MK Chester Engineering Logo and Advert - The Coin Slot, February 1973
"It all started when an amusement caterer came to see me with a little kiddie car," he said. "He has a problem with it, and he asked me to make him some drive units in my spare time. One thing lead to another, until I gave up my job at the fork lift truck factory, and went into business on my own."
By September 1972, he was working on a large workshop factory which he planned to put into full production in a few weeks. The company had already achieved great things prior to this though, with MK Chester machines having been sold as far afield as Portugal and New Zealand.
The company enjoyed great success with their puppet machines, including Tufty the Rabbit Puppet Theatre (distributed by Sherwood Coin) released in August 1972, and the singing dancing skeleton Boney-O, released in January 1973.
Mike Chester working on the Tufty the Rabbit machine - The Coin Slot, September 1972
MK Chester's first ever rides were of the go-kart variety. The Fun Kar could be battery operated or petrol driven and ran at 8-10 MPH. The Moon Bike, aiming to cash in on the space age craze, ran at 4 MPH. The company also made animal rides of this type. There were plans for a 28x16ft portable set of kiddie car dodgems with fibreglass rounding boards and a canvas tilt, but I'm unsure if these ever came to be.
Their first stationary coin operated ride was a two seater carousel, joined by Daisy the Cow and Sammy the Skunk in January 1973. That year also saw the Kiddie Car updated for greater safety.
MK Chester also made much larger funfair rides, including the 24-seater flying jumbo juvenile roundabout released in 1974.
They were sole agents for Edward Brooks & Company.
MK Chester Engineering was taken over by RG Mitchell in 1975.
Ride Releases
1972 - Roundabout
1973 - Daisy, Sammy
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