Awsome eye for a pretty line! I'm guessing you've seen Richard Scaldwell's car: Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/salsaboy/2865480134/sizes/l/in/photostream/ Edited because I only just saw the above post, fool that I am.
Just found this in a cleanout of the office. From the Summer 1913 issue of La Revue De L' Automobile.
Doug,this was the info I was given and I wouldn't know the difference to make a proper correction if needed. Bob
A fantastic little book, sadly they can not ship directly to the US so we americans do need friends to get us our copies. I just wish those shops mentioned in the text and in adverts were still around to sell those parts.
. I found the photo of the "JB-Rocket Cyclecars-Detroit" photo very interesting on several levels. Was it, or could it have somehow been one of the tandem-style Cyclecars produced by the Scripps Booth Co. and sold under the name "Rocket?" Were the initials "JB" indicative somehow of involvement by the same James Scripps Booth of the Scripps Booth Co that also produced a Cycle car called the "Rocket?" My interest in these cars dates all the way back to the early 1960's when I owned a "Rocket" for a very brief time. It was that encounter that spawned my longtime interest in Cycle cars and their various and wonderful configurations and permutations. The similar names and designs of the two marques seemed more than coincidental (to me), but there were a few problems with making the link. The "JB-Rocket" is indeed similar in configuration to be sure, but the drive belts exit the chassis quite a bit further forward on the frame of the car in the new photo, and it also featured a rear-seat control position similar to the French Bedelia cars of about the same time period. Too, there are some differences in the general configurations of the bodies of the two cars. For comparison - - a Bedelia: The most usual configuration for the Scripps Booth cars is probably seen in this shot found on the Internet: Looking through my files I came on this 1914 advertising drawing which is closer to the photo posted by banjeaux bob, but it still doesn't quite match up: More searching on-line finally turned up this 'flicker' picture, said to be the Scripps Booth "Rocket" prototype - - - Bingo - - we have a winner: Here is a link to the "flickr' photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehenryford/6767115687/ Following the above link will take you to this series of photos with some details of the car in question: http://collections.thehenryford.org/Collection.aspx?objectKey=40233 The picture stored on 'flicker' and those provided by following the links to the Ford Museum pretty well match the photo posted by banjeaux bob. One can't help but speculate if James Scripps Booth did a bit of cribbing of the Bedelia Cycle cars when he designed the "Rocket." The Bedelia firm started production in 1910 apparently and the Rocket was marketed in 1914 - - plenty of time for the design and its odd rear-seat driver's position to have had some influence on both James Scripps Booth and his Rocket. .
How about a "Bedeliabus", with , lets say 10 seats for passengers in single file? Minor potential problems- Only good for turnpike travel, or similar LARGE curves. V belts might drag on the ground around passenger five. Driver has to look around all those heads. Herb
The way the hood top intersects the fuel tank does suggest a continuity of design. Scripps Booth is another cyclecar company that "grew up" in subsequent years, as this rather Teutonic formal saloon evinces: So well established was the marque that it was eventually bought by General Motors. Of personal interest to me is that James Scripps Booth had the same birthday as my wife: 31 May. He does seem to have had the same irrepressible intellectual bounciness ...
. I gotta love J.S.B. - - - if for no other reason than he had the brilliance, temerity, and audacity to design and produce the "Bi-Autogo":
. Herb: Maybe your "Bedeliabus" could be steered from the rear from a elevated position - - - kinda like some fire trucks" .
. My interest was piqued too by the photo from 1913 posted by The37Kid. The lower-left photo is a Bedelia (I assume - - I do not read French) I'd not previously seen and looks to be of a very different 'racing' version By covering the front passenger seat in this manner, you could have smuggled moonshine in the extra space provided. .
Likewise. I bought mine about ten years ago because it was too handsome to pass by; the Italians are incapable of building dull-looking or ugly engines. My bevel-drive cammer single was looking to become living room sculpture until I scored a mid-size Rickman motorcycle chassis that accommodates the little Duc as neatly as if it had been designed for it. I might just have to find some other energy for the Rickman chassis now, however . . . I'm hearing the sweet sounds of Formula 3 racing from my youngish years. Mike
Hi everybody, Some pictures of the 2012 BNC club's rally on this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/58413440@N05/sets/72157629803793824/
. Thanks for posting the wonderful photos a-c-h-i-l-l-e. That green glow you see to the west is me - - - green with envy. I'm not so much envious of ownership, but envious of the priviledge to attend the event and view the cars shown. Everyone will have a favorite or favorites from your great photographs I'm sure - - but for me; the best of the lot has to be the pictures of the un-restored BNC "DZ." What a cutie. Cars like the "DZ" give us all hope of that still-to-be-found treasure, lurking quietly in someone's barn or outbuilding. .
Martin Squires image from the Festival of Slowth.The rh image is from Tim Gunn and The Old Bicycle Showroom(the folks that brough us the "How to Build a Cyclecar" Book).
. Some interesting information on the Bentley Electric Racing Car can be found here: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2008/05/british-racing/ And some more information on the wee speedster(?) - - - http://www.bentleygreenpower.com/car/ .
The Jalopy Journal
