"Hey! I got a DEAL for you! There's a guy who has a business behind the place where I work, and he has an old Cushman Haulster out there. I talked to him, and he'll sell it to you for $300!"

That's how all my latest troubles began.

As you may know, Cushman made small engines and motor scooters in their factory in Lincoln, Nebraska starting about 1909 or so, and mare quite a reputation building 'Airborne' scooters during WWII. You could drop these extremely light-weight bikes out of an airplane just about anywhere, and they did a great job of getting soldiers from point A to point B with little trouble.

After WWII Cushman began making civilian motorcycles, and ended up making quite a full line of bikes. You could get a civilian version of the Airborne (for those soldiers who enjoyed them during the war), a simple step-through scooter somewhat like a crude Vespa, and a 'big' Eagle model that looked a lot like a shrunken full-dress Harley Davidson. Take a look through eBay and see how many Cushman scooters are for sale, and note the prices they're bringing!

In the late 1950's Cushman began making three-wheeled industrial carts, and during the 1960's they made delivery carts for the US Mail as well as 'turf' trucks for parks and golf courses.

In the 1970's through the 1990's they built an extensive line of utility vehicles - all on a small scale. The ubiquitous Meter Maid's cart was always a Cushman, and you could buy either 3- or 4-wheeled versions of just about anything they made.

ANYWAY (getting back to my story) about a year ago I bought two Cushman Haulsters - a small van-type truck - and one had three wheels and the other had four wheels. I got both of them running in short order, and I just recently finished restoring the fiberglass body on the 4-wheeler. I have it licensed for the street, and it runs about 35 mph and gets about 60 mpg; just right in our small town!

The 3-wheeler runs fine, but it had some glass broken out before I got it, and I've been dragging my feet about investing in a lot of expensive auto glass.

Now, when my brother called me about this Cushman for $300, I could hardly pass up the chance to at least go look at it. When I saw it, it was in pretty good shape. The wheels were missing and it was a little dented on the metal part of the body, but it looked like a fairly easy restoration, and I figured I could turn it over for a fair profit.

THEN I LEARNED THE REST OF THE STORY. It seems the owner runs a custom motorcycle shop, and bought this Cushman as part of a 'lot' at an auction. He had wanted ONE of the units in that lot, but was forced to buy the whole lot to get that one.

He said he'd sell me this one for $300 provided I took the 'rest of them' off his hands.

I talked my brother Ted into going out to see them before I committed to the deal, and he reported to me that there were SIX of them, and all different versions and conditons. Well, buying six trucks for $50 each is one heck of a deal, so I opened my big mouth and said go ahead and pay the man...

This past weekend Ted & I managed to trailer them all up to my Dad's place in the mountains, where I'll have the use of his machine shop.

Here's a rundown of what I ended up with:

One 3-wheel 'pickup' style with a short cab. Heavy steel dump bed mounted on the back, missing hydraulic pump and ram, everything else looks ready to go. Good compression, all wheels and tires present and with good tread. It has an option I've never heard of: an UNDERDRIVE unit for the rear axle. You can shift from normal to low for heavy loads. Awesome! After I get it started and running nice, I'll need to swap in a good windshield and do some welding on the bed before I paint it. I have no idea what the retail value is, but I've never seen a Cushman dumptruck this nice, so it should go quickly.

Three 3-wheel Meter Maid carts. One missing its engine, otherwise everything is in good shape. Some minor sheet metal work needed on the toolboxes on the beds, but I may remove some of them and sell the units as pickup trucks. The unit missing the engine is the nicest one of all of them, so I may swap the van body off my currently running 3-wheeler and add a flatbed (see below) to make a work truck for myself.

Two 4-wheel flatbed trucks, with longer than stock beds - they look to be about 18" longer. One truck is in good condition, needs some brake work and the dash gauges re-installed. The other truck appears to have been in an accident, as the fiberglass body is missing and the front suspension has been removed, but is still with the truck. I will probably use this flatbed to build my own truck.

Counting up, I seem to be missing 4 wheels & tires, but that's exactly how many the wrecked truck would use, so I come out even.

All of these units had the fabric doors, which are pretty much sun-rotted. The metal frames are still there, and enough fabric for a top shop use as a pattern to sew up some new covers if the buyers want them. My first two original units have the steel doors, so I'll be keeping those for myself!

Now I have enough work ahead of me to keep me busy all summer. But I still want to go up to Canada for mid-summer vacation, and we have friends coming out to visit who will want to do all the touristy stuff like camping at teh beach, going to the amusement parks, visiting wineries, etc.

Not to mention playing with my Volvo!

Steve
(Now the Largest Cushman Distributor on the West Coast!)

I'll post some pix when I get home tomorrow....