Custer Park Cars?

Today, I passed what I thought was a rusty, home built, full bodied go kart on the side of the road with a For Sale sign on it. It looked a little like a quarter midget for kids.

I stopped to take a closer look later and was shocked to see that the sign read "$5000 obo".

It had a small plate behind the drive's head that said "Custer Specialty Company". It had a single cylinder engine in the back, driving the rear wheels and a hand operated brake. It had a full perimeter bumper with a longitudinal shock absorber behind it, which made it pretty obvious that it was some sort of amusement park ride. It was really cool and looked like an easy restoration, as it was 100% complete and appeared original. But even at $500, I would have had to think long and hard about it.

I looked up the company on the Googles and didn't come up with much. I was hoping to find some photos or a collector's site. There were two photos of electric models, but neither was like the one that I saw.

I'm going back in the morning with a camera. Has anybody heard about these things?

http://www.daytonhistorybooks.com/page/page/1617669.htm

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2007/12/18/early-alternative-fuel-vehicle/

The one that I saw was much cooler than this:

Went back with a camera.

Darn cool but $5K is nuts.

Yes, darn cool! That jester hood ornament is so cool! I rock that on my ride.
But like what's already been said. Not $5K cool.

You could probably build your own for three bills and an old riding lawn mower. Five large is beyond nuts.

I wasn't thinking of buying it, I just thought it was interesting.

Maybe go back and offer what you think it's worth?

Neat!

$5K certainly seems ludicrous, but maybe it is worth that to a collector somewhere.

You'd think that there would be collectors somewhere, but if there are, they don't seem to have access to the interweb.

I saw the same car for sale in my home town. The owner must be on drugs to ask $5k, Its not worth more then $500 in that condition. he thinks he has something special. Its an old amusement park car. I am very familiar with them. Ken

I'd think that hood ornament would be worth $5k to a rat-rodder.

Or if nothing else, it may be worth $5k to buy the car, make molds of the hood ornament, and put it back into production. At $25-each, I'm pretty sure you see an ROI within a month.

You wouldn't normallly put a go kart by the road and expect to sell it for $5K.