Posted 9 years ago
Zorrio05
(1 item)
Would like to know any information anyone can give me on this pedal car! Found the Mystery Fire Truck with the "R" stamped hubs but the questions still remain!
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I know it's been years since anyone showed interest in this item, however I recently came across a similar pedal car (yes, even with the mysterious "R"-stamped hubcaps!) and may be able to shine some light on the situation.
While I believe that the item posted here is a reproduction (and not an original) of a Murray Sad Face pedal car, it is a *very old* reproduction. The main giveaways identifying this item as a non-Murray/non-Steelcraft repro are the R-stamped caps, but I'm willing to bet that the pedals are also mounted on the driveshafts where they can be readjusted to accommodate different kid's heights. Both of these attributes are shared with my pedal car.
When I was attempting to determine provenance of my own pedal car, I came across this listing from Leland Little: https://www.lelandlittle.com/items/434067/boss-pedal-power-car-for-child-drivers/
The important thing to note is that the Blue Boss featured here shares the same "R"-stamped hubcaps. AND it comes with a receipt of purchase: https://www.lelandlittle.com/images/inventory/medium/434/434067_7.jpg
This receipt provides the following interesting pieces of information:
• The seller assessed it as a reproduction dating back to the 1950s/1960s (unclear about the accuracy of this appraisal)
• It was made in Japan, not the USA
• The transaction is dated April 12, 1986, meaning the car has to be older than 1986.
Collectively, I believe that this pedal car is a made-in-Japan reproduction which dates back to the 1980s at worst, and at best is an older Japanese repro which was made during Japan's "Economic Miracle", the post-war recovery boom years following the end of WW2. It was likely imported to North America and then repainted with the Coca-Cola livery (quite a few of these, my car included, have been repainted to advertise local companies).