Anyone seen one of these?

Worked out a trade with the guy that runs the mower section at the junkyard. My end is to get this thing running and driving for his son, in exchange I get some parts for the mk2...we won’t get into what those are yet but that’s the deal.

Anyway, running gear is a Briggs 8 horse electric and pull start, and peerless 600 transaxle. Will not go into gear, shifter just kinda flops around. AK, that’s probably your specialty.

Out of anyone here, I would expect @prancstaman or @mightyraze to know what this thing is but nothing surprises me lol. Anyone ever come across one of these things before?







Looks like some sort of carnival ride to me

Well whatever it is, it's freaking sweet.  I would try to keep it and make a racer out of it.

I don’t need it and I’m getting parts for fixing it. Everything it needs is in his invintory so I won’t have to buy anything for it except maybe a belt

That is an old Carni ride from the mid-60s, I haven't seen one of these since I was a kid in California. The gas version was replaced by an electric motor which ran along an electrical strip down the center of the track

The 60s huh? Wow that’s older than I expected! I can get the exact year off the engine because I assume it’s original

That is pretty cool!  Wonder what it looked like with the hood.

Not really sure it ever had one. I’ll check it all over better when I get it home this week. So far the plan is a new steel front axle (this one is aluminum or magnesium) and a new peerless 600, unless AK or some other peerless 600 guru can diagnose this one. Shifter doesn’t engage anything, just flops around. I know he’s got some tractors with peerless 600s somewhere in his inventory.

I’ll gps it and see how fast it is and if he wants it sped up for his kid to bomb around on

I think that shifter comes off with three bolts.  I'd pull it and see why it isn't interacting correctly with the shift forks.

Man, that is super super neat! Looks like an old dune buggy from the front, haha. Can't see I've ever seen one like it before, but I definitely like it! Odd problem with the transaxle, that's a new one for me. I'd take the shifter cup assembly out and see if the shifter peg or the shift shafts are damaged.

That’s what I’m thinking. If it’s a mess in there with pitting and everything I won’t even bother fixing it. I’ll pull another 600 he has lol

Is there anything I should be aware of ahead of time? Any surprises like a shifter ball and spring on the in-line shift trannys?

Nope, nothing like that. Just make sure it's in neural when you pull the shifter and it should be pretty straight forward.

Alrighty, will do. I may be picking it up tomorrow after work

It's a Bonanza mower made by General Leisure Company in Omaha Nebraska. I believe they were also sold by Jc Penny under a name like "Mini dune buggie lawn tractor". It never had a hood.

Customrust wrote:

It's a Bonanza mower made by General Leisure Company in Omaha Nebraska. I believe they were also sold by Jc Penny under a name like "Mini dune buggie lawn tractor". It never had a hood.

I just saw that late last night.  Pretty cool little mower.

I guess the carnival had to get them from somewhere, lol. I wasn't sure about the dating

Customrust wrote:

It's a Bonanza mower made by General Leisure Company in Omaha Nebraska. I believe they were also sold by Jc Penny under a name like "Mini dune buggie lawn tractor". It never had a hood.

Interesting, thanks for the info!

Were they sold with the skis as an option or did some previous owner add those to it? What about the dual rear wheels?

That thing looks really cool. Do you know if the engine is the original, cuz the 832 decal could mean it was from a Toro 832. Just a thought. What does the numbers on the shroud date the engine to?

It’s not in my possession yet, so I’m not sure. I’ll add more details and a video once I have it

I got it earlier this week, but haven’t messed with it. Seems to be a normal lawn tractor that someone stuck a carnival body on. The shifter hole is kinda hacked out, doesn’t fit the dash right, wrong seat, and it has a pulley stack on the engine with a deck lift lever....definitely weird