My dad had a 600 with smattering of Abarth bits in the years just before I was born, so I've always had a liking for them, even if they aren't quite cyclecars no matter how they are powered ... (I know, Bob, Austin Sevens aren't either )
Dawie,this little Almost Abarth is what the start of this thread was about.... I'm giving you a little poke about the Austins. I know where a late '50s DKW wagon is and I've thinking of putting a BMW /6 900cc engine in it.Iknow it wouldn't be as fast as a Hyabusa or this Honda.
This is a bit naughty, but placing this wanted ad here means it gets to the right guys , Wanted for my jappic recreation 350 ohv twin port late 20,s jap engine Sturmey archer CS 3 speed gearbox Pair of heavy weight unbraked side car hubs Get in touch with even the smallest lead Cheers Adrian Ade1963@aol.com
Neat 600... There used to be a guy who'd bring his Abarth 1000 Berline up to Mulholland Drive in L.A. to hassle the Minis about 41-42 years ago. Back in the mid-70s, I built up a '59 Bianchina (which is based on the Fiat Nuovo 500) with an Abarth 695SS and tricked suspension that was amazingly quick. However, it wouldn't have had the performance that putting a modern Japanese motorcycle engine in it would have had. Sadly, I sold it when I moved to NZ...
'50s Deeks aren't that small; they're about VW-sized. The engine capacity of around 1000cc is misleading. The publicity at the time made much of the two-stroke triple being equivalent to a four-stroke six of about two litres, albeit a rather volumetrically-inefficient one. Hence the model name, 3=6. Those triples were quite tunable, and the cars had a fair reputation for performance. They were popular here in South Africa. There remains a substantial classic following here. One sees them in use from time to time, sometimes on "hot hatch" modern alloys and 50-series tyres. There's a very tidy silver one that's often parked near my mother-in-law's. You will be told that the engine's tone at idle sounds like an Afrikaans word that is not used in polite conversation, repeated over and over One of the oddest engine swaps I've ever seen was a DKW triple in a Morris Minor, driving the rear wheels. It even had the firewall-mounted DKW radiator, sitting where the Minor's battery usually does. Someone thought enough of the engine to go to the trouble. I've often thought the right engine for the car's character would be a Mazda rotary, on an Audi 5-speed transaxle. A step up would be a triple-rotor and Quattro AWD.
Banjeaux, Ned's comments regarding Deeks reminded me that there were a lot of sports car specials built back in the 1950s, stateside, using those engines/drivelines. You may want to google to find out more.
When I was in high school I had a chance to buy the coupé version of that, which had an air-cooled twin in the back, not the rotary, in restorable condition. I could never afford it, though.
I may also see what I might have in my library, too, Banjeaux... Here's a DKW from Ned's part of the world:
From a South African website, perhaps, but those aren't any kind of Southern African registration plates. Local plates at the time would have started with C, N, O, or T. And all the cars in the photo are LHD. No, we were never so lucky ...
. One of my all time favorite cars - - - the DKW Monza was the apple of my eye in my teen years - - - ( and still is). With less than a half hundred of em still existing, the chances of ever owning one are as slim today as when I was fifteen - - but I can still drool - - - Check this link for some neet Monza photos, including this Monza with a boost: http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=53814&page=1#751297 .
Maybe I should have bought the Panhard Eddie Iskenderian kept trying to sell me back in the 1970s - I could have built one of these with it..!
. Gotta love the lil Panhard boxer twin - - - heck, you just gotta love any engine whose designers had the inspiration (and temerity) to include torsion-bar valve springs in the design. Mentions of two stroke cars brings memories of the Melkus RS 1000 Thoughts in these ancient directions have to include one of my all time favorite designs, the Panhard powered Deutsch-Bonnet cars - - - absolutely beautiful (to me anyhow): While this stuff doesn't directly relate to cyclecars, the Panhard engine makes for interesting speculation as a potential cyclecar power source - - so too does the DKW two stroke triple. In fact, the DKW power train and frame are part of my own cyclecar design - - but more about that in a little while (as I finish my scribbles and drawings). .
. banjeaux bob wrote: Thanks for the tip Bob - - - I will do this. (And I kinda like the guy's sweater). .
Thanks for the tip Bob - - - I will do this. (And I kinda like the guy's sweater). Dale,Dougal is to sweaters what Imelda Marcos is to shoes! BanjeauX Bob
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