It may have been on PBS (not sure), somewhere between 1976 - 1979. I think it was on around lunchtime (because I usually missed it).
The show started with a close-up of a boy’s face as he turned around suddenly hearing “hey, Timothy!” (then I think there may have been acoustic guitar music with the opening credits.)
Plot:
A boy named Timothy (possibly a runaway) finds an old, beat-up trunk in the city. He is being chased by an older, larger boy (who is always after him for “five bucks! five bucks!”). He hides in the trunk and when he opens it and steps out, he is about 100 years in the past where the trunk belongs to a travelling magician-type man who sells “elixir” from a colourful wagon.
The two became somewhat unlikely friends. (I vaguely remember his name being like “Phineas” or “Angus” but I may just be confusing it with Phineas Bogg from Voyagers with Jon Erik Hexum and Meeno Peluce.) In any case, the elixir salesman looks to be of Irish decent and was in his mid-thirties (or at least old enough to be a father figure for Timothy.)
The magician-type guy has a bowler hat and a beard. From time to time, he would also climb into the trunk and when he opened it, he’d end up in the “modern day” of Timothy’s time. So they shared small adventures in both time periods.
Any thoughts? I don’t know why I was thinking about this show, but I remember liking it when I was quite young.