1958 Cushman Eagle, Frame no. 24M7-33722 58

1958 Cushman Eagle
Frame no. 24M7-33722 58
Inspired by the success of Salsbury's Motor Glide scooter, Cushman launched its own Auto-Glide version in 1936. Founded in the early 1900s by cousins Clinton and Everett Cushman, the Lincoln, Nebraska firm had long been established as small engine manufacturers. Cushman's scooter came about quite by chance following aviator Colonel Roscoe Turner's demonstration of a Motor Glide at an air show in Lincoln in 1936. A local boy liked what he saw and fashioned his own crude scooter using a Cushman Husky lawnmower engine. By this time Cushman had been taken over by the Ammon family's The Easy Manufacturing Company. They got wind of the one-off and decided to build their own.

Cushman scooters evolved in 1949 into the larger Eagle which abandoned the traditional, open-frame, 'step-through' layout, placing the gas tank in the conventional motorcycle position. It was brave! A scooter that looked like a miniature Harley would prove an outstanding success, selling more units than any other Cushman model.

From dominating the American scooter market in the early 1950s, Cushman declined in the face of foreign competition, and in 1961 the company became the official Vespa distributor in the USA. With the arrival of Japanese, 'The Big Name in Little Wheels' ceased series production early in 1965.

This heavily decorated, twin exhaust Eagle is thought to be in excellent condition and has been on display in a private climate-controlled facility amongst other vintage scooters.