Westcoaster Mailster

For the first half of the 20th century, trucks took American letter carriers and their mail to the start of their rounds, and from there they walked. After the war the suburbs grew, routes grew longer, and the Post Office Department wanted each carrier to take more mail to more homes. It began putting carriers behind the wheel, in vehicles that were light and easy to handle.source 1source 2 In 1950 it tried three-wheeled scooters in Miami, and in Florida they worked well. A carrier on foot could carry 16 kg; in one of these he could carry about 230 kg of mail, big parcels included.source 1source 2

They were called mailsters, or by carriers mail scooters, and at least seven firms built them, Cushman among them.source 1source 2source 3 Carriers began using them in the middle of the decade, and because they were cheap their numbers grew fast: more than 5,700 were on the road in 1960, and by the early 1960s they made up a third of the Post Office’s fleet. In 1966, at the peak, about 17,700 were in use.source 1source 2

The Westcoaster

The Westcoaster Company of California, formerly the West Coast Machinery Company, made electric and petrol vehicles for farms, airports and golf courses.source 2source 3 Its Mailster was a three-wheeler with a glass-fibre body and sliding metal doors, and an Onan air-cooled opposed twin of 7.5 hp driving through three gears, changed on the column.source 3source 1source 4 The one in the Smithsonian is 2,921 mm (115 in) long, 1,499 mm (59 in) wide and 1,880 mm (74 in) high, a micro van for one carrier and a quarter ton of mail.source 2

The Post Office made a film, How to Drive the Mailster Safely. It shows how to start one with the electric starter or by hand, how to change gear, and how to brake: the rear wheels with a foot pedal, the front wheel with a lever on the handlebar, and the parking brake on hills. Its mailster has a front apron that comes off for air and side curtains with an armhole for hand signals. It sets 40 km/h (25 mph) as the most that is safe, and 24 km/h (15 mph) or less in turns; English Wikipedia gives a safe maximum of 56 km/h (35 mph).source 4source 1

Snow, wind and a dog

The mailster was at its best on flat ground in a mild climate, and elsewhere it was sometimes useless. Snow 8 cm (3 in) deep could stop it, the heater was poor, and it could tip over if cornered at more than 40 km/h or caught by a gust of wind; one carrier complained that a large dog had tipped his over. In city traffic its 7.5 hp was too little to keep up.source 2 Brakes, clutches, fuel pumps, front axles and gear levers broke.source 2source 3 The Post Office replaced the mailsters with more reliable vehicles, Jeeps among them; when the last one went has not been found.source 1source 2

Cushman, one of the mailster’s other makers, built a utility three-wheeler of its own for half a century, and the record of it is thin. Cushman Motor Works of Lincoln, Nebraska, was founded in 1903 by Everett and Clinton Cushman, by English Wikipedia’s account, or in 1901 by two cousins, by Cushman’s own; it became a division of Outboard Marine in 1962, was bought by Ransomes in 1989 and then, with Ransomes, by Textron, and is now based at Augusta, Georgia.source 5source 6 English Wikipedia lists the Westcoaster Mailster among Cushman’s models, but the Westcoaster was another firm’s; Cushman built a mailster of its own.source 5source 2

The Truckster was built from 1952 to 2002, with one wheel in front, a single-seat cab with folding doors or curtains, and a load box behind; Cushman’s police advertising gave it as 2,590 mm (102 in) long and 1,220 mm (48 in) wide.source 5source 7 It sold ice cream, maintained shopping malls and stadiums, delivered mail, kept grounds and enforced parking, and New York’s police were its best-known users.source 5source 8 A 1967 example has an 18 hp overhead-valve flat twin and three speeds on the column, and its owner puts its top speed at about 48 km/h (30 mph).source 8

Winnipeg’s police took Trucksters from 1964, after a short trial, as a winter alternative to motorcycles with sidecars, for the cab had a manifold heater.source 7 In December 1967 Patrol Sergeant Ted Ryland told the Winnipeg Free Press that its main work was spotting illegally parked cars and checking the Commissionaires on their rounds, and that it was most valuable in winter, as protection from the cold. The city’s last two were built in 1981, and its Cushmans were retired in 1985. One of the 1981 pair, Parking Patrol Unit 1741, was restored by students of the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology and handed to the Winnipeg Police Museum on 19 September 2024.source 7 A 1954 Model 782 has been photographed at the California Automobile Museum.source 9 No production figure has been found, and its models and engines from year to year are not reliably documented.

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum in Washington, DC, has a Westcoaster mailster, the gift of the Van Allen family in memory of Neil G. Van Allen.source 2 Neither a survivor count nor a club or auction result has been found. A restored Westcoaster was photographed at Los Angeles’ Petersen Automotive Museum in 2024.