Tuesday

Vintage Gadgets: Flexible Flyer

Photo by Victor Bird, FF Racer Racer

All of the ice that has been hanging around from our storm last week has me wishing I had a Flexible Flyer Sled. Our family has one somewhere, but I don't know where it is now... probably in one of my uncles' basements. The one we had was perfect for dense snow with a layer of ice on top. And that sucker could really fly! It was confiscated by the adults years ago because one of my cousins got hurt on it...I think a broken leg and bloody nose may have been involved.

Flexible flyers are highly collectible antique items because they have been well made since 1889, and because many of them had hand-painted lettering and designs that changed over the years. I found a neat website called Sled Hill about sleds and sledding, and it catalogues all of the Flexible Flyer models so that you can date the one in your attic. (I think this website is cool because you can tell by the url, which is a sub-nav of a law firm's website, that antique sleds and sledding are some lawyer in New York's passion. hee hee.)

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