The annual go kart build!

[RODEO]

Every summer holiday in the early '60's,for a few years my older brother and I made a wooden go kart with pram wheels found on the local bomb site ,or bought from the local secondhand shop. The plank was a scaffold board ,and the body (the bit I sat in )was a wooden orange box.The coveted steering pivot was a coach bolt and nut which got transferred from cart to cart . they were a lot of pocket money to buy ,hence the coveted bit. Now ,locally to us there was a shop that had a coca cola fridge (the type you had to lift the lid and slide it along ,remember?) Every one who wanted the bottle opened used the bottle opener on the side of the fridge ,and all the metal crimped on tops fell into a box. We would ask for the bottle tops which we nailed with a single nail through each one onto the scaffold board to decorate it. My brother was right handed and had broke that arm ,so I was the one who had to hold the nail while he hit it with a hammer held in his 'wrong' hand . We did this opration whilst sitting on the front step of our house ,and I can vividly remember him missing the nail and hitting my fingers many times ,and then me shouting as I was crying,"MUM ,MUM"!

[frame]

Re: The annual go kart build!

My mates and I made a 'chariot'...a stand up effort,probably just watched Ben Hur,but do recall it being towed around by a honda 'clunk'(90).Caused a few injuries that thing.
Frame.

[Mulletino]

Re: The annual go kart build!

Yup, that was part of our school sports day, the go-kart derby.

We'd all build a kart for it (or lazy kids used prams) and then we'd race them on the painted running track on the field. It's much harder steering a go-kart on bumpy grass as my bro and I found out as we bounced into the next lane to get run over by a pram and its inhabitants.

I miss going to the rubbish dump when it was just a pile of rubbish which you were allowed to climb on to find bike bits etc and wheels for your kart.