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Little red wagon fuels grown-up fantasy



Judy Foster, left, and Fred Keller sit in their custom Radio Flyer in Wasilla, Alaska, on Monday. The couple spent much of the last year converting a 1976 Mazda pickup into this street-legal wagon. (Mark Thiessen/Associated Press)

Ever miss your childhood days riding around in a red wagon?

A Wasilla, Alaska, couple have the answer: A full-sized pickup truck that has been converted into a giant vehicle that looks like one of the red toy wagons sold for decades by the American company Radio Flyer.

Fred Keller and Judy Foster worked on the vehicle for 11 months, using the base of a 1976 Mazda B1600 pickup truck.

The couple got the idea for their scale replica of the beloved childhood wagon after visiting a car show in summer 2009 in Oregon, and seeing another Radio Flyer, albeit that one on a hot rod.

"We said, 'We could use the Mazda for that,"' Foster, 67, said of the pickup, which had sat undriven for about five years at their home. "We came home from our Portland trip, and about a day after, he was tearing the Mazda apart. No changing my mind."

Keller, a 68-year-old retired telephone worker, had all the expertise in composite construction he needed to convert the pickup. His hobby is building home aircraft, and this wasn't too different.

'It's just really happy memories.'—Judy Foster

"The basic structure of the wagon is marine plywood, foam, fibreglass cloth and epoxy resin," he said. "It's a very strong structure."

Many components of the Mazda are still in the flyer: instrument panel, steering column, frame and engine.

Keller completed the frame, added smaller wheels, hubcaps painted white and used old laundry detergent caps for the hubs.

He also constructed the 2.4-metre-tall handle from PVC piping wrapped in fibreglass, which rises from the front bumper high over the windshield.

The steering wheel is also a homage to all things wagons, a wheel that could be used on a wagon or cart. There's no storage space on the wagon, so Fred made an especially wide and deep glove compartment.

Street-legal certified
The wagon was completed in August after making a few adjustments required by the state motor vehicles department, including a windshield, mudflaps and more lights, to make it street legal.

Since then, it's been an instant hit, whether they're driving around Wasilla or taking the 80-kilometre trip to Anchorage.

"They wave at us, they honk at us, they give us a high sign, a thumbs-up. They congregate around us when we park," she said. Sometimes people follow them for blocks, waiting for them to pull over to get a closer look.

Both Foster and Keller had Radio Flyer wagons growing up — she in Kansas, he in Kentucky. For them, the childhood memories came flooding back in the months-long conversion project.

Keller said he and his four siblings used to pull each other in their wagon, and he'd sometimes even hook it up to a "lawn mower and things of that nature to get some extra fun," he said.

And now, when people see their giant wagon rolling down the street, it brings back their own childhood memories.

"It's just really happy memories, it seems like," Foster said.