie comic books in the mid-60s. Jughead rode one.
Well a couple of weeks ago I stumbled onto a lot of Cushmans that included a 1961 Sharknose with the high speed rear axle, three speed transmission. The original 8hp motor had been replaced by a 23hp Vanguard. The step through scooter is mid-50s Model 70 Turtleback. The other bike is a 58 Cushman Eagle.
I ran up to Tulsa last week and bought them back. The scooter is pretty quick, and the golf cart will hit an incredibly unsafe 60 mph. I really haven’t played with the Eagle yet. I have big plans for all, but that’s for another day.
Mailster
I’ve also been looking for a Mailster from the Late 50s and Early 60s. While your standard mailman’s leather bag was limited to 35 pounds when I was a kid, the mailman with a Mailster had 500 pounds of mail on board. They were later replaced by little Jeeps – as they weren’t very durable – and a little snow crippled them. There were mainly two different manufacturers of Mailsters. The Cushman above, and the Westcoaster below.
I just bought a very rough Westcoaster Mailster that I’ll pick up Wednesday. I’d prefer the Cushman, but the price was right so I’ll decide what I’ll do with it when I get it home.
Allante
I have two Allantes. The blue one I bought new in 93. It’s had an AC leak. It was finally fixed by first replacing the evaporator, which required dropping the engine cradle, then it wouldn’t charge – requiring replacement of the compressor. That was an equal pain in the ass to remove and replace. Now its all converted to R134 and I hope will last as long as I last.
I also have a Polo Green 93 that had been in storage. I brought it to the shop to be gone through, so I can sell.
Black Bettie & Billie Sue
As Buster got too old to go racing anymore, a new race dog was going to need to be groomed. Buster was a huge (135 pound) English Lab. My wife doesn’t like male dogs because of their size and independence, English Labs because they shed, or labs in general – because they shed. She wanted me to get a Labordoodle, because they don’t shed – but they’re two time Poodle and one part Lab. I don’t want a freakin homo dog! We finally compromised on a female American lab, as they’re smaller. So January a breeder with litter born on Christmas let us check them out. We did and put a deposit on one, to be picked up in February.
In February we went to pick out a female. Since this was to be my dog, I picked the biggest female – who came right to me. However, my wife had her eye on a different one. The breeder said she could have a second for half price, and that’s how no labs turned into two.
Having two Lab pups is very challenging, but also fun. They’re now 5 months old, have been to a race, hang with me at the shop, and love to swim. They’ll be much like Buster, especially Black Betty, the one I chose. Below are some photos as they’ve grown.
Trailer Work
On the single enclosed trailer I’ve been outfitting, I wired a roof fan,
Mounted a pair of batteries to power all of the DC power, and an inverter
originally 1 battery
mounting a pair of batteries with cut off and management
getting it all wired up, along with a track radioCharging lugs
I still have a little work, like an inverter and a charger for when I run a generator.
Also made some backing plates to mount a very secure puck lock for the door.
As a young adult with dreams of great financial success, I read Napoleon Hill’s book “Think and Grow Rich”. One of the big points of the book is to have a huge goal, which is unattainable by most, and to reward yourself hugely for obtaining it. You then put a visual reminder of the reward somewhere that you are constantly reminded of the goal and your reward.
In 1996 I set another such a goal, which was the second big goal I’d set and promised myself a big reward for hitting. In June 1998, I achieved that goal, and my reward had been a new Viper GTS. I Immediately went to the Dodge dealer and ordered a black with black interior with a stripe delete. Because of a strike causing a shortage of the front body work of the car, it took 13 months before I picked the car up.
I have put less than 4000 miles on the car since. The car looks and drives like brand new. 1999 was by far the very best year of the Viper. This car holds a lot of sentimental value to me. However, I’m now in my mid sixties, and in a mode of reducing the things I just don’t need. I have 31 cars, trucks and motorcycles; and I just don’t need near that many – so everything is for sale, some priced to move faster than others. This is the car I least want to sell, but I will for the right price. That price is $60K FIRM.
Zero Miles since Hemityme Restorations finish the car B5 Firemist Blue Metallic Real V-Code 6bbl Rare 4-speed with console Rare Deluxe White Interior Tic-Toc-Tac
Rust-free Texas car, spending a couple of years in the north in the 90s before I bought and had restored. I have plenty of photos before and during restoration, showing that it was solid southern car requiring no replacement metal.
There have been a few performance modifications which can easily be reversed.
The engine was built by Diamondback Engines using the original block, oil pan, heads, intake manifold and carburetors. However, the crank is a forged Eagle Stroker increasing the Cid from 440 to 483. The Rods are Eagle H-Beams and the pistons Diamond Flat top. The cam is a Bullet. The heads were ported and heads intake matched. Exhaust is a TTI Ceramic coated headers going to 2.5″ exhaust 9With H-Pipe to Magnaflow mufflers. To keep all of that power cool, there’s a high capacity aluminum radiator with aluminum shroud. The clutch is a Mcleon. All of this can easily be returned to stock appearance.
This car has been in a bubble since the restoration was finished, taken out monthly to start and drive around the building prior to going back into the bubble with a custom flannel line cover.
I had a Petty Blue (originally Vitamin C) V-code, 4-speed with stock interior and no console also restored by Ken Presley, but I kept the B5 because it was nicer and more rare. A broker bought it for his client for $205K and no doubt marked it up some.
This is a very rare car in excellent condition. In the photos there’s a off the rack battery as the red cap Mopar Script was shot. I’ve just ordered an attention Mopar Script, red cap Group 27, which is an AGM – which will be here any day.
I’m downsizing my life. No better Dippy out there.
I’m the second owner of this spotless E58 (High Horsepower 360/4bbl) !978 Dodge Diplomat Coupe. I Think I’ve had over 15 years now.
When the last time you saw one?
You’ll never again see an original paint, original motor/transmission, and original Boat Tail in nicer condition. Not a spec of rust. Never in an accident. Always had best of care.
The AC didn’t work when I bought, so I fixed – converting to R134. It needs to have a can added every couple of months, so there must be an o-ring needing to be replaced,
The original “Plastic Fantastic” Thermoquad was warped, so I converted the lean burn to Mopar Performance E-Ignition, the boat anchor iron intake with an Edelbrock Perforner and the leaky carb with a 600cfm Edelbrock Performer. The car runs like a Raped Ape on Super.
I detailed and shampooed everything and car looks great in its 70s Aztec Gold. Driven regular, it has just turned 100K – but runs great – with nothing except very slow AC leak needing to be fixed. Engine has great compression and burns no oil. Transmission was Serviced and shifts chrisply.
I Love this car, but need the cash, and am downsizing my life by selling everything I don’t need. I have over $10K in Making sure everything works and that I could hop in and drive to Alaska if I wanted. A true fly in and drive home car.
$7900 wired or $7500 in Dead Presidents FIRM. I do have a few things I might consider trading for, and they’re listed in the Wanted Section of oldhippie dot com – as are all other cars I’m selling.
Coach & Stacker all polished up and ready to head to Bradenton, FL
The first NMCA race of 2020 is in Bradenton, FL, which is south of Tampa. Since the Stacker trailer is brand new, the thrash was on to finish outfitting it for racing. My coach is 3′ longer than the last one, so the trailer was ordered to be 2′ shorter. That requires optimal space usage in trailer. Below are photos of the finished product.
With the Stacker finished, it was time to load up.
Since the Screamin’ Woody has a new and untested motor, I put the Texas Thug – which had the bugs worked out, on the Lift. I’ll rent the track Wednesday to test the Wagon, but if it doesn’t cut it – then I’ll run the Thug. It was an incredibly tight fit getting both cars and the golf cart into the trailer – requiring many steps. I’ll chop the top of the golf cart 4″ when I get back. That will eliminate one of the steps.
Petty Tribute 1960 Plymouth
I took the Petty Tribute car on it’s first drive after preparing the front tires and getting tires mounted.
As you would expect, there were a few bugs. The clutch lever had to be modified, the shifter adapter needed to be modified, the collectors needed their gaskets changed, as did the headers. The pipes scrape on turns, so I called Laura at Espo Springs and Things to order a pair of new 5-leaf springs with a 1″ height increase and some other rear hardware. The radio antenna sux – so I ordered a windshield antenna. It should be ready for me to enter into the car show at the Atlanta race.
I also have an aluminum 24′ trailer from the 90’s that I’ve been refreshing. I put a front straps hangers, a tire spinner holder in the rear, and some shelving to hold plastic jars of nuts bolts and other hardware. I’ll finish up when I get back from Bradenton.
My son and I own Bloomin’ Blinds of The Woodlands, through our company Daldavco, LLC. Its been a record month in sales, plus we had Dock Side Magazine out for a feature they will run in their March issue. We also have a double size booth at the Montgomery County Home & Garden Show this coming weekend – so a lot of time has been spent preparing for that.
I bought a Gear Vendors overdrive unit for Ginger, my daily driver 1978 Magnum. Got that installed and ordered a new yet shorter Victory Driveshaft. Took it for a 50 mile drive and I’m real happy. Before installing the overdrive, my tire (275/65-15) and gear (3.55:1) combination had me turning 3100 RPMs at 70 and if I cruised at 85 my temperature would shoot up to 220 degrees quickly. My Trans team would also rise to 225-230 degrees. Now I’m at 170 degrees at 85mph and maybe 2100 RPM. At 70 I’m at about 1900 RPM. The Trans oil temp never got above 140 degrees in the 50 mile drive documented below.
The Speedometer reacts slowly as its GPS and the satellite calculates speed. There’s a delay.
OldHippie.com
As many of you know, we typically live at the lake Thursday evening until Monday morning, and then commute (100 miles each way) to our home next to my shop in Beasley. I have 4 containers and a 12×16′ shed full of cars parts, 30+ vehicles, and an attic full of furnishings from the last two homes we’ve sold. The goal is to down-size my life, buy some land close to my lake house, build a shop there to stop commuting, and later build a home to rock on the front porch on. I’m not going to build anywhere near the number of buildings I currently have — and need to dramatically downsize my life by selling what I don’t need and won’t use.
I had an eBay store and all was going well, until they wanted me to charge sales tax and file with every county I collected it from. That’s just not practical. So I’ve created a Craig’s List Style (only even easier to use) classified ad web site, and started to list my stuff. In a purely selfish move, I’ve made it available to anyone in the United States to use COMPLETELY FREE AND WITHOUT ANY CATCH. The reason I’m paying for this for everyone to use is SEO (Search Engine Optimization). The more ads listed on the site, the more visitors (potential Buyers) are bought to the site. I’ll pay for you to help me sell quicker.
So this is you official invitation to register at https://www.oldhippie.com securely and free, and like me, to clean out your attic, shed, garage backyard, storage locker… and convert stuff you don’t need into cash.
When you register, you are immediately emailed a confirmation link to verify that you’re not a robot spammer. Clicking that link makes you ready to post ads. The knuckleheads at GOOGLE are putting that email in your Spam folder if you use Gmail. The email is sent immediately. If you don’t see it in your Inbox, you’ll most likely find it in your Spam folder.
Spring Cleaning
So I moved four of my bikes so I can move my Street Rod to the garage I keep my ready to drive cars. However, my Shop Rat has not been starting and running every Friday like I asked, so the battery won’t take a charge. New one is on the way.
I have black rolling carts for various jobs. Electrical work, power Tools, sanding and grinding, small detail work… They tend to get disorganized quickly – with crap thrown on them and stuff not put back where it belongs. I straightened out the electrical cart.
I also have red rolling carts that has just about anything from used parts, to mail, to garbage thrown on. I consolidated it to one by throwing out garbage, photo and listing for sale usable parts I won’t need, and putting away stuff I will need.
My 1979 Magnum GT has its drivetrain pulled, and the bumpers pulled. It will get prepped for new paint under the hood and door jams (to match new paint on the body) and the bumpers blaster and powder donated flood black.
Finally, I reorganized where we store new and used hardware and supplies I use at the shop.
So that’s it for the February. I’m about to head to the lake to do some puter work, accounting, and setting up at the Home & Garden Show. This Sunday morning we’ll come back, hop in the motorhome, and get to the NASA rest area in Mississippi to find a spot for the night. Monday morning we’ll finish the trip Bradenton.
Oops
I almost forget. About two weeks ago our family grew by two.
Meet Ole Black Bettie and Billy Sue. Bettie & Billy are sister Black American Labs with a good lineage. Yes that means we currently have 5 dogs, and will be bringing them all to the track.
Bookmark and visit http://www.oldhippiesads.com/ frequently for new listings. This is a site free for everyone to list as many Vehicle Classified ads as they desire.
Specifically for Motor Vehicles, Only Motor Vehicles and for ALL Motor Vehicles.
There has been and will be a lot of effort put into the creation of this site. If you have any car or car parts for sale, check out this site and help me get it rolling.
NMCA Legal, easily made Street Legal or Stock Eliminator Legal
This is the car Dallas Schultz started drag racing in. It is NMC legal, and easily made Stock Eliminator or Street Legal. The video has all of the details.
