1945 Cushman Motor Scooter
date: label: date made
content: 1945
name: label: maker
content: Cushman Motor Works
notes: label: Description
content: Founded in 1901 as a manufacturer of small internal-combustion engines for farm equipment and boats, the Cushman Motor Works added motor scooters to its product line in 1936. Filling a gap between bicycles and motorcycles, the Cushman scooter was popular among high school students, adults (as an economical "second car") and small businesses. Passenger and cargo models were available. Farmers, salesmen, housewives, and many other people ran errands, made deliveries, and enjoyed pleasure trips. In particular, the Cushman scooter provided expanded personal mobility for two generations of young people. Some states required a driver's license, and some did not require one.
label: Description
content: Production of Cushman Airborne military scooters aided the Army during World War II. Consumer production resumed full-force after the war; by 1950 Cushman was manufacturing 10,000 motor scooters per year, and in that year the company introduced its popular Eagle model. Production peaked at about 15,000 scooters per year in the late 1950s. In the early 1960s, imported motor scooters began to erode the company's market share. Cushman stopped building motor scooters in 1965 and diversified into golf carts, utility carts, and other small motorized vehicles.
label: Description
content: Thomas Bracco of Springfield, Illinois purchased this scooter in 1945 and rode it to high school, social activities, and the locomotive roundhouse of the Chicago and Illinois Midland Railroad, where he worked as a hostler. He rode the scooter several years and sporadically thereafter before donating it to the National Museum of American History.
place: label: place made
content: United States: Nebraska, Lincoln
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Road
label: See more items in
content: Family & Social Life
label: See more items in
content: Work
label: See more items in
content: Sports & Leisure
label: See more items in
content: America on the Move
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: Road Transportation
label: Exhibition
content: America On The Move
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Brother Thomas C. Bracco, S. J.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2000.0235.01
label: accession number
content: 2000.0235
label: catalog number
content: 2000.0235.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: motor scooter
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 40 in x 28 in x 84 in; 101.6 cm x 71.12 cm x 213.36 cm