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- "As they [Marty and George] turned and headed toward the local teen hangout, two kids on homemade scooters — roller skates nailed to a two-by-four with an orange crate on top — rattled past them. Marty smiled at the crude prototypes of the sleeker and speedier skateboards that would come later."
- —From Back to the Future by George Gipe (quote, pages 171 and 172)
A soapbox scooter was a motorless homemade vehicle ridden by children in 1955, which was made by nailing roller skate wheels to a two-by-four piece of wood with a wooden crate mounted on top. Flattened foil pie dishes would be stuck on the front of the scooter for headlights.
History
Two young boys were playing on soapbox scooters in Courthouse Square while, in Lou's Cafe, George McFly attempted to ask Lorraine Baines to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. When Biff Tannen entered and started harassing George, Marty McFly was furious that George's chance had been ruined and tripped up Biff. This led to Marty running out of the cafe with Biff and his gang in pursuit, and borrowing one of the scooters, pulling off the crate to create a makeshift skateboard. Using this "board with wheels", as one of Lorraine's classmates referred to it, Marty managed to outsmart and outmaneuver Biff's gang, who were chasing him around the square in Biff's car and who eventually ended up running into a manure truck — causing the car (and its occupants) to end up covered in manure.
None of the crowd watching the chase had seen a skateboard before and wondered what it was, as such things would not be sold in stores until the early 1960s. Although Marty didn't know it at the time, he'd given history a push in the right direction!
Behind the scenes
- The scooter kids were played by Johnny Green and Jamie Abbott.