Growing up in the 60’s I had a skateboard called a monster with a picture of a monster on the top. It had metal skate wheels on it. My uncle said they used to make something like that in the 40’s by nailing a skate onto a board, though it sounded more like a scooter since they usually added a handle to the front.
Sounds like a good story. A lot of SF has a forerunner civilization concept, but I can only think of a couple that present anything about their early stages.