The
blog guy?... uh, no…. But it IS time for one of my famous...OK, infamous
‘detours’.
But
before we do… HAPPY EASTER !!! HE IS
RISEN !!!! Never forget.
Believe
it or not, Taylor Tot is a … stroller. But not just any stroller…it was the
premiere baby stroller of the 20th century. From hours on hours of
research, it seems they were made from the 1920’s till the 1980’s. The company
was the Frank F. Taylor Company of Cincinnati, Ohio (which moved to Frankfort,
KY in 1964)
So,
how did I get in such a shape?... Well, as you may have already figured out, I
love old stuff. If I had my way (and the moola of course) my home would not
have anything newer than 1960 inside it…well, other than the TV, the
washer/dryer and the computer…but you get the idea.
Here’s
the tale… in May of 2004, my wife and I were at a West Tennessee Antique Auto
Club car show around the square in Jackson, TN. We were walking along and
checking things out and one side street was the location of the ‘swap meet’
(EVERY car show has to have one of those areas - it’s in the rules). Anyway, I
spotted this kool looking stroller sitting there and I told her, ‘hey, that’s
gotta be old’. So we looked it over a bit- thinking wow, this would be a neat
thing to restore and use for the grandkids. There were no nameplates on it
anywhere, so I had no idea what brand it was or how ‘old’ it really was, only
that it looked ‘old’. I asked the fellow who was in the area how much he wanted
for it and he said “40 bucks”… Well, we started to walk away, slightly
wondering what we would do with one anyway…but then, the deal clincher… He
blurts out: “But I’ll let you have it for 35”… yep - SOLD.
Well,
we get the thing home and I start trolling the internet to find out more about
what we had. It turns out that ebay had some pictures that looked just like
it…and that’s how I found out the name; Taylor Tot. At least I now knew what it
was…ok. Now I go trolling for Taylor Tot…and lo and behold, I find a guy who
was a college professor who was restoring the actual Taylor Tot stroller from
his childhood. Man, he had his lookin sweeet! So I emailed him and we started
talking. Sure enough, he knew a lot about them and had even figured a way to
copy his front decal. He was kind enough to send me one for mine. (I didn’t use
it, but more on that next week).
Send your questions or comments to:
Toolsmartz@bellsouth.net and we’ll see what we can do to help you. 
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