1960s Golf Carts: 5 Iconic Brands That Built a Classic Era

The 1960s were the decade that turned the golf cart from a novelty into a course fixture. By 1960, most major courses still had golfers walking with caddies. By 1970, fleets of electric and gas-powered carts were standard equipment. That shift happened because a handful of manufacturers figured out how to build a cart that was reliable enough for daily commercial use, cheap enough for courses to fleet, and quiet enough that clubs would allow them on the fairways. This article covers who those manufacturers actually were, what their carts looked like, and what changed during the decade.

Last verified: May 2026 | Sources: Vintage Golf Cart Parts Inc. brand histories, GolfLink.com history of golf carts, Club Car official history (clubcar.com), EZGO official history (ezgo.txtsv.com), Ace of Carts brand archive.

Key Takeaways

What 1960s Golf Carts Were Actually Like

The popular image of a 1960s golf cart as a chrome-trimmed luxury vehicle is mostly marketing mythology. The working carts of that decade were practical machines built for one job: carrying two golfers and their bags across a course without breaking down mid-round. Most were three-wheeled, open-frame vehicles. The single rear wheel was driven by an electric motor or a small gas engine. Steering was either a tiller bar or, later in the decade, a conventional steering wheel. Seating was a bench with minimal padding. Canopies, if present, were aftermarket additions.

Electric carts dominated the early decade because courses preferred them. A gas cart produced exhaust, noise, and the smell of fuel, none of which fit the atmosphere a country club wanted to project. Electric carts were quiet, produced no exhaust, and could be recharged overnight in the pro shop or maintenance facility. The limitation was range: early battery technology gave most carts 18 to 25 holes of range under normal conditions, which was barely sufficient for a full day of fleet use. Courses that ran multiple rounds per day on the same cart had to manage charging carefully.

Gas-powered carts appeared in the early 1960s and gained traction on courses where hilly terrain drained electric packs too quickly. They were louder and required more maintenance, but they could run all day without stopping to recharge. Harley-Davidson’s 1963 entry into the market with a gas-powered three-wheeler pushed that segment forward significantly.

The 5 Brands That Defined the Decade

Marketeer

Marketeer is the right place to start any golf cart history because they built the first electric golf cart designed specifically for course use. Merle Williams founded the company in Redlands, California, and in 1951 produced the first commercially available electric golf cart, the Caddie Car Model 419. Williams had been experimenting with electric vehicles during World War II fuel rationing and brought that knowledge to the golf course application.

By the time the 1960s started, Marketeer had nearly a decade of production behind it and was the established name on electric courses. Their carts used a tiller-bar steering system and a simple three-wheel layout. The design was functional rather than elegant, but it worked reliably enough that major clubs trusted it for fleet use. Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club in Menlo Park, California, which opened in 1962, ran an entire fleet of Marketeers through the early part of the decade — a real-world example of the brand’s commercial reach at that time.

In 1965, Westinghouse Electric Corporation acquired Marketeer and continued production under the Marketeer by Westinghouse name. The Westinghouse acquisition brought manufacturing scale and engineering resources, but also marked the beginning of the end of Marketeer as an independent brand. The company changed hands several more times before Columbia ParCar absorbed it in 1999.

EZGO

Beverly and Billie Dolan founded EZGO on June 13, 1954, in a garage in Augusta, Georgia. Their first carts used surplus 24-volt military motors originally built to operate wing flaps on B-17 bombers, run off a 36-volt battery stack. The military surplus motor was cheap, available, and adequately powerful for a golf cart — a practical solution that gave EZGO a cost advantage in its early years.

By 1960, the Dolan brothers had sold the company to Textron. Royal Little, the head of Textron at the time, purchased EZGO specifically because of his personal interest in golf. Under Textron, EZGO moved from a small machine shop operation to a proper manufacturing facility. Through the 1960s, EZGO introduced new models including updated electric designs with improved controllers and better range. The company was well established as one of the two dominant electric cart manufacturers by the middle of the decade, alongside Marketeer.

EZGO’s Augusta, Georgia headquarters put it in direct geographic competition with Club Car, which relocated to Augusta in 1962. Both companies operating in the same city created a competitive dynamic that pushed both brands to improve their products through the decade.

Club Car

Club Car started as Landreath Machine in Houston, Texas, in 1958, founded by Orville Homer Landreth working with Igloo Products. In 1960, Landreath left the company and took the tooling and cart rights with him. In 1962, he sold the business to Bill Stevens, who moved it to Augusta, Georgia, and renamed it Club Car. The name under which the brand is known today only dates to that 1962 Augusta move.

Club Car’s most significant contribution to the 1960s was introducing the first golf cart equipped with a steering wheel. Prior to this, carts including the early Marketeers and EZGOs used tiller-bar steering, which was adequate at low speeds but required a different handling technique than any vehicle the average golfer had driven before. The steering wheel made the cart feel immediately familiar and reduced the learning curve for new riders considerably. Club Car’s three-wheel design with a steering wheel became the layout that most of the industry moved toward through the late 1960s.

The four-wheel configuration that became the industry standard did not arrive at Club Car until 1970, when they introduced the Caroche. Through the entire 1960s, Club Car ran three-wheel carts. The aluminum frame construction that Club Car later became known for also came later, in the 1970s. The 1960s Club Car was a steel-frame machine, simpler than what the brand would eventually produce but functional enough to establish their reputation on courses across the Southeast.

Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson entered the golf cart market in 1963 under the leadership of William Davidson. Their first models offered either a 245cc single-cylinder air-cooled two-stroke gas engine or a 36-volt electric powertrain, which made Harley-Davidson one of the few manufacturers offering a genuine gas option from the start. The gas model performed well on hilly courses where battery-powered carts struggled, and the Harley name carried marketing value with a segment of golfers who associated it with American-made durability.

The Harley-Davidson golf cart body style was distinctive and remained largely unchanged through their production run. The styling had more visual personality than the utilitarian Marketeer and early EZGO designs, which appealed to courses that wanted their fleet to make an impression. The carts were not technically revolutionary, but they were well-built and the brand recognition made them easier to sell to clubs that already trusted Harley-Davidson’s name.

Harley-Davidson was acquired by American Machine and Foundry (AMF) in 1969, and the golf cart line continued under AMF branding from 1972. AMF eventually sold the golf cart division to Columbia ParCar in 1982. The Harley-Davidson golf cart is now a collectible, and original 1960s three-wheel models turn up occasionally at auctions and estate sales.

Taylor-Dunn

Taylor-Dunn entered the golf cart market in the early 1960s, primarily building electric-powered vehicles. The company had an industrial vehicle background, making personnel carriers and burden carriers for factories and warehouses before adapting their platform for golf course use. Their golf carts carried that industrial-vehicle DNA: robust, straightforward machines built to handle daily commercial use without significant maintenance demands.

Taylor-Dunn never reached the market share of EZGO or Marketeer during the 1960s, but they maintained a presence on courses that prioritized durability over aesthetics. The brand is still operating today, though primarily in the industrial and commercial vehicle space rather than golf.

A Note on Yamaha

Yamaha is frequently listed alongside EZGO and Club Car in articles about 1960s golf carts. That is incorrect. Yamaha did not enter the golf cart market until 1978, when they imported the G1 into the United States as a gas-powered two-stroke model. The electric G1 followed in 1979. Yamaha built their first American manufacturing facility in Noonan, Georgia in the mid-1980s.

Yamaha’s absence from the 1960s does not diminish what they eventually built. The G1 and subsequent G-series carts became some of the most reliable fleet vehicles the industry has produced, and the Drive series that followed is still in use on courses worldwide. But when discussing what was actually on courses in the 1960s, Yamaha does not belong in that list. The brands that belong there are Marketeer, EZGO, Club Car, Harley-Davidson, and Taylor-Dunn.

How Golf Courses Adopted Carts During the 1960s

The spread of golf carts through the 1960s was driven by course economics, not golfer preference. Many golfers of that era considered riding a cart a compromise. Walking with a caddie was the traditional form of the game, and plenty of club members resisted the change. The courses pushed carts because the revenue model made sense. A course that could rent carts at $3 to $5 per round was generating revenue that had not existed before. A fleet of 30 carts could add tens of thousands of dollars per year in rental income, which covered the cost of the fleet in a couple of seasons and produced profit thereafter.

The transition also changed course design. Courses built or renovated in the 1960s began incorporating cart paths, wider spacing between holes, and infrastructure for overnight charging. Older courses that had been designed for walking found themselves retrofitting paths and charging stations to accommodate the fleets their members were now expecting.

By the end of the decade, resistance to carts had softened considerably. The convenience factor had won over enough golfers that courses without carts were at a competitive disadvantage, particularly in markets where multiple courses competed for members and daily-fee players. The 1960s did not complete that shift, but they established the trajectory it followed.

If you own a vintage cart from this era and are trying to identify the year and model, the Cushman golf cart year guide is one reference point for Cushman models, and the EZGO Model 300 wiring diagrams cover the late 1950s and early 1960s EZGO electrical layout.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Yamaha make golf carts in the 1960s?

No. Yamaha’s first golf cart, the G1, launched in 1978 in the United States. Their electric G1 followed in 1979. Yamaha had no presence in the golf cart market during the 1960s. Articles that place Yamaha in that decade are repeating a widely circulated error.

What did 1960s golf carts look like?

Most were three-wheeled, open-frame vehicles with a bench seat, minimal bodywork, and either a tiller bar or steering wheel. They were smaller and simpler than modern carts. Canopies were often aftermarket additions rather than standard equipment. The chrome-trimmed luxury look associated with the era is largely a marketing image from sales brochures, not an accurate picture of the average course cart.

Who made the first electric golf cart?

Merle Williams of the Marketeer Company in Redlands, California, produced the first electric golf cart specifically designed for course use in 1951. The Caddie Car Model 419 was compact, quiet, and battery-powered. It established the template that the rest of the industry followed: electric, two-passenger, purpose-built for navigating a golf course without tearing up the fairway.

When did Club Car start making golf carts?

The company that became Club Car started production in 1958 in Houston, Texas, under the name Landreath Machine. It moved to Augusta, Georgia in 1962 and took the Club Car name at that time. Bill Stevens ran the company through the 1960s and early 1970s. The brand we recognize today, with its aluminum frame and four-wheel configuration, did not fully emerge until the 1970s and 1980s.

Are 1960s golf carts worth anything today?

Original 1960s carts in restorable or restored condition have a collector market, particularly Harley-Davidson models and early Marketeers. Values depend heavily on originality, condition, and whether the cart is still operational. A barn-find three-wheeler in rough shape might sell for a few hundred dollars. A fully restored and running example of a rare model can reach several thousand. The Harley-Davidson golf carts from the 1963 to 1969 period tend to attract the strongest interest among collectors due to the brand recognition.

Why did golf courses start using carts in the 1960s?

Revenue was the primary driver. Cart rental income was a new profit center that courses could add without significantly altering their operations. Golfers who could not or would not walk the full course also represented a market segment that carts made accessible. The combination of rental revenue and expanded customer reach made the business case clear, even for clubs whose membership initially resisted the change from the walking tradition.

References

• Vintage Golf Cart Parts Inc. Brand histories: Club Car, EZGO, Yamaha, Marketeer. vintagegolfcartparts.com.
• Club Car official company history. clubcar.com/en-us/our-company/history.
• GolfLink.com. History of Golf Carts. golflink.com.
• Ace of Carts. Four Golf Cart Brands Made by Well-Known Companies That Disappeared. aceofcarts.com. (Marketeer / Westinghouse / Harley-Davidson history.)
• Intermountain Golf Cars. The Fascinating History of Golf Carts. intermountaingolfcars.com.

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About the Author

Chuck Wilson spent decades as a golf cart and small vehicle mechanic before retiring. His shop work covered Club Car, EZGO, and Yamaha platforms across gas and electric drivetrains. He runs GolfCartTips.com in retirement, writing about repairs and maintenance based on jobs he has actually done, not manufacturer talking points. If a procedure is on this site, it has been performed on a real cart.

Historical research for this article sourced from Vintage Golf Cart Parts Inc. brand histories, Club Car’s official company timeline, and period accounts of the early golf cart industry. Dates and brand histories verified against multiple primary sources.