Born in New Jersey, Aaron Montgomery Ward made his fortune in a Chicago-based mail-order company selling a wide range of items to rural customers whom he thought were being taken advantage of by local stores. The company’s catalogs sold almost everything, including recreational equipment. This 1971 Montgomery Ward T555 Three-Wheeler is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Delano, Minnesota, and the seller is asking $700. Here is the original listing.
Known as Wards by most of us, or Monkey Wards by some, mail-order catalogs were almost a miracle, as far as opening up another world for people, especially those outside of cities. Mail-order was as revolutionary as the internet and online buying are now, maybe even more so. Coming from literally pumping your water out of a well and cooking over a fire, these catalogs opened up a new world to customers, especially those in rural areas.
Mr. Ward started his mail-order business when he was 29 years old, which is a pretty amazing story. Having died in 1913, he lived long enough to see the invention of cars and other motorized vehicles to make life easier, but other than bicycles and some very early motorcycles, there wasn’t a huge call for recreational vehicles. It was a hard life just trying to earn a living and do your daily chores to keep food on the table.
Something like this T555 three-wheeler wouldn’t have been on his mind. Most customers didn’t have time for fun; they were too busy taking care of their family, the farm, the house, the transportation needs for their horse and buckboard or carriage, etc. I have a feeling he would have liked this era of personal time for just having fun and all of the cool machines his company sold in the 1960s and 70s.
The T555 was one of a handful of these machines sold between 1971 and 1975 or so, at which point the maker, CESTAD (Central States Tool & Die) out of Omaha, sold them under their name. The T555 comes apart almost like a Chrysler Sno Runner, so you can carry it more easily in your car or truck. Here’s a fun article and an ad at the end.
The front fender should be chrome, the rear tires would have had a more V-shaped directional tread, and it has a replacement engine, but otherwise it appears to be in mostly original condition. It originally came with a 5-hp Briggs & Stratton four-stroke single-cylinder and a torque-converter transmission; we don’t know what this engine is. This T555 is incredibly tempting; it would be a super fun little restoration project. Finding a vintage 5-hp B&S engine could be a biggest challenge, or maybe finding those original-type rear tires. Or worse, the original rear chain guard, which isn’t shown and I’m assuming was removed when the replacement engine was installed. Have any of you gotten anything from a Wards catalog? That would be a fun article, vintage motorsports ads from Montgomery Ward catalogs, hmmm…
The little kids in my neighborhood, riding around on their 2nd electric dirt bikes at ages 6 and 7, have no idea how our working class fathers in the 60’s and 70’s would never splurge over $300 for a kids toy.
And boy did we want one of these, or a go kart, or a mini bike.
But my dad worked all day as a carpenter, and nights a Moores lumber, so mom could stay home with 4 kids, when not working p/t.
I did have a riding lawnmower he brought home broken and fixed to ride around pretending it was a go kart.
All worked out, enjoying my current dirt bikes and ATV’s! Still a kid at heart.
Are you selling the T555 if so how much are you asking?
Back in the late 70’s, I had a lawn mower repair shop. We inherited a real POS riding mower that was destined for the dump. My wife convinced me to make it run, (and make it safe by removing the blade belt). We gave it to our young son and he rode that thing all over the neighborhood! Good memories!
Luckily, kids have supple spines! I couldn’t see riding one of these at my age. My Suzuki 4 wheeler gets to the lower back, if I don’t watch the speed!
My brother still has his Dunecycle, similar to this but it also has a rollbar and a bucket seat. All original and running. His has footpegs instead of the footboards and let me tell you, when your foot comes off the peg it goes under the rear tire and yanks you off the seat, All in all get 60’s fun,
The engine it has now is an HF Predator 212cc. I wouldn’t change it unless I was going full 100-point resto.
Thanks for the info on the engine, aceobilesrq! I was pretty sure it was a Predator 212, but I couldn’t zoom in on the photos without them being pretty pixelated.
I had 2 from Wards except mine were black..They were a lot of fun.
I would find a vintage Briggs and Stratton, put in a go-kart/junior dragster cam and megaphone and annoy all the neighbors. My family motto is growing old is unavoidable, growing up is optional.
Too bad this is so far away from me. I know a particular slightly overweight 70-something individual who’d be cackling with glee while riding this up and down the block!
POPPA WHEELIE !!
Already sold.
I had a Montgomery Wards credit card. Dont know how I got it, I dont think I ever used it.
Ha, I do, too! I should check eBay; it may be a collectible… Remember that era when companies would just mail you a credit card out of the blue? Dang, I miss those innocent days. Not that things still didn’t happen, like people stealing mail or anything like that, but not like in the internet era with all the scams out there now. The slide-across credit card “machines” that were everywhere, and then they’d keep all of the carbon copies of everyone’s credit cards, some of which had SS numbers on them! Jeez, when did all of that change?!
@Scotty
When some accountant decided to complicate things in the name of progress
This is really cool. I don’t ever remember seeing a 3 wheeler from MW. I know my Great Grandmother used to order things from them. I’ve never seen one of these. Great write up Scotty, got me thinking about the Go Carts and mini bikes on my street growing up.
Cool machines to have fun with . I still own 2 of them , The grand kids are getting old enough to ride them . They came with 5 , 8 and 10 horse engines.
We put a 12 on one of them , A officer clocked us at 80 with throttle to spar.
A lot of fun times in the 70’s and 80’s.
If you couldn’t hurt yourself on this, you weren’t trying hard enough. Got the nerve? Monkey Wards got you covered. I remember quite a few homemade versions of these, compliments of the foundries tool room, :D
$349 in 1971 would be worth nearly $2900 today. And the seller is asking $700 today. I don’t know if this is a fair price or not.
Mr. H., it must have been a good deal; it’s sold. I’m kicking myself for not grabbing it at $700, that was a steal.
A 1971 Hemi Cuda cost around $5,000 new, which is $41,373 today, barely 10% of what one is worth today. Some vehicles go up in value over the decades.