Little red wagon rolls to new heights

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

Wes Messick never got the fire-engine-red Radio Flyer wagon he always wanted as a kid.

Now he's compensated for that deprivation in a big way by building a truly monumental version that would put even the most muscular SUV to shame.

His Radical Flyer stands 10 feet high and has carried a cargo of as many as 20 people in parades and special events.

The big red wagon is a natural progression for the mechanical maven with a need for speed down deep in his bones.

Born and raised in the southern California custom-car culture, he was surrounded by some of the era's most iconic muscle cars.

His mastery of machines and metal was manifested immediately. As a child, he would promptly reconstruct any new toys to improve their performance. Self-taught on his dad's welder, Messick worked his way up to lawnmowers and then motorcycles – his first, fastest and most enduring love.

Messick was a National Motorcycle Racing Association of Southern California two-time drag-racing champ. He still loves to ride his 200-mile-an-hour bike on wide-open Wyoming roads to work out the kinks after getting off his late-shift job as a diesel mechanic for UPS.

Cars came later when Messick built his own 1969 Roadrunner racer. Between working and racing, Messick also built four-wheel-drive versions of Munster Coach and the Coffin Dragster inspired by "The Munsters" television program. Ideally, he'd love to make a living building such television-themed cars, but realizes the market is thin.

Smitten with Colorado after a rafting trip, his wife, Kathy, wanted to relocate permanently. The opportunity came when Messick landed a job maintaining and rebuilding locomotives here.

Although lacking experience, Messick was a natural. "It was kind of like building hot rods, only it was locomotives," he explained.

He later opened Messick Motorsports, fabricating performance vehicles for others, but he took the UPS job for the good pay and benefits to better support his family and his obsession for everything fast.

Messick conceived of the Radical Flyer in 2003, in keeping with his philosophy of seeing little but thinking big. "I wanted to build a giant wagon with eight seats that set up high so you can see everything," he said.

Unlike his other fire-breathing creations, Messick said the big red wagon was a collaborative project specifically intended to carry his friends and large extended family, who contributed to its creation.

"I built it for the family to ride in," he said, noting the exception of his dad. "He's seen me race for years. He knows I'd scare him."

But that doesn't mean the flyer is any slouch. With its high-performance engine and transmission, it can quickly reach 70 mph and turn in a respectable time on the drag strip. Messick got rave reviews at the Bonneville Salt Flats and plans a return to set a record as the fastest wagon.

The Radical Flyer is equally able as the ultimate four-wheeler, nimbly negotiating the challenging motocross track surrounding the Messicks' home on five acres northeast of Fort Collins. Despite its height, the flyer is remarkably stable with the weight well distributed on the frame far below the wagon bed, which is protected with a full-roll cage.

Messick spent three years accumulating components before beginning construction in 2006. He finished it 18 months later at an intentionally leisurely pace to make the flyer perfect in every respect. Its construction is documented on Messick's web site at www.radicalflyertruck.com (including great footage of the Radical Flyer in action).

That attention to detail is apparent from the frame up to the finely crafted body hand-formed with tubing and sheet metal. It is painted in a screaming reddest-of-possible-reds buffed to a shimmering sheen.

Messick, 47, is gathering materials for his next related project – a gigantic 8-foot-high hot-rod tricycle. He plans to park it next to the Radical Flyer, "so when people drive by they'll think they're at Gulliver's house."

It's that jaw-dropping sense of awe his creations evoke that seems to motivate Messick almost as much as his addiction to speed. The Flyer made a couple of television appearances, and Messick loves showing it off whenever possible.

"You get some strange looks from people," he noted with the satisfied smile of a man who loves spreading happiness to all those coming into contact with the Radical Flyer.

Indeed, it's impossible not to smile gazing upon that big red wagon – or better yet clambering aboard for a ride in the great wide open way above it all.

"It's all about having fun," said Messick. "Don't take life so seriously."