Loren Hulbert was an avid collector of classic Porsches and Pontiacs but found himself running out of space to keep them. The solution was to start collecting vintage pedal cars that dated from the 1930s to the 1950s.

He is displaying five of his pedal cars at the America on Wheels Museum in Allentown, USA until the end of the month. He has a collection including tricycles, scooters, ride-on wagons and pedal cars.

His most prized possession is a Murray Torpedo dating back to 1949 that had been damaged as a result of Hurricane Katrina. A friend of his found the pedal car whilst helping out in New Orleans in the clean up operation. It was in a terrible state but still intact. Mr Hulbert had the vehicle restored to its former glory with the bodywork being sandblasted and then repainted in a dark maroon colour. Even the items of chrome were re-plated and he had new decals put on.

Apparently back in the 1930s pedal carmakers employed top designers to create these beautiful vehicles. They are hard to find as children used to enjoy playing with them but many that were “worse for wear” were thrown out.

On display will also be a Lincoln Zephyr dating from 1937. A Woodie station waggon that has a trailer attached dating from 1941, a Pontiac dating back to 1935 and a Plymouth from 1937.

Another collector by the name of Gary Luther started collecting pedal cars back in 1996 and now has 65 cars in his delightful collection.

Mr Luther said: “I stumbled on it (the pedal car hobby) while running a small flea market stand and just fell in love with them. From then on I was addicted.”

His favourite classic pedal car in his possession is a 1954 Murray Champion that has Superman stickers.

Gary Luther added: “I enjoy this as much as anything I’ve ever done. It’s a constant source of pleasure for me. I joke that I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.”