V5.18 - THE TAYLOR TOT STORY part 3

We’re still working our little stroller over and getting it ready to present to the world.

The wooden roller beads (1956 and up used plastic roller beads) sit on a rail around the food tray that sits right in front of the rider. They are something for the rider to play with. As it turned out, Hobby Lobby had fresh wooden beads. All I had to do was drill holes thru them and paint them with a child-safe paint.

The buggy bumpers had rubber tubing over them and the tubing is readily available by using…well…I think I’ll keep that to myself. You never know when I might make up some kits and sell them on ebay for a little walking around money.

So, now you know. I’m the resident expert on Taylor Tot strollers. I reproduced more decals than I needed and have ebay’d a few sets to other restorers. In 2009, I decided to create a website especially for the strollers and as of right now, I have the ONLY website in the world that is dedicated to Taylor-Tots. I’ve restored 6 strollers for customers and sold lots of parts and met dozens of interesting folks…all because of a swap meet find.

One of the hardest restorations was for a fellow in Texas. He had 5 siblings and each time a new child came along, his dad would paint the stroller a different color. Yep, SIX layers of paint and it looked like it had been run over by a truck, all bent and warped. By the time I finished media blasting, I had to get new media…mine was full of paint chips. But I got her done and when the fellow got it back, he was totally flabbergasted. It really looked like a family heirloom.

One of the most interesting people to contact me was the daughter of the company owner in 1964. She was just thrilled that someone was keeping the name alive. She happened to be in Nashville and drove down to the ‘boro to meet me. We had dinner at Demo’s and she brought along a prize…her dad’s salesman satchel from 1964. It’s a zippered briefcase that has cut sheets for ALL the Taylor-Tot products for that year. By 1964, Taylor was making strollers with vinyl liners and overhangs. This satchel even has fabric samples that allow the customer to choose how they wanted the strollers covered.

Probably the most touching story I have run into is Ms. Rachel… I’ll tell you about her next week.

Send your questions or comments to:

Toolsmartz@bellsouth.net and we’ll see what we can do to help you.