Bumper cars were a really big success. Like, a reeeeeeeeeeeally big success.

 

Bumper cars were a really big success. Like, a reeeeeeeeeeeally big success.

Initial reviews of the Dodgems described them as being “unmanageable” due to their lack of steering.

However in their first season, the Stoehrer brothers reported crowds of 40 – 50 people consistently waiting for a go at the Dodgems – and that’s after they’d doubled the price per ride from 15 cents to 30 cents!

Crowds were a regular occurrence for the Dodgems throughout the whole summer, and the Dodgem Company managed to thrive over many summers before a next gen bumper car design came about and took over the industry

Back in the day when Dodgems first started going global, it was still very much the norm to not bump into others cars.

Also, back then, grown-ups went on one set of dodgems, kids on another.

It’s understandable that the kids would bump each other once a while, so there was rarely ever a penalty for kids’ collisions.

However, adults would often be told off by fairground owners.

One example of this being taken to a crazy extreme was in Russia, where adults on the bumper cars at one fun fair were kicked off if they collided with another car.