This is an original Carter Brothers Little Bigfoot go-kart, it was produced under license in the 1990s and it can accommodate either adults or children, though only one at a time of course.
These Bigfoot go-karts are no longer in production, the Carter Brothers’ Mfg. Co. Inc. suffered a major fire back in 2010, it was believed to be arson and it destroyed much of their manufacturing capacity – all of which was situated in a multi-building facility in Brundidge, Alabama.
The Carter Brothers Mini-Monster Little Bigfoot Go-Kart was an officially licensed miniature version of the world’s first monster truck – the Bigfoot built by Bob Chandler in 1979. Image courtesy of Carter Brothers’ Mfg. Co. Inc.
The Carter Brothers Little Bigfoot
The Carter Brothers’ Mfg. Co. Inc. was founded all the way back in 1936 by two brothers – W.W. and Charlie Carter. Initially, the company developed and built agricultural machinery for the peanut farming industry, machinery that was said to have revolutionized the very nature of the peanut business.
By the 1950s the company had expanded out into the lawn mower manufacturing business – this was a booming time for lawns, as strange as that might sound, as the suburbs were extending out of every major city in the United States and every new house had a lawn in front and a lawn behind.
By the 1960s the company began to dabble in the design and manufacturing of go-karts – ride-on lawn mowers and go-karts share many design similarities after all.
The Carter Brothers’ Mfg. Co. Inc. continued to expand and by the 1980s it occupied 300 acres of forestland in Alabama with multiple buildings including 230,000 square feet spread out over office space and manufacturing, powder-coating, and warehouse facilities.
It would be in the 1990s when the Carter Brothers released what is now almost certainly their most famous product – the Mini-Monster Little Bigfoot Go-Kart. It was an officially licensed mini version of America’s first (and most famous) monster truck – Bigfoot.
Both children and adults can fit inside the Little Bigfoot, depending on their size of course, and adults usually find their head sticks out just above the roofline.
As the new millennium dawned the Carter Brothers were manufacturing over a dozen vehicle types, including child-sized go-karts and mini monster trucks right the way through to full-sized XTVs.
Disaster struck in 2010 when a fire tore through the company’s facilities, destroying their manufacturing capabilities and ultimately resulting in the company ceasing operations.
The Mini-Monster Little Bigfoot Go-Kart
The Carter Brothers Little Bigfoot would be much smaller than its full-sized namesake, it was designed to just fit one person at a time and the seat could hold either a child or an adult – depending on their size. It had a unique tubular steel frame with a lightweight blue fiberglass body that could be removed in a single piece when required to offer easy access for vehicle maintenance.
A prominent roll cage was included behind the driver, these mini monster trucks do have a relatively high center of gravity after all. Power is provided by a 5 bhp Briggs & Stratton engine, a single-cylinder, air-cooled motor that powers the rear wheels via a centrifugal clutch and a chain drive.
The truck rolls on 8″ wheels that have beadlock-look covers over them, they’re mounted with Carlisle Stryker A/T tires on all four corners. A single rear drum takes care of braking duties, and a pair of functional LED spotlights have been fitted to the roll cage to help light the way at night.
Inside you’ll find a three-spoke steering wheel, a black vinyl seat, and two pedals – an accelerator and a brake. There are perspex windows to the front and each side, though most adults drive these with their heads sticking out the top.
This Little Bigfoot had a roll bar to the rear that’s fitted with a pair of working LED spotlights.
The Carter Brothers Little Bigfoot shown in this article is described as a 1990s model, it appears to be in better condition throughout than many of the others we’ve seen come up for sale in recent memory, and it’s being offered for sale out of Lauderhill, Florida on Bring a Trailer.
If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
