Any pedal car enthusiasts out there?
 

While in Illinois I bought a child's car at an antique store.

It is not a pedal car but takes some sort of battery. It is a Keeblers Indy car. I cannot find any names on it but it has a small electric motor with a reduction gear attached to the right rear wheel. there is two small foot operated switches and a two prong plug which apparently goes to the battery. There is a small bracket for a battery under the tail of it. The size of the battery is about 2.5" tall and 5.5 x 9" length and width.

I would like a battery to fit the bracket that can be charged over and over and will not have any ability to spill acid.

Any ideas?

Tom W

I'd bet that the motor runs on 12v.

I'd try a dry-cell battery like they use in industrial battery backup devices.

Good source for all sorts of sizes is batteriesasap.com.

The larger the amphour rating the longer the battery will provide juice to the car. However, some of these type of batteries don't respond well to repeated deep discharging, so you probably need to find something labeled "deep cycle".

You'll need something to charge it properly - the battery backup devices take care of this automatically, but basically all you have to do is put more voltage into the battery than it is rated at. The trick is the right amount amperage to prevent overcharging (and possible bad things like melting, burning, etc.)

Most of those battery powered cars were charged using a wall-wart type charger. So long as the voltage is higher than the rating of the battery (by a small amount - say 2 volts for a 12v battery), it will eventually charge the battery. Slow is probably better than fast - keeps the heat down in the battery.

Thanks, I will check that out.

Tom W

I suppose it depends on how old it is, but many of the ride-on electric toy cars use similar (looking at least) sealed batteries. I picked up a Peg Perego Gaucho (Toyota Landcruiser) several years ago for my son that was on clearance at Sears for almost 1/2 price because it had a small crack in the floor (regular price retail would have been almost $500 :eek:). It runs on a 12v/12Ah sealed battery. I purchased an extra one just so he could still use it while the other was charging. It wasn't inexpensive as I recall but I don't remember what I paid. I would guess you could probably narrow the battery down by the harness. If not, I don't see any reason why you couldn't buy one of the replacement batteries and chargers and make an adapter to fit the motor harness. Peg Perego and PowerWheels (and many others I'm sure) sell replacement batteries for older models.

It is possible that it's a 6v but I don't know how you'd check without a motor number.

I am guessing by the design of the body that it is an eighty something. It looks like an early march to me.;)

Tom W

My brother and I had one, thanks for the memories.

Toys R Us has quite a selection of batteries and chargers for those types of cars.

It's probably a Power Wheels. If it was me, since I can't leave anything stock, I'd rework the bracket so it would hold a motorcycle battery. Better yet, if there's room, I'd fab up a bracket for a small Optima yellow top battery. Sure, the battery would cost more than the car but it would run forever!

My brother has installed 12v batteries in a couple of those for his kids - motors originally designed for 12v - no blown motors yet....He's not a drifting fan but I fear that his kids will be.... its funny to see those things peeling out in the driveway....


-John

On topic...

I would LOVE to give my son a decent, not-very-plastic, pedal car to ride around on. There arent many options though.

-John

You had a keeblers Indy car?

Tom W

I'll check that out.

Tom W

I'll google power wheels.

Tom W

Tom, I looked up Power Wheels on the Wiki and they have links to parts suppliers. None of the models listed the Keebler car however, so it may be the Peg Perego or something similar like Swamp Yank suggested. I thought of PW immediately since they were a pioneer in the business...

Ebay also has lots of Peg P and PW batteries.

Au contraire--my wife and I were in Natchadoches, La. a few months back and they had some doosies in the local hardware store--Studies, Chevy coupes, a CORVAIR, ect....$3-$500 though. I think they may have been made by Western Flyer, but don't know for sure. I can find out if you are interested (I didn't want to spend that much for something that would be left outside and trashed.). Came home and did a quick ebay search and you can get cheaper ones on the 'net, but the metal, high quality pedal cars have been making some sort of cult comeback--that hot rod guy Boyd Coddington even makes them and auctions them off for charities.