Just in case you came to this page directly from a search engine I have links to all of the other Powercar product pages from here. of course you can click on the Home page link at the bottom of this page to get to the home page.
This page will concentrate on the History of the Powercar company For general Powercar company information read below! For model specific information click on the image of the link you are most interested in.

To quote an iterview done with George Ford in 1990.
     The power Car Company of mystic Connecticut produced power driven kiddy cars at their willow street plant in Mystic from 1954 through 1967. With George A. Ford running the company. After reading an article on the new sports car that the ford motor company was coming out with in the Feb. 22nd 1954 issue of Time magazine he contacted the Ford motor company about making a miniature version of the new car. Not only did he receive their blessings he also received some assistance. And production began with the 1955 thunderbird Jr. as each year went by the body style of the miniatures changed to match that of their full size cousins. And they were introduced at the same time as the full size cars. Built in 1/3 scale with a fiberglass body on an all steel welded chassis complete with functioning head and taillights. Power to run everything was provided by a 6-Volt battery. The drive train was a modified ford starter motor that was connected to the rear axle via a V-belt. Forward and reverse were selected with a polarity reversing switch and the accelerator could put the car to the break neck speed of 5 mph. If you wanted to go any faster you could drop in a 12 volt battery or wait until 1964 when you could get one with a two stroke gas engine connected through a Fairbanks Morse transmission with an automatic clutch. This would get you to the 15-mph range and was considered an adult model. Construction was not a simple task the fiberglass bodies were made on-site along with approx. 60 other pieces and another 60 were purchased from outside vendors. They also produced the mercury jr. and the mustang jr. with the cooperation of the ford motor company.Production for the Thunderbird JR's is estimated at 5,000 over the 12-year period they were produced. And approximately 600 Mustang JR's, no estimates are given on the run of Mercury JR's The company also produced the Plymouth Fury jr. kiddy car from 1958 - 60. The Fury jr.

As time goes on more and more information is coming to light about the company and it's products. In the statement above Gerge Ford said that you could get a gas powered model starting in 1964, I have uncovered proof that gas powered models were available in 1957 as I found factory pictures and literature for a gas powered Thunderbird. go to the Thunderbird Page to see it! it was surrounded by a steel bumper and looked like they were made for bumper cars.

In 1967 the assets of the power Car Company were sold to Conval Industries. Conval continued to produce the older body styles of the cars for a couple of years and even worked with Ford to produce another car in 1970 or 71 in the form of another Mustang. They declared bankruptcy in the early 70s.

and a 1967 Mustang Junior body mold that will also make the 1968 Body that was never made by Powercar since they went under in 1967. I often get people coming to my website looking for Mustang juniors for sale and Thunderbird juniors for sale. Obviously since they have not been made since the 60s you can not run down to Walmart and get one and since the originals were so expensive not many were made. Many were wrecked and tossed so the survivors are rare. With the availablity of replacement frames, bodies and many parts they can now be recreated. Go to the resources page to get more information

Just where are all of cars that were produced? there are a few still hiding out there! but many of them have beeen lost to poor driving and age. mostly so little is known about them theat people assume that they are something someone made in thier garage. this website is here to try and save some of these cars when they surface but letting people know that they are very rare factory promotional cars. So next time you see one worn out at a garage sale. Don't think that it was something that someone produced at home. Just pay the $100.00 and take a piece of history home.

Literature

Powercar oddities

More than one size does not fit all

Powercar book?

Literature wanted!!!