DOWNTOWN GRAY
Mitch Morrison, a local, remodeled a fire truck out of an old pedal car for his grandson, Slayden Hardee, who is two years old, giving his grandson something to always cherish and make memories with.
Morrison said he’s lived in Jones County his entire life, and his daughter just moved back with Hardee recently. He said he’s looking forward to his family being close by.
“Jones County is quiet, peaceful and safe,” he said. “We go to church at First Baptist Church. I like it here. I like the location of the schools here.
My daughter teaches here in Jones County, and that’s great.”
He said remodeling the pedal car for his grandson was a joy. He said he wants Hardee to know it was built for him with lots of love.
“I was at a car show in Moultrie a couple of years ago, and I wanted to get my grandson a pedal car of some sort. I ran across this one, and it was a 1950s pedal car fire truck. I bought it and worked on it. I took the pedals out and put an electric scooter motor in there, so he can drive it,” Morrison said.
Hardee’s grandfather said he had obstacles to work around with the pedal car to make it safe for his grandson to use.
He said he put a floorboard in, painted it, put real headlights in, and put flashing lights on all sides. He said it has a beacon on top, a siren in it now and a dashboard for his grandson to operate.
“It was a fun project.
I hope it will be something he can play with for a long time, and it was fun thinking of him while I worked on it,” the grandfather said. “It took a while to do, but it was worth it. He recognizes what a fire truck is now and what they do. I feel that’s happened since this project, which is neat.”
Morrison said it became a fire truck, because that was what he found. He said he enjoys restoring antique cars, and he wanted to do something for his grandson in the same way. He said Hardee just happened to be a firefighter this year for Halloween.
“I wanted to make something he could keep, and maybe one day he can pass it down. I want him to enjoy it for a long time, and I’d love for it to become a family heirloom. It’s making great memories for all of us,” Morrison said.
He said Hardee’s first reaction to the old pedal car fire truck was to jump right in the seat. He said it took his grandson a minute to figure out how to operate the fire truck with coaching, but then he took off in it. He said he looked really natural in it.
“My favorite thing about making this fire truck for Slayden is watching his reaction when he plays in it,” he said. “When he doesn’t want to stop playing with it is when it becomes an obstacle, but even then it’s a good one.
You know then he loves it so much he doesn’t want to turn it loose.”
