That kid grew up in a completely different world than what I knew. I too looked through the Sears and Wards Christmas Edition Catalogs and dreamed of having a cool pedal car. Tonka was as close as I would ever get.

I remember as a kid looking through JC Penney, Montgomery Ward, and Sears catalogs dreaming of owning a pedal car. Being one of seven children I knew the closest I would ever get was whatever my mind could dream about. That was in the 60's and I don't think I ever saw one this beautiful. Heck I would have easily traded away 2 of my sisters for this beauty.

And, if I remember correctly, the full size Austin was just a tad larger. That is a dandy and one very lucky kid.

The Austin J40 is something of a British motoring institution. The pedal car was built at the Austin Junior Car Factory in Bargoed, South Wales. This dedicated factory began Austin pedal car production in 1949, with the plant funded by the British Government. It was run on a not-for-profit basis, purely for the employment of disabled coal miners, with 250 men assembling both the J40 pedal car, plus the racy Pathfinder, loosely based around a single-seater competition Austin Seven. Production ended in 1971. Values vary depending on condition, between 1 and 3,000 pounds sterling.

The J40 was manufactured in the UK by the Austin company. There is a full history here.

This looks like an expensive toy and sure enough, according to the pedal cars page at austinworks.com: "The J40 sold for 27 pounds plus 6 pounds added purchase tax, while the Pathfinder cost 20 pounds plus 5 pounds purchase tax. At the time the average working man would have to save 2 or 3 weeks full wages to buy a J40."

[Prior to the 1949 devaluation of the Pound Sterling the exchange rate was approximately £1 = $4; after devaluation, £1 = $2.80. - tterrace]

Wow, that kid must have been on cloud 9 to get something like that!
All metal, real tires, real paint and chrome, compare that to the all plastic, no sharp edges boring junk today.

Downside is it must have weighed a ton.

Any Pedal Car collectors out there who can give us a ballpark value on that car today?

I see they blacked out the license plate for privacy protection.

What a beauty. Looks like the trunk lid is operational too. The tires look pneumatic, almost real car like.