Early 60's Columbia trike

[Wildcat]

I picked this up from the trashpile in Grand Forks, ND. Everyone in town puts all kinds of stuff out during spring clreaning. It's a tradition. This two week period has every other home leaving a lot of items for the picking. Better stuff than the fleamarket, and it's all free. The wife won't ride in the truck then, because I'm loadin' up on treasure all the time! A friend called me and said some old bikes were left out. I saw this and loaded it up quick, before the owner changed their mind.

 

[olschbp]

nice score there, should make something nice and fun, 8)

 

[Wildcat]

It sure did! When I got it home, I looked it over. it had a shimano 3 speed with coaster brake and a diffential. I've never seen that on a trike. Now I knew it was treasure. It must have been the deluxe model. Was shimano around in the early 60's? Maybe this was an early 70's trike.

There were a few bent braces, but they were an easy fix. Everything else just needed cleaning and lubrication. I had some 24 inch tires I had saved that went perfect on the rear. Just a seat and handlebars were all it really needed otherwise. Then it got a red enamel paintjob.

I gave it to the wife for her birthday, complete with plastic bin on the rear with her name on it and everything.

Then while my friends and I were on our Sunday morning ride, she had it up for sale at our yard sale. I had just put the original seat back on it, it had cleaned up like new. She sold it for 75 dollars.