Yard-Man was a Michigan company that started in the lawn-mower business in the 1930s. By the 1950s, they had ventured into other products, like go-karts that resembled miniature Chevy Corvettes. Rumor has it they were largely consumed as promotional items by Chevy dealers, but you could get one via mail order and take care of the finishing touches yourself. This 1959 edition is in running condition, but not something you should take out of the cul-de-sac as they’re not street legal. It’s located in N. Scottsdale, Arizona, and available here on craigslist for $5,700. Thanks, Pat L., for this most interesting tip!

From what we can tell, Yard-Man built these mini-replicas during 1958-61 (skipping 1960). Whether the fiberglass bodies were updated annually with any changes the full-size cars received isn’t known. We understand that 200 of them were built in 1958 and 300 more in 1959, but the 1961 production number isn’t public but likely in similar territory. They were available in at least two color combinations, turquoise and white, and red and white. For a time, these were also available through Sears & Roebuck, but as frame-only carts. One advertisement shows the mail-order price as $157 ($1,464 in 2022 dollars).

These cars were made with gasoline-fed 2.5 and 3.0 hp Briggs & Stratton recoil, pull-start engines with the larger one being in the seller’s ’59 edition. Though much smaller than the real car, these go-karts were designed to haul around children. They were six feet long, a little more than two feet wide, and 20 inches tall.  Under the body of many (but not all) was an A-frame coil spring front suspension, worm and sector steering, and a parallel leaf spring suspension in the back. This car has a transmission with a centrifugal clutch, but no reserve gears. Here’s a link to one of the owner’s manuals.

This “Corvette” looks quite presentable and likely complete except that the windshield is missing. The odometer is said to read 100 miles, but it’s broken so who knows how much territory this little car has really covered. There is no title here as the seller describes it as missing, but since these were go-karts and not street legal, were titles even needed in most locales? This looks like a fun little car – if you don’t mind spending more than $5,000 for something your kids would look at as a toy.