The gentleman in the photo is artist and inventor Fernando Ruiz Luciarte, who is demonstrating his invention called the "Oto-Pedal" in Paris in 1958, and in terms of this puzzle, it's just a shame that he didn't put an extra 't' in the name.
Modelled on a child's pedal car, this was apparently designed for elderly people, and could travel at up to 25 mph, though I imagine that would depend very much on the health and vigour of the elderly person concerned. I could see some having trouble just getting into the thing, let alone getting out again afterwards. Nevertheless, its inventor is said to have used it to commute to work, a distance of 30 miles!
As mentioned, the photo is dated 1958, and a patent application was made in that year, drawing below, called "New single-seater four-wheel cycle". However, a retouched version of the puzzle picture also turned up in
Popular Mechanics in February 1963, implying that the machine was in production in France at the equivalent price of $90.
