As a lot of us are nervously watching from the sidelines, different vehicle types are becoming popular and are being snapped up by frenzied collectors who somehow seem to have more money now than ever before. In this crazy topsy-turvy market, my thoughts are turning to small “toy” type vehicles to get my collecting fix. This 1974 Rupp Vega GT Go-Kart is listed here on eBay in Valparaiso, Florida and the seller has an unmet opening bid price of $900 listed.

I can get at least two more motorcycles crammed, I mean, gently placed into my storage units in the same square footage as this small Rupp go-kart takes up, but this would be a step up from one of my latest finds, something that I can barely get my foot into let alone ride in as I could with this Rupp. Yes, I own an Oscar Mayer Weinermobile. Well ok, it’s a somewhat rare pedal car that was reportedly a dealer-only thing, but it’s more oddball garage art than anything really usable compared to a vintage Rupp go-kart that’s actually driveable – even by adults, according to this seller. Although at 6′-5″ tall, I don’t think I’d fit in this one anyway.

Jeff showed us a Rupp Vega go-kart several years ago here, and Russ showed us a nice Gremlin version of a Rupp go-kart three months ago here. Most of you who are old enough (lucky enough?) to have lived in the 1970s or even 1960s know that was a time when all kinds of manufacturers were getting into this market, the personal “toy” market. Snowmobiles were red hot as were mini-bikes, ATVs, and go-karts. Rupp was on its game back then but unfortunately, they went bankrupt in 1978. Their snowmobiles are popular with collectors today and the mini-bikes are off the charts.

The seller has provided a nice, long video here on YouTube showing every square inch of this l’il Vega kart. They say that as far as they know it’s original, or mostly original as far as the kart body itself. So, the black paint that you see through the very flimsy-looking shell is original. The floor pan shows some surface rust but they didn’t want to mess with the original Rupp sticker. I’d want to restore this thing so I’d get the decals replicated. There are little dings and/or small flaws in the original body shell and on some of the decal areas and the bumpers and headlights things like that – nothing that can’t be fixed or restored.

The seller says that the original “Continental” engine comes with it but this is a replacement Predator engine. I know that some of them came with a Clinton engine but I wasn’t aware of Continental engines being used, that’s a good bit of trivia. This replacement engine starts on the first pull as you’ll see in the YouTube video and the original engine needs a carburetor. It’s cool seeing the seller riding around in it at around the 3:09 point in the video. Rupp made a few different bodies in this era for karts as seen in this one brochure. Have any of you owned one?