I spent many a day riding my Green Machine up and down May Place, skidding out like a madman, and generally looking cool. While I’m still a bigger fan of the the Big Wheel with emergency break for sick spin outs, I was pretty blown away by the complete re-conceptualization of the steering and body realignment of the Green Machine. When I first started seeing recumbent bicycles in the 80s, I always thought they were inspired by the Green Machine—turns out it was quite the opposite.
The Green Machine was designed by Marx Toys (like the Big Wheel and Rock ’em Sock ’em) and it is becoming clearer and clearer as I work through this series that the Marx Toys company was the Frank Lloyd Wright of mass market toy design.