Just how old is Walt Wallet of Gasoline Alley?
I have, with nothing to back it up, long ago decided Walt was born in the year 1900.
With a Walt biography the subject of the current comic strip we may finally find out.
1900 still works with Walt in the Navy during World War I.
But then Jim Scancarelli introduces the Wright Brothers into the timeline.
The Wright manufactured very few bicycles after 1902 and none after 1904 – they were much too busy developing their airplanes and trying to find a market for them. When they finally began to sell aircraft in 1909, the bicycle shop at 1127 West Third Street was converted to a machine shop where employees of the Wright Company – the brothers’ airplane manufacturing business – turned out parts for the airplane engines and drive trains.
So Walt with his father and the Wright brothers could still have a 1900 birthdate,
though his size doesn’t match with the large bike in the above panel.
(Here we are informed that Dayton, Ohio is Walt’s childhood hometown.)
Will Jim nail down Walt’s birth? Stay Tuned.