This is an original David Bradley “Sport Kart” from 1959, it was created just three years after the go kart had first been invented by Art Ingels in Los Angeles in 1956.
With the advent of the go kart Sears wasted no time in selling their own version designed and built by their wholly-owned subsidiary David Bradley, they made it available for nationwide delivery through their catalogue.
The genius of Art Ingels go kart design lay mainly in its simplicity. Anyone with basic welding ability could create one, and many of the parts needed could be sourced from pre-existing machinery – like lawn mowers which often supplied the engines.
The kart is powered by an original Clinton engine from the 1950s. Clinton was one of the biggest small engine manufacturers in the country at the time.
The popularity of the go kart took off like wildfire, first on the West Coast and then nationwide with the first official race taking place in the parking lot of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California with several dozen home-built go karts of various shapes and sizes taking part.
Before long there were local, state, and national racine leagues, followed by international championships that are still running today.
The key thing that holds many people back from getting into motorsport is the high costs that are typically involved. Go karts suddenly removed this barrier due to their extremely low costs to buy, race, and maintain.
As a result many generations of world champion racing drivers started their careers in karting.
The David Bradley Sport Kart was one of the first mass-produced go karts in the world, it was designed and built by the David Bradley Manufacturing Company which had been acquired by Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1910.
Unlike modern go karts, this one has just a single tubular steel backbone connecting the front and back ends.
After the purchase company’s garden machinery including the famous “Garden Riding Tractor” were sold through the wildly popular Sears catalogue.
With the advent of the go kart in the mid-1950s the Sears catalogue wasted no time in selling their own version built by David Bradley. It was about as simple as a go kart could possibly be, with just a single steel tube forming the backbone chassis.
There are red steel wheels at each corner fitted with solid rubber tires (non-pneumatic), riding on solid axles. Simple bumpers are fitted front and back, and the singe-cylinder engine was sourced from Clinton – one of the biggest industrial engine manufacturers in the country at the time.
A simple padded seat is fitted behind a semi-circular steering wheel that was chosen to ensure the driver would have clearance to get their legs under it when sitting down. Up front you’ll find two large pedals, one to go and one to stop.
The driver’s feet sit in the large almost aircraft-like pedals and the yoke-style steering wheel was chosen to ensure plenty of room underneath.
Exact sales figures of the David Bradley Sport Kart aren’t known, though we do see them come up for sale from time to time in varying states of preservation or restoration.
The David Bradley Sport Kart you see here benefits from an extensive restoration that appears to have returned it to as-new condition throughout – right down to the engine and chassis ID plates.
As you would expect it’s powered by a Clinton single-cylinder engine that powers the rear axle via a belt drive system. The seat, steering yoke, pedals, and wheels all look to be in excellent shape, and the chassis is too.
If you’d like to read more about this unusual historic go kart you can visit the listing here on The Market by Bonhams. It’s being auctioned out of Newburg, Oregon with a price guide of $1,000 – $1,500 USD.
Images courtesy of The Market by Bonhams
Ben has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with millions of readers around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
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