Let's Talk Cyclecars

I agree,I just try to report the facts.... as ugly as they may be.

 

Maybe I've lived in Oregon too long, but the idea of an E-Morgan actually appeals (Then again, it might be something about full torque available from zero rpm...). But design still matters. Hanging what looks like a cardboard box in the place of the engine is dumb. If you don't have an engine to showcase, you're better off building something that looks like an F-Type (Ford-engined Morgan trike).

 

1921 Tamplin from Belgium. VRM pic...

www.vintage- revival.com

 

I can readily stomach an EV in a Veteran idiom (i.e. "horseless carriage" in American terms), especially at the heavier end of the spectrum. I can see something brougham-like slung low between tall wheels, with towering battery boxes front and rear. I can even tolerate an electric Edwardian (i.e. "brass era") Monstrosity, though I'd incline more to a big diesel. But electric power in a Vintage (i.e. "thin-fendered") design is all wrong. I can barely describe how wrong it is, but I shall try.

Vintage is all about Laurence Pomeroy getting the Vauxhall 30/98's engine to spin at the impossible speed of 3000rpm, thus rendering the architectural scale of Edwardian high-performance engines redundant, and then chasing the saving in weight from one end of the car's design to the other. Little over a decade later Delage racing engines were peaking at almost three times that speed. Vintage is optimizing accessible, traditional technology to get the most out of it. Even big cars of the era expressed this character.

Vintage thinking created the need for the gearbox innovations of the immediate post-Vintage era, e.g. the Wilson and Cotal preselector gearboxes, and Maybach's multi-range adventures. The Wilson 'box dates from the very end of the Vintage period, and behind a conventional clutch might represent the ultimate Vintage drive train. Nobody did it then, but I can imagine a seven- or eight-speed Wilson 'box behind something with the character of a (carburetted) Honda S2000 engine, in a surbaissé but otherwise unassuming Model A phaeton.

Barring magic-box batteries, which resist owner-maintenence fiercely and owner-manufacture even more, this does not describe the character of an EV. Even the most "advanced" EV is inelegant, clunky, and gross compared to what it would be with an ICE appropriate to its residual weight. People might gasp at the Tesla Roadster, but consider that the Lotus Elise on which it was based weighed barely half as much.

If we want a better ecological approach, build that lightweight ICE to 14:1 (effective) CR and run it on home-brew E96. The Powers That Be won't agree, what with LEV/ZEV definitions, but I can present a fairly good argument that such a vehicle would be not a mere distant second best to an EV, but actually far better, ecologically. But this is neither the time nor the place.

 

Looks like the engine and transmission combination Ade showed us from Ebay...

 

BNC atthe 2012 Mille Miglia. M.W. pic....

 

Sandford by R.A. ....

 

Another Sandford by J-p C. ...

 

Remember those pictures of rod runs of the 60s and 70s? Here is a cyclecar rally in 2007. Marc pic...

 

Tamplin by Marc...

 

Stevens - Duryea via The Smithsonian...

 

Amilcar coupe from J-J c...

 

Miss J. Alwynne at Brooklands ,1931...

 

1924 D efosse,1200 CC

 

That's a neat little car Bob!

 

Yep,looks a lot like a lot of other cars,yet it has it's own look to it.I love it.Sure would like to see some other views of of it.

 

Hinstin from Marc and R.A. ....

Here is the source for some of the Hinstin material...
http://www.lezebre.eu/car/photo gallery hinstin sup.htm

 

G.N.

 

Frazer - Nash with Curtiss OX5 on offer through PreWarCar.com
http://www.prewarcar.com/index.php?option=com_caradvert&view=ad&section_id=1&id=69205&Itemid=432

 

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http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/index.php?/events/details/torchlight-tour-halloween-special2/

This looks a good night out

 

Ade ,are you folks going?

 

Saxon from D.B.....

 

Amilcar
http://www.velocetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/final-amilcar-indy.jpg

 

Here are a pile of pictures from the VSCC 2014 Castle Comb Autumn Classic.
http://www.vscc.co.uk/
http://www.castlecombecircuit.co.uk/
From various photagraphers...Phil Jones,Peter McFadyen,and Paul Woloschuk...

 

More VSCC,Castle Comb....Phil Jones,Peter Mc Fadyen,and Paul Woloschuk.

 

Hi Bob , I have been to brooklands a number of times , and every time I go there is something new to see , I think a night time torch tour will be great , so we will be going to one night,
We have a museum at night event in Oxford when all the museums are open until late One of the best is the Pitt rivers http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/. All the lights are out on the ground floor and you can discover shrunken heads native head dresses etc using your torch , they also have people in fancy dress and a chineese orchestra playing upstairs , a great night out