Clark "The General"

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ctomdog

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Hello all, I have a question about a Clark go kart that my wife got when she was very young. I have read some threads on here about the Clark company and the thread from the guy who worked there. After my wife rode it 2-3 summers, her dad hung it on their garage wall. When we went to clean out his garage, I HAD to have it. There is hardly any rust considering how old it is. It still has the clark seats. The bottom is all there, just not connected.

I do not have what is described and shown on here as a "Rebel" model. I THINK I have one of the rarer "The General" models before lawyers got involved with patent infringement. I do not remember where I read this but sounds about right. I see the model and serial number clearly on the back of the seat support. It is a model 446 with a serial #: 1906.

I have it up and running. It has a 1981, 5 hp briggs & stratton Model 130202. I didnt even need to clean the carb. I added oil and gas with a shot down the neck and it started on the second pull. I took my first test ride today and got all the attention in the maybe 5 minutes I rode it.

My main question is, do I leave it factory like old cars that are rare or do I fix it all up to look brand new? I don't have any kids to play with it but I don't want to puddle with a project and ruin the value of a rare item.

Ol, one more thing.... Any idea what one of these cost? I know my wife said her dad paid over $500 when it was new.

Thanks for your advice in
 
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ctomdog

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advace for any and all help. I am trying to upload the pics but they are too big. I will post them shortly after I resize them. What is the largest I can upload.

Thanks again!

Tom Dog
 
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ctomdog

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Here are some pictures.

Tom Dog
 

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panchothedog

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Be very careful to protect that floor pan decal. It's in good enough condition to add value to the kart. Some general cleaning and fresh paint. Get the seat rebuilt and recovered exactly like it was. That thing is in amazing condition, especially for its age.
 
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Denny

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Take it to a sign shop and see if they can reproduce all the stickers and decals before you do anything. Tape off the sticker with the serial # and model#. Just like in the car world!
 
BaconBitRacing

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Incredible condition! Try cleaning up the paint before doing a repaint, a good repaint is a long process. There‘s a chance it cleans up. If not a repaint isn’t to big of a deal. With the condition of the sticker you could save it or have a new one custom made as Denny suggested. In terms of value this is a wildcard. To the average joe who wants a fast go kart, maybe $300-$500. To someone who owned one as a kid and has been looking ever since, much more. But the thing about go karts is they are different from cars, overall value is inconsistent. It comes down to what the buyer is willing to pay and what you’re willing to take.
 
Hellion

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Oh fantastic. Thanks for the necropost, MPeed

Since I am horribly late to the party and because I can't stand the way the photos were posted originally (no preview), I did a re-do so I don't have to click...











 
MPeed

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Hellion said:
Oh fantastic. Thanks for the necropost, MPeed

Since I am horribly late to the party and because I can't stand the way the photos were posted originally (no preview), I did a re-do so I don't have to click...











Click to expand...
 
Hellion

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Some of the advice in this thread was cringeworthy. Maybe the OP didn't return because he was overcome with analysis paralysis. The forum told him the kart was a classic or "worth something" and told him to restore the kart, reproduce all the decals, repaint the whole thing because "you have to"... All that work to think about, in an effort to destroy the originality of his wife's go kart. 😢

This kart is in near-perfect "survivor" condition and only needs a cleanup. Are some parts below par and no longer perfect? Sure, but there is a train of thought and a contingent of enthusiasts who say it is fine as-is. This kart is no collectable Rupp Dart Kart, at least not one with an absolutely rabid fan base that will shell out 5 figures for it in "restored condition" so there's no need to "restore" it (which means a return to original condition if we're being honest). It is fine as-is with all its "horrible defects".

My advice for anything like this in the future and in such complete condition like this one is, is this...

Wash it gently (no power washer!) with a bucket of warm water and some Dawn dish detergent (or Meguiar's car wash) or similar. Don't flood it with water but just use a damp sponge, scrub it, and use a clean damp sponge on the suds. Dry it off with towels and let the rest of it air-dry. Then use a very light car polish to treat the paint, remove oxidation and brighten it up to as near new as you can get it. Add a coat of wax and be done with it. Don't overdo it or make it obvious that you were there.

Remove and detail the engine, replace the air cleaner element (very important), make everything serviceable and tidy everything up as best as you can but it doesn't need any paint, or at least paint that would involve covering/removing/masking off the nice Briggs decals. Just a touch up or some spot painting will do.

Seal off and stop the active rust anywhere you find it with either some rust treatment dabbed on with a small brush or coat the rusty areas with boiled linseed oil, or a even a gloss or semi-gloss clear coat enamel. Don't make it obvious that it was touched up, so you will have to be skilled with the application.

Clean the rusty rear axle. Wire wheel off all the rust then maybe seal it with a matte clear coat or paint it with Rust-Oleum Flat Soft Iron. This will protect it from further rust and also make it look like bare steel.

Clean the wheels with some aluminum mag wheel cleaner. Service or replace the ball bearings; many can be repacked with grease if you gently pry up the seal. Clean the tires, patch any holes in the inner tubes or replace. The tires are probably original to the kart. Again, don't make it look like you did anything to it.

Try to preserve the floor pan decal. It appears to have a clear layer on it that looks like it is peeling up, but I would leave it as-is.

I'm not sure I would use it if it was my wife's. It might go back on the wall or on the floor in my Man Cave in her honor.

Et cetera, et cetera.

"Do no harm"
"Preserve the past"
"It's only original once"

These are my opinions only and what I would do.
 
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