Otasco owner

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Hello everyone, I am the owner of two otasco bicycles from the 60s. One of the bikes was my dad's and the other I found in the trash in the late 90s. There is a little story behind my dad's Flying-O. In the mid 80s my grandfather parted my dad's and my uncles bikes and used some of the parts to build an electric 3 wheeler which was featured in the local newspaper in Vinita, Oklahoma in 1985. When he died, fortunately I found enough of the remaining parts to build an almost complete bike. All I was missing were the wheels and the tank assembly. Recently I found a set of correct wheels, but I'm still missing the tank assembly. If anyone knows where I can find one please let me know! It needs to be red and the decals need to either say "Flying O" (preferred), or "Murray". I've also included a photo from the newspaper. You can clearly see the wheels are from Murray bikes. The basket supposedly also came with the bike when new.
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Gramps' moto trike is mega rad! I'm trying to pick details out of the article, does it say he had a reverse gear, and chain driven steering?!
You need to provide more information on that badd beast!

PS your Flying Os are a sweet pair too
 
Gramps' moto trike is mega rad! I'm trying to pick details out of the article, does it say he had a reverse gear, and chain driven steering?!
You need to provide more information on that badd beast!

PS your Flying Os are a sweet pair too
I can provide some information from the article and from my own memory. He built this "hunting cart" out of an old lawn mower and parts from at least 3 bikes. Two bikes were 1960s otasco's and a third unknown. The wheels, basket and possibly the fenders were from the otasco bikes, front fork from the unknown. The steering wheel was set back from the front fork and they were connected via a bicycle chain and the sprockets from the rear hubs. He used a 12v winch motor and two 12v batteries for his drive and power using his own hand made Frankenstein switches to power it on and off. I do not remember what he used for the throttle, but I believe he used the gearbox from the mower.
 
Here is the only other photo I could find.
Gramps' moto trike is mega rad! I'm trying to pick details out of the article, does it say he had a reverse gear, and chain driven steering?!
You need to provide more information on that badd beast!

PS your Flying Os are a sweet pair too
IMG_20230910_105443349.jpg
 
Welcome @Oldskool66 , cool stuff!

I enlarged your photos for everyone to enjoy. When you can, take a few minutes to read THIS THREAD to see how to post your photos larger, most of us like seeing them full size! :)
 
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