So when we first looked at this ad for the 1966 GMC truck you see above and below, we thought, “So what? It hauled rides for a traveling fair?” We then realized that the truck actually IS the ride and things got a lot more interesting. See, this truck (and others like it) used to cruise the streets of the city in an attempt to get kids to gather ’round, pay whatever the fee was and then hop into the back to ride the ride, which in this case was called the Whip It. The whole truck is intact and apparently working, so if you so desire you can fire up the ancient business model. We never knew such things existed but the seller writes the ad like this trucks were on every street corner in America back in the day. Are we the only ones who never knew about the ride trucks? Did you ever ride in one like this?
The “Whip It” ride seems to be kind of like a low bucks version of the spinning tea cups or something similar. The carts all travel in a loop and when you get to the corners you get whipped around by the centrifugal force. Fun times. We’re guessing that the ride is powered by the PTO off of the truck’s transmission which means that the driver could vary both the acceleration of the ride by how he released the clutch and the final speed by how high he set the idle. If you had a snotty kid that was annoying we imagine that you could teach him a lesson by setting the motor at valve float in idle and watching him turn green with each successive whip.
It would not be an experience mistaken for something at the Magic Kingdom but it would have been a fun way for a kid to have a few minutes of escape in the summer. Tell us your ride truck stories…if anyone has any!
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE PHOTOS AND THEN HIT THE LINK TO SEE THE FULL AD AND ALL THE DETAILS –
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE CL AD FOR THIS UNIQUE AND RARE TRUCK
Ive seen them before . One was in our neighborhood in NYC in the 70s. I never went on it though.
I saw one as a kid in Kansas City as a kid at a local carnival, didn’t ride it cause I thought it was a waste of time being so small
I just can’t imagine the liability insurance.
That makes a free candy van seem safe
When I was a kid in New York City (1960’s-1970’s). These used to come around and the kids would go nuts! The truck in the article was called “The Whip” because it would whip you around on the turns. There was also one that was called the “Half Moon” that was a multi seat swing that some may know as the pirate ship at county fairs. I think there was a merry go round and a motor cycle type ride for younger kids too. Between these and the soft serve ice cream trucks (Mr. Softee) summer in the city was all the more memorable. I tell my friends about this here in Tennessee were I now live and they can’t believe it.
We had one in Philly “Craptacular ” !