Perambulators, strollers, and sundry curious conveyances
Nothing frosts my cookies more than some dimbulb on eBay claiming that whatever he (or she, let’s be fair here) is selling is “the Cadillac of strollers”. No, it isn’t. If you even think of using that phrase, what you’re selling isn’t. Trust me; you don’t know what you’re talking about.
On the other hand, if you’re the owner of this baby, you have my blessing. In spades:
Sweet, non? And they say Detroit’s dead.
Speaking of motorcycle enthusiasts and their prams, no Harley rider need compromise whilst tooling around with the kiddo in tow:
As tipster Eph (thanks, Eph!) says
I don’t know why they bothered with the other colors at all
but there are other options. A free-standing garage to house this baby will likely set you back only marginally less than the stroller itself, but it’s a small price to pay for the glory that is those fenders.
. . . and inventive people make do:
From the Life Magazine archives (1943):
Mother pushing baby in carriage made with wooden wheels, springs, brakes and handle due to metal shortages during the war.
The “springs” on this buggy aren’t what we usually think of as springs, of course. The entire suspension is made of wood; you can see it best just above the wheel at the right front, where the side cross bars connect with the lower chassis. The curved rod that is sticking out toward the ground is the brake, also made of wood.
Source: Life magazine archives
Can’t tame that passion for speed? You need one of these:
That’s right — it’s a scooter-and-stroller all in one. A few quick kicks, a few pedestrians tossed aside, and you’re at your destination in no time.
That picture’s from The Daily Mail. It’s from the Roller Buggy press kit. Note that Roller Buggy prudently failed to put an actual child into the scooter for this demo shot.
If there were any reason at all for this device to exist, it would actually be pretty cool. Apparently the transformation from stroller to scooter involves simply pulling the platform out from under the stroller and flipping the seat. Remove the seat completely, and you’ve got the scooter alone. Of course, even folded flat, the thing looks huge, but there you have it:
It’s allegedly for kids from age 1 1/2 and up, but the Daily Mail article shows a car seat attached, so if you wanted to scramble your infant, it’s theoretically possible.
Wired’s Gadget Lab wrote about this buggy in 2007, but I’m guessing it’s dead in the water since I can’t find any place to buy one now. Our loss, but probably a plus for infant and pedestrian longevity.
Roller Buggy triptych from Wired’s blog; the Roller Buggy/PIXSTUDIOwebsite’s here, but it’s so awful I couldn’t bring myself to plow through it.