They were a major health and safety hazard to start with.

They were a major health and safety hazard to start with.

That might not come as some surprise given how I just said they weren’t supposed to bump into each other and they had practically barely any steering.

However, they were so flimsy they would often fall to pieces after a single collision.

Cars that got broadsided would often not be able to start up again, and sometimes occupants or pieces of the car would go flying after a bump.

The flimsy tin construction of the Dodgems also meant that they would dent with a single kick, let alone a knock from another car.

As such, hammering dents out of the body’s tin panels became a nightly practice for fairground workers, as did nailing back all the loose or missing panels.

After the Dodgems’ very first season, every last one of the cars had to be burnt as they were too far past the point of repair.