Tinkerer's wacky rides give community a lift
Flush with success, a Rube Goldberg of the road.
WILLOW STREET, Pa. - Picture this: You're driving down the Willow Street Pike and you see a shopping cart cruising along at 35 m.p.h.
Or is it a go-kart?
And who's that crazy guy behind the wheel?
It's Jim Slagel, owner of Jim's Towing in Willow Street. His contraptions are the talk of the Lancaster County town.
On any given day, you may see Slagel scooting around town on a shopping cart/go-kart hybrid or a motorcycle fashioned from a toilet.
Yes, that's right. Slagel and the other workers at Jim's Towing get their kicks riding these vehicles around.
"Everyone likes to ride it," Slagel said. "It's been a lot of fun, and it gives us something to do when it's slow."
Slagel, who has been in business for more than 40 years, built the go-kart about a year ago after coming across a shopping cart in a junk yard.
He spent about $200 adding a small engine, a gas tank, brakes and other parts. He took the wheels off an old go-kart he had at home, and the starter came from his old lawn mower.
The cart doesn't have a speedometer, but Slagel said he had reached about 35 m.p.h.
"It sure does have some zip to it," he said.
He built what he calls the "toilet trike" in the fall with a commode bought at a hardware store.
It's outfitted with an electric motor and motorcycle wheels, but doesn't go quite as fast as the shopping cart.
After a quick count, Slagel said he had put about $400 into that vehicle.
Both, he said, have been worthwhile investments.
"We've gotten way more money out of the fun of the thing," Slagel said.
Santa even stopped by to take a ride on the tricycle. Slagel will proudly show that picture, along with several others of smiling people on the toilet trike, to anyone who asks.
Slagel said he was not sure what mechanical concoction might be next.
"I think we've done enough for a while," he said. "But we'll come up with something else sooner or later."