Model 85 DeLuxe Going Up the Steepest Hill in LA - 32 degree Fargo Street Grade
The Model 85 DeLuxe Scooter
The Salsbury Model 85 is legendary - the pinnacle of design, very few made, and only one is known to have survived the last 70 plus years. Salsbury Motors created the DeLuxe version by adding a front cowling, recessed headlamp, and plexiglass windshield to the Model 85 Standard version.
How Many DeLuxe Versions did Salsbury Make and Where Did They Go?
The Salsbury Restorer's society has photos inside Salsbury's Pomona facility showing a fair number (approximately 15) of finished DeLuxe Model 85s. See SRS Vol 5 at Page 13, with the pics likely taken in mid-1946. Early Salsbury Motors marketing materials, like the first brochure here, treated the DeLuxe as a model that was for sale. And newspaper ads suggested that a customer could view a DeLuxe model when the Salsbury scooters were introduced in mid 1946. But later materials, including the Salsbury Dealer Promotion Book, indicate that Salsbury was not selling the DeLuxe model to dealers or customers.
So what happened to the DeLuxe Model 85s that we know were manufactured?
We put this question to a long time Salsbury and scooter collector. He believes that Salsbury manufactured most of the DeLuxe Model 85s for Western Union, and then Salsbury never made any more. This makes sense - the DeLuxe version seems much more complicated and time consuming to produce than the Standard version. Salsbury needed to ramp up production of the Model 85s as fast as possible, so Salsbury apparently decided to manufacture only the Standard version to achieve an economy of scale.
While researching numerous sources for this website, we came across the picture to the left. The pic shows 2 DeLuxe Model 85s in front of the Western Union building in downtown LA (608 South Sixth Street). While not conclusive proof that ALL of the DeLuxes went to Western Union, this photo proves that Western Union purchased multiple DeLuxes to use in its LA based telegram business.
According to an SRS interview with an old Salsbury mechanic, Salsbury sold some DeLuxe versions to individuals, but the DeLuxe version tended to have problems with wind buffeting at higher speeds. The mechanic indicated that the owners removed the front end shielding of the DeLuxe, basically turning the scooter back into a Standard version, which cured the wind problem.
Note - Check out the 2 fuel gauges right behind the riders on the nearest DeLuxe and the Standard scooters.
Photos of the Only DeLuxe Known to Have Survived - As Found Condition
See SRS Vol 39 for the history of DeLuxe survivor and the story behind its discovery. Photos of the unrestored DeLuxe appear below - with the DeLuxe in its as-found condition. Note that the DeLuxe below does not have the recessed headlight. Interestingly, the surviving DeLuxe is the same one as the LeLuxe in this Salsbury Marketing photo.
More Pics of the DeLuxe
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©Russ Uzes and Scott Doering/Contact Us
Russ and Scott are always looking for Salsbury Scooters - Motor Glides and Model 85s
We are also looking for Salsbury Scooter historical items - brochures, pictures, service manuals and other memorabilia