Trucksters and Trailers: 1970 Cushman Collection
Based today in Augusta, Georgia, Cushman Motor Works and its iterations have been in the business of producing all sorts of outdoor equipment for more than 100 years. This includes scooters, farm equipment, lawnmowers, golf carts, and even boats. For the second half of the 20th Century, they built the Cushman Truckster, a small, light-duty carryall that was popular with mall and stadium maintenance staff as well as police departments. The seller offers two of these 3-wheel wonders for sale along with two utility trailers. The asking price for all four pieces is $7,500 here on Facebook Marketplace in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. But they can be purchased individually.
Cushman began business in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1903, the brainchild of two brothers, Everett and Clinton. One of their most well-known products, the Auto-Glide scooter, went into production in 1936. Cushman scooters were widely used by the U.S. military during World War II and as an alternative to automobiles before and after the war. The versatile Truckster had a lengthy run between 1952-02 and can still be found in service even today.
From 1970, the seller has two nicely preserved or restored Trucksters. One is a mini-dump truck complete with a hydraulic ram and a large tub for moving bulk material. It’s said to run well and its price tag is $3,900. The other is a Sport Truckster, which is more like what you’d find delivering beverages to folks on the golf course. It’s also in good condition and the seller is asking $2,900 for it.
The remaining items in this ensemble are two trailers, one of which has walls around the bed and is in good condition for $400. The other is red, white, and blue in color with no enclosed walls and is ready to move around smaller items from Points A and B for $300. Presumably, either Truckster can haul those trailers, so you could do a mix and match if you wanted. Who’s in the market for fun little vehicles like these?
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Comments
Too bad he doesn’t have a scooter to sweeten the deal. I’d like to have one for old time’s sake, since my neighbor had one way back.
Used to use these on the grounds crew at the golf course 3 wheelers they were a blast to bomb around in..
standard transmissions to boot
let er rip wide open right down the middle of the fairway
A guy in my little town has one, I tried to buy it, wasn’t for sale. I thought it would be perfect for in town. They can be made to be street legal,,if you dare. These, I read, became part of OMC in 1962, and used an OMC opposed air cooled twin industrial motor, that powered everything from portable welders to, well, Cushmans, and 3 or 4 speed manually shifted trans. The one with the tub was used for garbage collection. Rather than drive the big garbage truck around subdivisions, they would pull these behind the truck, drive the truckster around, filling it, then coming back to the parked garbage truck. I’ve been to many facilities, BIG facilities, where a truckster was needed for the maintenance workers to get around. Cool find, I just figured the squarebody pickup was a better deal.
Cool, posted a month ago and nothing has sold.
Had a Cushman scooter with “Varimatic Drive” back in ’55. Interestingly, the same drive system that’s in my Polaris Sportsman ATV. In ’56 I bought a new Cushman Eagle that had a centrifugal clutch and a two speed transmission, which I later traded for a Harley-Davidson Topper scooter. Fun times for sure.
Interesting that the Cushman trailer has a differential. Hmm.
the 4 wheeled are the ones to have, later models used by mail, police (well, meter maids). Oh, wait, I think I DID see the BC police use them (but not a ‘pursuit vehicle’). There’s a SE Asian one (‘muckluck’? or other odd name) that can haul a ton, hasa bike style handle bar…
Yesterday 12/24, I ventured 110 miles up into Minnesota and bought a 1959 Cushman Truckster, Mailster version. It hasn’t run in quite awhile so, a project. No room in the garage so it’s time to drag the ’40 DeSoto out to the back 40. The other Cushman in there is a ’49 ‘Sport’, along with my Yamaha RD’s, a unique Kawasaki and a ’70 Honda CB350.
The other MN purchase is a 9K mile ’75 Honda CB360T in red. I’m pretty happy with my Christmas gifts to myself.
I like the 3 wheeler’s.