An "Orient" style vehicle would be a pretty straight forward project that would "tick all the boxes". Perhaps an upgrade of steering and braking is in order, for contemporary use (modern traffic!!!). Maybe Austin 7 suspension, steering & brakes. Small, light, robust enough for daily use and most importantly still available & reasonably priced in NZ. You could even use the 7 rear axle with the gravely driving the pinion through an expanding belt-type torque convertor (once quite common for minibikes , go-karts and ride-on mowers. Might also be easier to register for on-road use. keep us informed of you progress, I'll be watching. cheers,
Just out of interest the original 1908 patent for a proposed model Orient Buckboard Cyclecar's friction drive transmission can be found here........ http://www.google.com/patents?id=kb...ected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q=waltham&f=false I like hunting through pre-WW1 motor vehicle patents as there are all manner of delights to be found. If you do take a look you'll soon discover that there is nothing new under the sun. Some of the ideas for 'improvements' are very strange though and make me wonder if a prototype was ever actually built and tested.
By complete chance I ran across this article in a June 1960 Popular Science. If this works it should add to the general interest of this thread. <script type="text/javascript">vbmenu_register("postmenu_2411379", true); </script> My scanner skill is nil... I can try and make'em bigger if interested
Thanks UnkaMort I was able to print them out on A4 paper without any problems at all. The pictures have got an odd sort of marbling effect which I think could be eliminated by fiddling with the scan resolution, but it's not that big a problem.
There's a four wheeled motorwheel in the AACA museum near Hershey. But the very coolest one I ever saw was a girl's bicycle converted with a motorwheel kit. They drilled small holes on both sides of the fender and strung yarn, kind of like umbrella spokes, to keep the lady's skirt from getting tangled up in the wheel spokes.
Had the oportunity several years ago to examine and photograph a Waltham Orient that was for sale. Beautiful car! Reminded me of the Jimmy Woods plans at Small Car Plans. Some pictures! Bill.
Interesting arrangement: the engine is over the axle, but it's chain-driven. Strangely I'd had an idea for a SUV type of thing using a similar layout many years ago, with a drop-side pick-up bed across the middle of the vehicle. That thinking was rather towards a scale bigger than this example, which is probably as close to mid-size as the gamut of Edwardian weirdness allows, but I'm sure it can reduce as easily!
Just happened to catch this on the way back from the Hillclimb today....sadly he turned off so i was unable to get any more shots. . .
Ned, Buffalo Bill, - that's the depot truck version of the Orient Cyclecar built by Waltham Manufacturing. The sunshade top and the second seat can be removed for hauling parcels & etc. It has a friction drive transmission very similar to the drawing in the patent application link I posted earlier. I really like the look of it and I want to have a go at building something similar using a Gravely 'L' model tractor engine to provide the power.
Looks like it was cold out I found this build file on Flickr; - it's for a larger than usual cyclekart that's so close to being a cyclecar it doesn't really matter. http://www.flickr.com/photos/26133447@N02/
Well making a start on building a cyclecar has been helped along quite a bit. I needed some leaf springs as well as a pair of spoked wheels that would fit the go-kart axle I already had stashed away in the garage. As is usual for me I'd been praying about what I've been hoping to achieve and when I went to the local rubbish tip yesterday to drop off a pair of dead computer monitors I found exactly what I was needing thrown out in the metal recycling area. Of course things are going to need work and some elbow grease to sort them out, but that's Ok I don't mind that at all Sometime ago I became the proud owner of an old sidecar type rickshaw that'd been in a crash and as a result the bike frame and forks have an interesting twist to them. It had always been my intention to replace the Chinese made frame and forks with an English heavyweight Phillips frame and forks I have in the 'spares' pile and to take off the passenger carrying rickshaw body and replace that with a utility body so I can bring timber, sacks of compost and other bulky things & etc home. Today though I looked at the rickshaw body with new eyes and I can see it would not be hard at all to convert it into a cyclecar body with the addition of a firewall, bonnet (hood) and grille. Here's a picture of the rickshaw taken before purchase I'm sure you'll see what I'm suggesting if you squint up your eyes right when you look at it. Not easy to see is the neat wee boot (trunk) at the back and those convertible roof bows need a lot more work done on them than it first seems in the picture.
A hotrodding Sister that has stashes of parts is an image that runs so counter to the nuns, who in my parochial schooling, exacted penance with a ruller and Saturday mornings washing the convent's `62, black and woodgrain Ford Country Squire. I'm almost ready to return to the fold.
After Vatican II things changed a great deal for many religious congregations so the days of the severe nuns armed with rulers have thankfully slipped away into the past where they belong. Anyway I'm not a member of a teaching order and I'm not a 'nun' because I don't live in a convent away from the world. I am a religious sister and I live and work out and about in a rural parish in the heart of dairy farming country. Possibly it's the fact that I'm a Catholic convert rather than a 'cradle' Catholic that makes a difference to my attitudes. I also was a social worker working in the area of mental health before I was called to religious life. My present vocation is about prayer, charity and mercy, not wacking anybody with rulers, - and I especially pray for those who are alone and despairing and are near the point of death. I grew up in a family where my Dad was a tradesman sheet metal worker and two of my brothers went into the motor trades and eventually passed all their trade exams and became tradesmen as well. I like old motor cars I always have. Dad and my brothers taught me how to use tools and look after my own car and with practice I became reasonably good at it. Simplicity and poverty mean that I make do with what I can find, I wear second hand clothing, I made my own habits from fabric I was either given or found cheap at the local church thrift shops. I ride an adult tricycle too and I'm a big fan of pedal powered vehicles and recycling other people's junk into useful items. Much of what I have in the 'spares' pile has come from the local rubbish tip and I can't believe what some folk will throw away. As an example my last computer upgrade was achieved with RAM modules and other bits I found at the rubbish tip. My tricycle has been running on tyres from the tip ever since I first started riding it. So no great mystery really, I like to post here and read about you're building and such because I happen to like making things and using tools too.
I never realised you are actually a "sister" - I thought that was just a random user name and avatar! Doh! Well, I´ll take a wild guess you´re the only nun on the HAMB.
You betcha life I'm a Sister James Well somebody has to keep an eye on you lot and look out for you prayer-wise I spent part of this morning digging about in the garage and trying to make sense of it all. I have several large boxes of children's toys that I've been collecting to be given away at Christmas and somehow I've let them get into a right mess. I was tempted for a moment to whistle up the kiddies next door and drop the lot over their fence, - only I know very well that isn't the way to create some working space for myself and anyway I'd generally horrify their parents, not to mention giving myself something extra to tell Father about in confession this week. However I was able to find some very useful bits including a tricycle axle and the go kart chassis that matches the front axle I've already found. I know I've said this before, but you'd be amazed at what folk throw away. Such as a large preserving pan full of new nuts and bolts. The preserving pan wasn't with them, but that's what I used to collect them all from where they'd literally been poured out on the ground at the council rubbish tip. And exercise machines! I think way more exercise machines get purchased, used maybe twice and then stuck out in the garage before finally being dumped, than those that actually wear out from use. A fantastic source of nice clean tubular steel are exercise machines and the lovely smooth bends in the framework always seem to be in just the right places for building things. I think it could be the basis of a challenge to build a cyclecar completely from parts and materials that have been dumped. I suppose some things would have to be allowed to be purchased new, such as fasteners, lubricants and glue, but all the rest has to be totally reclaimed from dumpsters, curbside hard rubbish collections and the council rubbish tip. Anybody want to have a go?
Pax I've been a busy Sister so I haven't had much time for cyclecar musings, but this afternoon when I took a break from planting Winter spinach I dragged out all my collected bits and bobs from the garage and set them up in a cyclecar-like shape. The rear wheels are not the ones I'm going to use by the way, - I've got those hanging up on the garage rafters. And yes I do know the Triumph 2 litre steering rack is waaaay too big for the cyclecar's track, it will be modified in due course. The rear axle is intended for a tricycle and will be much modified for its new purpose. The front track being wider than the rear has been done on purpose as I most probably won't be using a differential (or at first anyway). The chassis and front axle was intended for a go-kart that didn't get built and the track is about 32 inches. The chassis is going to need a wee bit of strengthening in case you were wondering. I've been offered the loan of a Mig or Tig welder, - anyway one or the other I can't remember which one it is now which should be interesting as I've never used one before. Ordinary arc welder yes, - magic Miggy or Tiggy thing no. That steering wheel won't be staying as I've got something much better in the shape of a Model 'T' steel 4 spoke centre spider. I'll have to talk to the cabinet maker down the road from me about making me a new wooden rim sometime, but that's Ok. At this stage the engine could be anything single cylindered and round about 200cc.
It's cruel to tease me with pictures of GN cyclecars because they've always been a favourite of mine. Unfortunately thumping big V twins are thin on the ground here in New Zealand and are always shockingly expensive to buy in any condition.
I love the contrasts of this thread - the economy and austerity of Sister’s build, contrasted with the nothing-exceeds-like-excess over-engined race cars that Model A Keith posted. Yes, my world is big enough for both. -Dave
Sister, I'm really enjoying this build. You should have your own blog too. You are very resourceful in the true spirit of hot rodding.
Thanks Frank, - I love your avatar by the way I'm not sure about setting up a blog, even though I do realise that it could be a help to anyone who is interested in low cost minimal transport. Perhaps I'm just being shy and not wanting to make too much of a fuss about my little project. Anyway what I will do is keep a photographic record of progress and if it does prove to be a useful guide to retro cyclecar building I'll do something more formal in the way of webpages. Oh yes Dave, the cyclecar world is one of extreme contrasts At the heart of it though is the notion of having a vehicle that is simple and easy to maintain that doesn't suffer from having all the more complicated and largely unnecessary trappings found on a full fleged motorcar. When I was much younger I owned and rode sidecar outfits that had the same minimalist qualities as a classic 1920s cyclecar and I still remain keen on sidecar outfits even though I no longer have the strength and fitness to safely pilot a sidecar outfit anymore. Cyclecars are close cousins to sidecar outfits so it's not surprising that I'm wanting to build one. This is a 'proper' sidecar outfit. Notice the family resemblance to cyclecars from the classic 'heroic' period. This isn't. Notice how awful it looks. There's a nuisance large sheet of half inch plywood in the garage that I've been having to shift about the place for ages and it would best really if it was sawn into smaller pieces of a 'certain shape' and fitted with wheels The 'certain shape' should be something like this......... The general size and proportions of a Carden cyclecar suit the bits and pieces I have quite well; - and anyway I'm very fond of the look of a Carden and most of a Carden bodyshell is made of plywood which means that I think I've found my prototype. Just in case anybody thinks a Carden is nothing much here's a picture of the same one as above cornering at speed; - note the air underneath the right front tyre ...... Cool or what!
Sister, you'd enjoy talking to one of my friends from the Vintage Car Club who's got a great collection of three-wheel Morgans (as well as vintage Harley sidecar combos). He's restoring a Militaire engine at the moment, and when I see him this afternoon, I will suggest he builds a cyclecar for it to go into. Will let you know what he says.
SanctaRosa, what is the little fremus sticking out from the bottom of the radiator shell on the Carden? Looks to be attached to a brass rod? Quite good looking little fella.
Oh that's a thingummy that's used for electronic timing for hill climbs, sprints and the like. It's intended to cut a light beam to start or stop the clock during a timed run. Definitely not a standard fitment
The Jalopy Journal
