USTDC

Photo of USTDC courtesy of Les Duffin

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Another Pedicab

I've received and posted several photos of pedicabs here. By the time I arrived in Taipei, I don't think they were any longer used in the city, but when guys like Sarj and Stev were there in the late fifties and early sixties, they were apparently pretty common.

A few U.S. cities still issue permits for pedicab drivers who cater mostly to tourists, but they're pretty much a novelty in most places today as far as I know.

Taipeimarc recently alerted me to this old pedicab that was listed for sale on Craig's List. It has since been sold, but I contacted the woman who took the photos to see what I could find out about it. You can see all the rest of those photos here.

It turns out that a friend of hers participated in an auction for the contents of an unpaid storage unit. When they opened it up, this pedicab was inside. They're guessing that it might be one of the pedicabs that were imported for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. I'm not sure about that because the style -- especially the enclosed wheels -- looks older than that to me. I'm thinking it was built sometime in the 1950s. I'd guess even earlier than that, except that the nameplate is in English. The headlight that runs on a small generator is definitely an add-on.

I did a quick search for the Victory Company in Taipei but came up empty.

If you can help solve the puzzle of when this thing was built, or whether it was one of the Seattle World's Fair pedicabs from 1962, please let me know.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm fairly sure that all the redundant pedicabs in Taiwan that were still servicable would have been converted into cycle carts. You'd have seen plenty of those until quite recently.

KDRoy said...

I live in St. Paul MN USA & aquired a Taiwan pedicab like the one in the picture. I'm in the process of restoring it & am interested in any details that I can find.
Ken

Peddler on the Hoof said...

I have one of these, though not for sale yet. see backseatcabs.com

lu2 said...

HI KDRoy:

I have one of these and am looking to restore it.

I believe ours is from 1952.

Would love to get in touch with you to what steps you're taking if you are up for it.

Thanks!
Lulu

Emmett Shaffer said...

This one appears to be from Taipei Taiwan. My father was stationed there with the Army, we were there from 1968 to 1970. In 68 these were all over town, In 69, the Govt started issuing new red taxi-cabs to replace all Pedicabs. By 70, they were becoming rare. As a result, many soldiers purchased them and sent them to the U.S. With their household shipment. We did as well.
Ours is still operational but requires some restoration.