Mini Bikes can be hard to nail down, as far as the exact model, year, etc. This is one of those cases, as I can’t find any information on the entire internet about this one! I’m hoping one of you has better luck and knows more about these things than I do. This 1971 Montgomery Ward Model 500 Mini Bike can be found listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, and the seller is asking, coincidentally, $500. This would be mine if it weren’t for an expensive shipping ride halfway across the country, but until then, here is the original listing, and thanks to Gary for the tip!
Even though this one needs a full restoration, it really isn’t that hard to do one of these things. There aren’t a lot of proprietary things on here, like “Montgomery Ward” logo grips, special seat fabric, or embossed Wards here and there. It’s basically trying to match up modern replacement items and making it like new again. It’s rusty, but it should come apart easily, and a person should be able to do this one in a corner of a garage or shop. It’s as straightforward a restoration project as there is, especially since the original clutch guard is there. You’ll probably never find a replacement for that. Trying to locate the exact photo of this one to replicate that clutch cover decal may be tough, though. The Manco cast-aluminum wheels are great, hopefully they can be cleaned up – maybe vapor blasted.
As with most, if not all, catalog mini bikes, this one was apparently made by a company named General Appliance Manufacturing Company out of Omaha. The seller says it’s similar to the General Appliance Trail Horse, and they’re right! Check out the bottom mini bike here, the yellow one. It looks exactly the same, but with different graphics, and we don’t know what horsepower this Tecumseh engine is. Here is the whole brochure on eBay. I wish they had included a photo of the serial number tag, if there is one. But as far as photos go, I can’t complain here, they took all horizontal photos (!) and great ones. Well done, seller!
The original Tecumseh engine is seized, but maybe it could be rebuilt if it hasn’t been sitting in a swimming pool for decades. They say it’s an original date-coded 1971 engine, but don’t show any more photos or give any numbers, unfortunately. I believe it’s a 5-hp model, but I’m not positive. I’m sure a replacement could be found if nothing else. Have any of you owned a Montgomery Ward mini bike? Better yet, can you find this exact model on the internet? If so, you’re a much better researcher than I am. If this were local, I’d grab it, but shipping from Pennsylvania would be ridiculous in 2025. Maybe I could trade for eggs.
I bet you can get 70 mpg on that hog
Wonder if he will trade a van for it straight up…
I get about 90 on my Honda Rebel. It probably get over 100.miles per gallon.
Back around 76′ my Mom bought me a brand new 5 1/2 horsepower Black Beauty minibike. Older kids showed me how to bypass the governor and it was off to the races at 53 miles per hour.
Let’ see, it was ’76 and you wanted it to go faster? It seems to have the perfect name.
Possibly a Bonanza Mini-Bike re-badged and sold by Montgomery Ward.
Bonanza’s were very popular in the 60’s. It looks like a Bonanza frame and they used 4-cycle Briggs & Stratton engines with a cetrifigal clutch.
I don’t recall that they were date stamped for I.D. or model year.
Actually no…..the jack shaft is a big clue but Bonanza’s did run Tecumseh along with the Hodaka (own both) instead of the B&S. Easy to tell the real think and if it – the Bonanza still has it’s number tag on the front – you can get close to production.
Ok, who else said Monkey Ward?
I did!!!
In the early 80s, we would build knock offs with junkyard frames and whatever lawnmower engines and wheels we could find. Our engineering was suspect to say the least. Lots of leg burns riding those little frakenbikes we built. But they ran and were fun as heck to ride. What a glorious time to be a kid.
Dumb and dumber bike? Someone sure must be getting to the bottom of the pile here. Thing about mini-bikes was, it didn’t really matter where they became from, they all looked like this. Typically, just under $200, it was money well spent. Like snowmobiles, I read there were over 100 mini-bike makers at the end of the 60s, each trying to cash in. Tecumseh, now ka-put, it seems, was the motor of choice for many. Probably cheaper than B&S, had more power, but I think a Briggs lasted longer, especially the abuse these things took. This “Ricks Restoration” TV series, takes stuff like this and makes them look brand new, but not cheap. For many, who could put a price on memories? Maybe $50 tops, and let the kid play with it. Hey, it’s how most of us got their start.
Wrong again…..my cheap base Fox came with a disk brake – like you’d have on a lawn mower – you can see it there on the left side…..
I agree with Howard. $50
The “rich” kids had factory Mini bikes (and go Karts).
My friends and I were all around 11 years old when built our own.
They weren’t exactly “mini” bikes .
We used the frames of discarded bicycles, gas motors from old lawn equipment, and other scrap bits. We scavenged the trash at the “curb” to provide most everything we needed.
We “fabricated” motor mounts from “bolt together” angle iron and used a butane torch to bolt and braze the engine mount to the frame. This was definitely the Achilles heal of our construction.
The biggest problem was the offset of the engine: The alignment of the engine pulley to the pulley on the rear wheel required the engine to be significantly off to one side. We had to lean quite a bit in the opposite direction to go somewhat straight. I wouldn’t imagine that we reached much over 20MPH, which was a good thing: The DEAD END sign at the end of our street came up very quickly.
I should mention there weren’t any brakes. We had a toggle “Kill” switch on the handlebars…. And we all wore heavy “engineers” boots to aid our deceleration “Fred Flinstone style”. Our parents couldn’t understand the extreme wear on the soles. If they only knew.
If all else failed , We learned how to “lay it down” just short of impact.
Scrapes, cuts and bruises… and one burn ( from one of my friends who didn’t understand the flammability of gasoline)
We lived to tell about it.
Thank God there weren’t any cellphone cameras back then!
Great memories and story. You win Sir!
There is an entire hobby devoted to vintage minibikes. I have a few spanning the 1962-1968 era. Cool little machines and $500 won’t even touch an early bike like a Rupp Dart Cycle or Go Kart Mfg. Big Bear Scrambler. Looks like a solid deal and has original parts, like the chainguard, that people would pay plenty for alone.
I have one that looks almost identical. Mine is a JC Penny’s Foremost “El Tigre”. My Dad brought two home, for brother #2 and myself (#1) of 5, approximately in 1970. We were in Washington State at the time and after moving to Minnesota, my brothers was stolen out of our backyard shed. I’m hoping to put mine back on the trail now that I’m in the desert of Nevada.
Back in the early 1970s I was in the US Army and stationed at Ft. Meade, MD. To earn extra money, I had landed a job as the night manager at the Montgomery Wards Tire & Auto facility in Wheaton, MD.
I remember getting deliveries of these little bikes as well as the 125cc M-W motorcycles built by Benelli in Italy. Both came in wooden crates from the M-W regional warehouse in Baltimore and required some assembly, usually done by the store’s shop mechanics between car repairs.
While the Benelli bikes sold well [especially after the first gas crisis], at least in our store, the mini-bikes were hard to sell. We had to keep them under lock & chain because boys would try to sneak them out of the showroom.
Swapped out my 3 h.p. Briggs and Stratton 4-cycle, for a McCulloch
6 h,p,, 2-cycle Go-Cart racing engine.
Added an open tuned exhaust. Wow!
Yes, in the late 60’s and early 70’s it seemed that minibikes were everywhere. I bent a frame up and installed an 3.5 hp (wish it were a 5) lawnmower engine salvaged from a scrap heap. Somehow acquired some forks and wheels and off I went. Used Easy Rider as an inspiration for the rake.
Never though much about MPG, but it only held a gallon and I went for a long time.
Eventually was replaced my a Honda Mini Trial but stayed with me for almost 40 years! Gave it to a neighborhood kid and now its gone to history. Not even a photo to share. Wish I still had it…
I different era. Didn’t even own a helmet…
I never cared for the ones like this with the wide lower frame, they dragged when turning and were too wide for the footpegs. If you didn’t have a jackshaft they didn’t go up hills very well without burning up a “Mercury Hillclimber” clutch.. I really disliked Tecumseh engines as they were not powerful for their weight and broke a lot. Parts were harder to salvage as well as most lawnmowers used B&S. $500.00?? I have no idea of value of anything anymore when the average care is $50,000.00.