His confidence momentarily shaken, DT reader and off-da-hook pedal car expert DT questioned how I could have posted this image of the Play-Modern play cube system without mentioning the 300SL pedal car. So let's get a stake in the ground on that right now.
The 300SL pedal car looks fine. It's certainly better than the regular SLK pedal car which, unless she's playing Paris Hilton or 50-Something Divorcee, just does not look right on a young child.
I wonder, though, why they try to do the Gullwing as a Pedal Car, when there was a very legitimate 300SL Roadster to be approximated? Obviously marketing, but the resulting product seems suboptimal to me. Also, Farmer Ted's glasses right there are basically a perfectly concentrated embodiment of everything that bugs me about the current MBUSA. So off brand. Or maybe painfully on brand, which is my fear/point.
Actually, no, my--actually, yes, my point is, it was better in the olden days. Here are some vintage Mercedes roadster pedal cars from the DFW Elite Toy Museum. Granted, they are 190SL's, and the date given--"the early 1950s"--would be miraculous since the 190SL itself wasn't introduced until 1954. But still. That other one's a carousel car, which is suddenly interesting to me.
It does get better, though, if you[r kid] can hold out until the electric/motorized car stage. Because Group Harrington, whose exquisite 1/2-scale Porsche 356 has been featured on DT before, also does an amazing-looking kid-size, 300SL Roadster.
Oh, and look, here's a mom, just hanging out on the grass, leaning against her kid's go-cart. Still no sign of actual children, but I'm sure their dad will let them have a turn eventually.
UPDATE Leave it to the design sharks at Wary Meyers to have spotted a pink 300SL pedal car in the roadside wilds of Florida.
Classic 300SL Silver Gullwing Pedal Car, $320 [mbusa]
Lifestyle Accessories (sic) > Kids SLK Silver Pedal Car, $315 [mbusa]
Pedal Cars & Carousel Cars [dfwelitetoymuseum]
Mercedes 300SL go-kart [groupharrington]
Previously: boys and their kid-size toys
