The 1959 Motorized Scooter Was On Its Own Level Of Coolness

Saanvi Araav - Oct 01, 2019

It was not our generation that invented the highly convenient motorized scooter. If you want proof, this footage shows off the 1959 "skooter."

Nowadays, electric scooters are everywhere with companies such as Bird, Lime, and Uber vehicles showing up everywhere in cities across the world. However, it was not our generation that invented the highly convenient motorized scooter. If you want proof, this footage shows off the 1959 "skooter."

We could not find many details about this video. However, we do know that it was filmed at the Institute of Technology in Illinois and belongs to the Frank Koza Collection of Chicago Film Archives.

There is no audio in this 16mm film. Nevertheless, we can assume that the man in the film built the scooter that he was riding by himself. That is just normal how newsreels of the 50s worked. Thus, the vehicle was not something mass-produced that you could buy from the store. Given the theory that he was a college student at that Insititute, it made sense that he was able to make something like that.

1959 Motorized Scooter

But no matter who he was, his riding looks very cool, even dangerous a bit.

That scooter didn't have any handlebars, probably so that you could fold the thing up and carry it alongside with you into the classroom. Our scooter-man pulled the parts out from a bag before starting to assemble it.

We could also see a rob which might offer some balance control to the rider, even though there was no handle to hold it safely. If you make a sudden stop, it seems like it could make you fall.