Friday, July 25, 1997
Cushman owners gather in Sweetwater
By KEN ELLSWORTH / Abilene Reporter-News
SWEETWATER - A single Cushman motor scooter makes a loud, flat,
explosive sound. It is a big noise for a tiny vehicle.
Listen to 200 of the little, two-wheeled scooters going down
the road together, however, as they did around Sweetwater Thursday
morning, and the sound becomes a solid roar.
"It just brings goose bumps," Mike Johnson said of
a single Cushman's sound.
Johnson, of New Braunfels, is one of about 85 who registered
at the Nolan County Coliseum Annex in Sweetwater for Texas Cushman
Club Inc.'s 1997 State Meet. It is the 15th annual meet for Texas
owners of Cushmans, which have not been manufactured since 1965.
The meet began Wednesday evening and will continue through
5 p.m. Saturday.
Though 85 were registered by Thursday afternoon, most of those
signing in also brought their families. Texas Cushman Club president
Mike Jones of Athens estimated actual attendance to be from 300-400.
Club membership is 800.
Nobody seemed to know exactly how many of the Cushman scooters
were in town for the meet, but they could be seen everywhere.
The Thursday morning ride around Lake Sweetwater attracted some
200 riders. Riding three and four abreast in the right hand lane,
the column of Cushmans stretched over a half mile of highway.
Most club members own more than one Cushman.
"I had 25 at one time," Jones said. "Now I'm
down to two."
Past club president Ross Murphy of Longview said he owned 15.
Don Henry of Abilene, area director of the Texas Cushman Club,
admitted to owning 25 of the little machines.
"Eight are running," he said.
Cushman Motor Works, Inc. of Lincoln, Neb., produced scooters
from 1937-65.
"Nobody knows how many were made. They kept very poor
records, but it is said that 100,000 scooters were made in the
peak production year. And it has been estimated that 35,000 scooters
are still alive," Murphy said, adding that the national organization
has counted some 4,500 members.
Cushmans come in a variety of colors and models. Most are kick
started and are powered by eight or nine horsepower engines, capable
of 55 miles per hour at top speed.
"Slow and slower," Jones said.
But Cushman scooters are said to be capable of going 75 miles
on a single gallon of gas.
Club members have modified some of their old, restored Cushmans.
One Cushman, now cruising the streets of Sweetwater, has black
and white spots like a Holstein cow. Its rider sports a white
helmet adorned with two small cow horns.
"I've got one geared for the highway, and it'll go 65,"
said Mike Johnson, who owns six of the machines.
Most of the Cushman enthusiasts attribute their love of the
two-wheeled vehicles to ownership of a Cushman during their youth.
Cushmans were once a cheap and popular way to get to school or
to take a girlfriend for a ride.
"Many a girl had her legs burnt on those exposed exhaust
pipes," Johnson said.
"If you're a member of the club you probably had a Cushman
when you were a kid, or wanted one and didn't have one because
your momma wouldn't let you," Jones said. "I had one
in the sixth grade. I rode it to school."
Johnson, who was busy polishing a show 1961 model valued at
$5,000, said he rekindled an early love for the machines when
he was offered a ride on a Cushman 25 years after he sold his
first one.
"We buy them in various stages of rust, and our charter
is, though not in these exact words, 'To find them and restore
them and get them back on the road,' " he said.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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