Two Cushman Eagles...should I buy them?
 

My wife's boss is making space in his warehouse and he has a '53 Cushman Eagle ready to reassemble with many new parts and profeesionally refinished parts along with a still assembled '57 Eagle (super husky model?) that needs a restoration (he is at a point in life that he knows he will never take the time finish restoring these). Both are complete and he wants to let me "steal" them for 2k each. A quick internet search shows that they are probably more than worth it, but I just don't know if I can get excited about a couple of Cushmans. If I buy them, one will become a gift for my father, as he had a lesser model Cushman as a kid and always wanted an Eagle.

Any Cushman gurus or afficianados out there who can talk me into it? I can probably get them for 3k total along with this years annual inspection on his airplane which I do for peanuts for him anyway as he is my wife's boss and a close family friend.

I received the following dribble in an email this morning from a friend. It's dribble, but it's the kind of dribble I understand. You mentioned your dad having a lesser Cushman as a boy and always wishing for an Eagle. If I thought it would mean that much to him, and with the money in my pocket......well.......the story will probably betray what would be my decision.

________________________

THE CAB RIDE

Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. When I arrived at 2:30 a.m., the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.

Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, and then drive away.

But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself. So I walked to the door and knocked. "Just a minute," answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it like somebody out of a 1940s movie.
By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no-one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

"Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.


She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing," I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated."
"Oh, you're such a good boy," she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, and then asked, "Could you drive through downtown?"
"It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly. "Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice"

I looked in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were glistening. "I don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very long." I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.
"What route would you like me to take?" I asked. For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.

We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now"
We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.
I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.
"How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse."Nothing," I said
>>> >
"You have to make a living," she answered. "There are other passengers,"I responded. Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug.

She held onto me tightly. "You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she said. "Thank you."
>>> >
I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost
in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift?
What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.
We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

______________________________

Look here:
http://www.dennis-carpenter.com/silvereagles.php

Considering the prices shown here, HELL YES!

Wow!!! Done deal, my wife is bringing the one that is partially restored tomorow in the truck and I will pick up the unrestored still running one a couple days later.

Bravo Tim...these 1/2 century old scooters are true "americana". Items from an era that will never return. Hey, do you know which Cushman Sal Mineo rode in the James Dean flick "Rebel without a cause"?

Well he delivered one to me tonight (the disassembled one) and he had the years wrong. This one is a'56 Eagle with the 5.5 hp engine. He will be dropping off the other running one in a few days and he was wrong on the year on that one too. It is a '58 Eagle.

The disassembled one will require more work than I thought it would as some of the paint work is not up to a proper restoration IMO.

Just what I need, more projects ;)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1177547741.jpg

Tim,

Restore both of them, sell the one you do not like then use the other one to putt around the airport! You can always sell it later for $4-5,000...

My dad gets one for sure for x-mas. I will probably restore the one above for him now, then "someday" do the other one. God knows I don't have enough crap piling up in the hangar. :D

Aktung. First the VW and now this. Next you will be restoring street sweepers. No kidding, I once met a guy who restored, to concours condition, a street sweeper. He fished for a compliment, and all I could offer was, "It's a freaking street sweeper, Barry!"

Seriously Tim, you should be building, two at a time, macho bushplanes with shaved truck tires and 180 HP Lycomings. Or Glasairs with glass cockpits. There are so many guys with more money than time for whom your skill set is a perfect complement, for whom the 51% rule is impossible.

PROMISE me that as soon as the mopeds are finished you will start working on something that does AT LEAST 200 KIAS and burns our remaining stocks of 100LL moose juice so fast you have to call ahead for the weather. :)

It's an addiction...I know a guy who has a 1950's amusement park bumpercar stored near his '56 Gullwing Mercedes...both nearly the same shade of red. :)

I don't care what anyone else says, I think those things are cool and you're just the right guy to get this project!

:D I probably should not post pictures of my 1950's Clark forklift that I bought from work that just looked like azz when I got it home then. :D Or the 1970's Economy garden tractor that ended up getting a blasted to bare metal restoration because I had the engine out to rebuild and it just had to be done (someone actually makes original stickers for these...who knew!). :D

I jump back and forth on hobbies pretty quick and I love fixing up old junk. I am a sick SOB! :D

Oshkosh is coming.....I will undoubtedly jump back to my airplane project for awhile in August. I keep turning down big customer airplane projects for now as I have done a few and unless I quit my day job (health insurance and no liability), big projects suck when doing them part-time with deadlines. ;) :D

Hmmmm....street sweepers. Might work as a hangar sweeper....of course it will probably need to be cleaned up a bit first.

Well this is what it a '56 is supposed to look like.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1177603234.jpg

Got the '58 running just for kicks and have started on the '56 restoration. Had to find a new block as the original was cracked.

Just blasted a bunch of parts and am epoxy priming and painting with Imron.

Dad saw them and I had to make up a story that I was restoring them for my wife's boss. He wants me to ask if he can by the one being restored. :D (little does he know, that he will be getting it for X-mas this year ;) )

the '58
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179516762.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179516802.jpg [img]

the '56

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179516827.jpg [img]

the new freshly painted block

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179516852.jpg[img]

U should restore them both at the same time....economy of scale

I see you bought them... all's I can say is those are super cool! :cool:

Wife's father asked me to list this one on e-bay for him...

Waiting on description from him.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179521247.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179521254.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179521262.jpg

Very nice guys!

Beretta, that must be a '60-'65 Cast Iron Super Eagle (identical mechanically to my '58.... basically the only difference is the rear fender, clutch cover and the seat suspension). How much does he have to have for it? (I would think it should bring 3-4k) I assume it has been restored some time ago and it has the recommended Mikuni carburater installed (the original Tillotsons leaked and restricted performance somewhat).

I sold this midget and the Cushman that you can see in the background plus a Mercury Kiekhaefer that was originally in the midget for $900 recently. Paid $300 for everything a few days earlier. Probably left a few $ on the table with this deal - I started getting calls at 6am the day the classified ad first appeared. A friend who is knowledgeable about Cushmans said it was worth no more than $300 at a swap meet. As you can see it needed a lot of work plus there was no engine, g box or wheels.

Guys at work fondly referred to the midget as "the car of yesterday" and were even fonder when it was hauled off.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179538585.jpg

Isn't that a 1/4 midget?

Not sure, but I thought quarter midgets were real tiny and raced by grade school kids.

It is called a type of quarter midget or micro midget but is not like, what I call, real quarter midgets such as the ones built by Curtis. When I bought everything sight un seen I was hoping for a Curtis or similar car. Seeing it for the first time and realizing it was not what I thought I put an ad in the paper and sold it.

This car is one that was "home made" and raced at a track or club near where it was made (in this case Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston Salem NC). There was lots of that type of racing with local rules in the 40's and 50's. They had several names one being quarter midget but they were not real quarter midgets. They were "poor mans" midget and in size were actually closer to a real midget of the day.

Cushman engines were popular in those cars as were the Kiekaefer Mercury engines. The real quarter midgets typically had a Clinton engine.

The Cushman was also more project that I wanted. You can buy a nice one good as new for $3500 if you look a little so I wasn't willing to put time and money into this one.

Nice thread, great work Tim.

I like that little midget too.:)

I got a big batch of parts that I blasted primed in epoxy primer then painted in silver and black Imron.

Then after looking over the supposedly "professionally restored" frame, I could not live with it and had to break out the grinder to remove the "brazed" on seat springs, cobbed foot rest and a non stock welded on passenger footpeg mount. The previously "professional" blast and paint of the frame was pretty poor. Oh well, at least it will be done proper now.



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179748224.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179748276.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179748312.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179748358.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179748417.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179748470.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1179748587.jpg

Decided to go all red with everything. Sandblasted the frame and fenders epoxy primed then painted with urethane paint. I hauled about 30 parts to a local chrome plater and started re-assembly. My dad is going to wet himself when he gets this for X-mas!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1184010965.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1184011016.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1184011089.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1184011130.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1184011181.jpg

You are a freak. :D

Very cool!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: You are the man!

It's always a real pleasure to see your work.

I got the engine buttoned up and installed and most of the chrome parts are back from the plater and installed. Getting close! Basically after I get the remaining chrome parts back I just need to finish designing/building a new intake manifold for a bigger modern Mikuni carb.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1187796718.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1187796778.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1187796865.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1187796912.jpg

Beautiful! I like the subtle placement of the Bush/Cheney sign:D

Cool, I could use something like that for my 1-1/2 mile walk into work.

Very, very nice work, course we knew that would happen anyway! Your Father will be very happy!

:D If you look real close, you might be able to make out the Clinton family that has been on that dart board in my shop for the ten years or so! :D

Thankfully most (all of them come to think of it) of my airplane customers who visit my shop are all republicans, as I have lots of old campaign bumper stickers plastered stuck all over in my shop. ;) The "CLINTON...A good reason why stupid people shouldn't vote" bumpersticker probably will cost me a customer someday, but what the hell, it is my shop right? ;):D

It would be perfect for that! Realistically, these things are only good for about 40-50 mph. They definitely attract attention though, as my unrestored ratty one always gets questions from strangers when I ride into the local little towns to pick something up at the carryout or hardware store.

As I said before if I ever hit the lotto I'm having Tim build me a boat... a really big boat.

SmileWavy

It's 25 - 30 mph all the way into work, sounds perfect.

What are we looking at there? Clutch? Brake?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1187796865.jpg

Awesome work by the way.