Thanks for the reminder Keith If you do have some more Carden photos I would really like to see them. Being the longtime Carden fan that I am those photos had already been much examined and looked over. Lots of nice detail there too which is exactly what is needed to help me on my way. The bodyshell sides will cut nicely from an 8ft sheet of plywood without any scaling down or alteration of the full sized measurements. So this is a pretty small car by anybody's measure.
Oh Keith you've done me such a good turn Thankyou so very much for posting all these wonderful photographs of that delightful little Carden.
I did some more digging about this morning after prayers and I found a CD I'd put away with a lot of microcar and cyclecar pictures on it. One of the pictures is really interesting because it's a photo of a Carden undergoing restoration. This is a slightly later model Carden than the one in Keith's pictures.
The question I'm now asking myself is whether or not that curved metal bonnet top is removeable or hinged or whatever to allow for access to a luggage/parcels compartment underneath? I have heard it said that a Carden keeps its petrol tank under the bonnet (hood) and the brass 'radiator cap' is in actual fact where the petrol goes in. However this is an unconfirmed rumor and may be no more than an old husband's tale Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a restoration-in-progress picture that shows what exactly is under that bonnet (hood), but I did find this picture of a derelict wooden bodied and chassised 'Graeme-White' cyclecar being liberated from under a hedge. The picture doesn't help me that much, but it does show quite a bit about wooden cyclecar construction.
Well I've got the magic Mig welder thingy and it's one that uses a fluxed wire instead of an inert gas to shield the weld from oxidisation. Before I do too much 'serious' work with it I should have a play..... oops I mean practice with it to make sure that I haven't forgotten how to weld. Someone once told me that St. Dunstan was the patron saint of welders so perhaps I'll light a candle and ask him to guide my first attempts.
It's kinda cool, and one thing that I always vaguely envied of my Roman Catholic friends. I wonder if St. Dunstan was a blacksmith. -Dave
Folk would say, 'That cyclecar is da Bomb!' Yes Dave, St. Dunstan was an artisan and a blacksmith along with eventually becoming Archbishop of Canterbury during the course of his eventful life. There's a famous story that tells how St. Dunstan once caught the Devil by his nose with his blacksmith's tongs when he was giving him cheek. In another tale St. Dunstan nails iron horse shoes onto the Devil's hooves causing him great pain and anguish.
I still have the molds for Chuck Tatum's Crusader street car. Should not be too hard to make a bike powered version. Originally made for VW power. I've seen a VW trans with the crown wheel replaced by a sprocket, making a poor mans Hewland in a DSR. VW based suspension should be easy to work with. Frame is simple rails with a rear kick for the trans, similar to a "T" bucket. Fenders could be cut away to create a more "Roadster" look. A few years ago a guy at Lake Tahoe was make the bike powered "Tahoe T" kit. Not sure how many were sold.
If I remember correctly the early Carden design had the bonnet-top petrol tank arrangement, with a torpedo-shaped tank forming the upper front of the body. Bedelia and many others followed the same pattern. The later Carden, like the one in the above photos, had the wooden "grille" and a hidden tank: so I suppose one could put the tank wherever is convenient and still remain true to the concept. I love those Victorian-drawing-room light switches on the dash! I'm collecting all kinds of weird switchgear for my '31 project.
The Jalopy Journal
