The Radio Flyer Wagon Factory: How Chicago's Little Red Wagon Almost Rusted Away

Comments · 67

• GR

  @gregorybowers1798 · 6 months ago

  I'm 69 and retired, and I have a Radio Flyer wagon!

  17

• DE

  @DEG6228 · 6 months ago

  Put mine to hard work delivering news papers, it never failed.

  15

• TI

  @timeforcoffee485 · 6 months ago

  Antonio's grandson had his head screwed on and saved the company.  Well done!

  6

• DH

  @dhpreparedness7116 · 6 months ago

  As kids in the ‘70’s, we would play “ambulance” with our Radio Flyers. I have now been an EMT for 35 years. Still have two metal Radio Flyers in the garage… one for the grandkids and one as a garden cart!

  14

• LA

  @lancehites6697 · 6 months ago

  From 2016- 2019 I bought original radio flyers at used stores and packed them up to take with to Italy for my Grandchildren. They sure liked ‘em!

  7

• FJ

  @fjacks1189 · 6 months ago

  As kids,  we couldn't afford wagons, so we use to take the wheels off shopping carts and make roller coasters,  flying down hill doing at least 50mph,  then we'd crash and laugh 😃 😀 😄 all the way back up hill and do it again.  Fun times back in the 60s.

  8

• LO

  @lowcountryantiques3696 · 6 months ago

  65 and I'm going to due my part to help,going to purchase 5 now for no reason only to say thank you RR for make my childhood Great....

  3

• RO

  @ronroberts8968 · 6 months ago

  I'm 74 and use one I pulled out of someone's garbage all the time. Its been real handy around the farm.

  4

• JR

  @jrewing3718 · 6 months ago

  They had steel handles by the early 50&apos;s, &nbsp;even your 1954 advertisement shows it. &nbsp;I got mine in 1956 and it had a steel handle. &nbsp;There may have been a high end model with wooden sides and a wooden handle but the rest of the product line had switched to steel handles.<br><br>By age eight I was pulling mine around to home construction sites with a cooler full of pop and ice, &nbsp;I sold them to the workers. &nbsp;At the end of the day I would circle back and collect the empty bottles, &nbsp;then wheel them to Krogers, &nbsp;cash them in, &nbsp;and purchase stock for the next day.

  3

• TI

  @tinmanlover1994 · 6 months ago

  When my oldest niece turned one she got a radio flyer tricycle. She&apos;s 5 years old. Her younger sister and baby brother and her all take turns riding it.little sister is 3 years old and baby brother is 1 in a half.

  1

• EN

  @EnergyMizers · 6 months ago

  I&apos;m 84 received my wagon at age 4 years old, 3 month after WW2 from the fist run after the war with wood bearings in the wheels! &nbsp;My wife and daughter, had it restored to original condition! &nbsp;Four generations of use and looks just like it did when my parents pulled it into my Bedroom when I was 4 years old, and sick in bed, 3 months &nbsp;before they were killed, by a drunk that was so drunk his own brother would not ride with him! &nbsp;(he never got so much as a DWI! &nbsp;I have a beautiful picture with it, and 4 generations in the photo!

  2

• JO

  @johnhawk-u3x · 6 months ago

  I’m 78 and still have my Radio Flyer. I can relate to many of the previous commenters about their memories. I have a picture of Abby, my wife’s Golden Retriever riding in my wagon. My daughter Abby on it and Abby seemed to enjoy it. What a ham. It’s not perfect anymore (but respectable) but it has the patina that speaks of love and enjoyment I had in my younger years with it.

  2