Model 765 Barrel Spring Eagle made from 1950 to 1954Posted on 08/31/2012 2:08:33 PM PDT by djone
Cushman was one of the few manufacturers of motorized vehicles permitted to continue civilian production during World War II, as its products were considered "energy savers" for those needing transportation to and from work. During this time, and on into the postwar years, many a motorcycle enthusiast cut their riding teeth on a Cushman.
Model 765 Barrel Spring Eagle made from 1950 to 1954
(Excerpt) Read more at auto.howstuffworks.com ...
1956
Very nice machinery. Classic stuff.
I remember wanting one of those sooooooo bad back then, but the parents said “NO, too dangerous.”.
I had a 1947 model with the bathtub body and a sidecar. It was surplus from the flight line at NAS Jacksonville. It was slow but almost bombproof.
What kind of mileage did/do they get?
With the price of gas, these are becoming 'modern' stuff.
I heard on the storm coverage that Cuba has 3% car ownership.
I’d guess that’s Obama’s target for the US.
Likewise!
WWII
Thanks for the blast from the past. I had a couple of these things. In the mid-sixties, they were dirt cheap.
A Cushman Eagle was hot stuff when I was in junior high unless you had a Mustang.
I have friends that are into restoring them. Some are putitng more reliable Vangaurd motors on them, but most unusual of all is a friend of mine that I am helping with an Eagle project powered by a small jet turbine engine and hydrostatic drive.
SWEET! I would ride one today. Better than a Chinese scoot.
Since I travel less than 2 miles to work I’d ride one.
BTW what happened to the old Honda 50-90 style bikes? Clean, light easy and fun to ride and got great milage. Rather ride one of those around town than a bigger bike.
“What kind of mileage did/do they get?” — This might sound flippant but we never bothered to check. $0.75 would fill the tank and you rode till it started to sputter....
Cushman Identification Page
http://hobbytech.com/CushID/CushID.htm
Rode something similar in the sixties on farm work clearing fields. We called it ‘the tote goat’.
My Cushman was my school (and newspaper route) transportation at age 12, by age 14, I was driving my 1955 Chevy and working full time in a restaurant, by the end of my Junior year of high school, I had my own apartment and worked in a filling station.
I don’t think that stuff goes on much today.
In the early 70s, an old man in my town had a Cushman 3 wheeled buggy like a utility golf cart. He drove it around town doing his shopping. At the end of Main Street one day, there was a bang and it was laying on it’s side when he tried his U turn a bit too fast. Some guys went over and lifted it up and he was on his way again.
“I heard on the storm coverage that Cuba has 3% car ownership.
I’d guess that’s Obama’s target for the US.”
He wants all of us to be on bicyles or donkeys...like China.
Eartrumpet : Good story. My friend rode his Cushman to high school but since it had no key switch he would pull the plug wire from the coil to the spark plug and put it into his pocket.......
It was a sort of bare bones scooter. The Eagles were the cool machines because of the tank and side shifter.
Somewhere around the 7th grade I learned how much girls liked horses, so I talked an absentee neighbor into letting me care for his Palomino gelding and ride him daily. My scooter stayed in the garage most of the time...yuk yuk
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