I bought me a Cushman

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bighammer

bighammer

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I found this on craigslist the other day, just thought I had to have it Lol Any other Cushman collectors out there? I'm planning on restoring it, looking for the correct tank now. Most everything else is here. It runs great, has a cast iron engine and a two speed transmission.
 

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bighammer said:
Here's another picture, it's a 1960 Cushman "Trailster"
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Cushman's are cool, as hell. The first local machinist " Bob", started his machined shop, late 1950's. He rode a Cushman tricycle for 35+ years, no license plate, no problems with cops. Just a cool find.(yours)
 
I've been wanting to buy this one on CL for the last couple of months. No price in the ad and no place to store it though...

00v0v_jwOjdOXWSbh_600x450.jpg
 
BrianT said:
I've been wanting to buy this one on CL for the last couple of months. No price in the ad and no place to store it though...

00v0v_jwOjdOXWSbh_600x450.jpg
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COOL! but don`t take it offroad ! (ask me how I know)
 
Cool Cushman's ! I always keep my eyes open for one locally. Would love a step through. I think finding a old rusty one like the one with the side car and rat rod it with v-twin power. lol
 
Just think we went to the moon with out cad/cam too. Guys with punch card machines and drawings on paper, and nowadays we can't even get a car out without 5 years of development.
 
Cool Cushman, anxious to see what it looks like after the resto!

Almost everyone knows what a Cushman scooter looks like. But how many have even heard of a Salsbury? They were manufactured here in SoCal so may not have had the marketing exposure of the Cushman's.
Here's a pic of a custom-painted 1946 Salsbury that belongs to a car club buddy. He also has a stock one that's been restored, but the custom-painted one is cuter...


View attachment P1263337.jpg
 
When I was kid I rode the wheels off (literally) of a Cushman Eagle like this one.
Got 7 of us on it one day and drove it downtown.
 

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Those Eagles are COOL, and they are worth about three times what the Trailsters go for equally restored. I'm still happy with the deal I made. Traded a canoe and a few hundred dollars for it. The cheapest one I've found for sale currently on the internet is $1,500 and it's not nearly as nice as mine. The Eagles go for $3-5k all the time.
 
ocdart said:
Cool Cushman, anxious to see what it looks like after the resto!

Almost everyone knows what a Cushman scooter looks like. But how many have even heard of a Salsbury? They were manufactured here in SoCal so may not have had the marketing exposure of the Cushman's.
Here's a pic of a custom-painted 1946 Salsbury that belongs to a car club buddy. He also has a stock one that's been restored, but the custom-painted one is cuter...


View attachment 1714762226
Click to expand...

Nope, never heard of a Salsbury! But I'm with Oklacarcollecto, old iron is definitely cool. These things just reek nostalgia for me.
 
BrianT said:
I've been wanting to buy this one on CL for the last couple of months. No price in the ad and no place to store it though...

00v0v_jwOjdOXWSbh_600x450.jpg
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...maybe you should inquire about it. That's a cool setup right there. But is that a side car, or a trailer? I've never seen a Cushman sidecar, but I know they made scooters with hitches. Likely the seller knows what it's worth, but still, what a cool find. You never know till you ask!
 
YY1 said:
How fast do these things go?

Here's an interesting one...and reasonably priced-

http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/cto/4667088196.html
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The Eagle we had would do about 50.
It had a cast iron 8hp single on it and a 3 speed trans right behind the motor with the shifter up on the left side of the gas tank.
One of the things that always intrigued me was the clutch mechanism on them.
In the picture I posted you can see that big section of bar sticking out on the side of the motor?
That is the clutch linkage (comparable to the shift fork on a car clutch)
That large wheel on the side is a centrifugal clutch and it has a big button in the center that when held down over rode the centrifugal and kept the clutch released.
If you held the clutch pedal down you could rev it up and it wouldn't move, but if you never touched the pedal you could stop and go just like a mini bike.
You could also hold the clutch down, rev it up and dump the clutch to do a nice burnout.

The "stomp start" feature was a trip also, but it worked very reliably.

Like I said above, ours had a 3 speed manual trans on it and it had a chain for the final drive instead of a belt like the picture.
 
I just bought a yamaha 125 scooter for the half mile trip between my house and shop.

It does 55 easy and 60 if you push it.

Gets up to 45 real fast, too.

I might have considered a cuhshman if I could have found a decently priced utility model.

Are they all street legal?

I do know where two enclosed postal cushman's are in a JY.
 
YY1 said:
I just bought a yamaha 125 scooter for the half mile trip between my house and shop.

It does 55 easy and 60 if you push it.

Gets up to 45 real fast, too.

I might have considered a cuhshman if I could have found a decently priced utility model.

Are they all street legal?

I do know where two enclosed postal cushman's are in a JY.
Click to expand...

We had a Yamaha 80 street/trail and it would do 60 no problem.
The old Cuchmans are street legal if you put the stuff on them to make them that way.
Here it's headlight, tail/brake, horn and at least one mirror that you can see 200 feet behind with.

No signals or other details required.
 
bighammer said:
...maybe you should inquire about it... You never know till you ask!
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Like I said, no money or space for it. I bought this Honda Reflex for $800 a couple of months ago. It wasn't running so I had to put a couple of hundred more into it, but it's worth $2k in the spring. I'll probably sell it then and start looking for something vintage then.

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YY1 said:
How fast do these things go?

Here's an interesting one...and reasonably priced-

http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/cto/4667088196.html
Click to expand...

it depends on the rear end ratio. Most with the skinny tires were high ration for the street and most with fat tires low ratio rear for the turf and also had a 2 speed granny box between the rear and tranny (golf courses and parks). I used to have 5 or 6 at one time (rented them out for Seafair and other festivals etc.) Some of those were meter maid vehicles and had a 60 mph speedo. I had one about that vintage... I think it would go 35-40... I was too afraid to push it past that if memory serves correctly.
 
I'd love to have one of these...................
 

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