Let's Talk Cyclecars

This from the research - done for the History of Peugeot in Australia thread on Aussiefrogs and/or the Peugeot Car Club of Victoria's magazine Torque - by Russell Hall who notes;
"This is a picture of Norman Mather and C.H. Harris arriving in Sydney in 1924 after driving from Melbourne at an average of 20 mph to return 73 mpg. It's actually faster than it sounds because the road was only a dirt track going through farmers paddocks and you had to open and close gates. They look rather windburned. Note the crowd - men only and all well dressed."

 

Becca Parker pics

 

have a look at what this;
velorexadventure.com
- has done ... bloody marvelous!

 

Audi ? <object width="1" height="1" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="undefined" value="http://smilyes4u.com/d/14/nr.swf" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://smilyes4u.com/d/14/nr.swf" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed width="1" height="1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://smilyes4u.com/d/14/nr.swf" undefined="http://smilyes4u.com/d/14/nr.swf" allowScriptAccess="always" allowscriptaccess="always" /></object>

 

Pre-Audi.

 

Not Audi, Dampf-Kraft-Wagen. Although some confusion on the point is understandable.
In 1932, Audi merged with Horch, DKW, and Wanderer to form Auto Union. Four companies means four rings for a logo.

 

Feels like the old days when the Tri Five Chevies and Mustangs made us Model T Ford guys feel unwelcome in the hobby we started.

 

Bob, as much as you don't like it they did build cars after 1942.

 

If so why don't they start their own "Cars built after 1942 thread" if they build a field maybe some of their friends well show up.

 

It's that way in any human endeavor.The new guys are only a continuation of the process.Not wrong,just different.

 

Some images from LeCyclecariste Belge

 

Bolster with Bloody Mary at Brighton.Bloody Mary is the name of the car,not the woman.

 

Sounds like a plot from a movie. "If you build it they will come," in a deeep voice.

 

What's with the thread drift?

 

Just not good cars is all. And then they all got REALLY bad right around 1993.

 

BNC Type 53 . Achille pic

 

In some senses it's been downhill since 1930.

1930, 1939, 1964, 1975, 1993: all ends of eras, and it's all been adding up.

The '50s gave us brakes and suspension theory; the '80s gave us AWD and tyres. Far be it from me to deny that. But pretty much everything else that goes into a good car comes out of the Vintage era, 1919-1930.

 

"Change is bad. We fear change."

Garth Algar...

 

There is some change I crave. I think the change people crave is generally by way of correction, going back to where we went wrong and trying to find a path to where we ought to have been. Anything else is just pose and manipulation; bullies shooting at people's feet.

GK Chesterton says somewhere something to the effect that all revolutions are restorations.

 

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It's not so much change being good or bad, but rather when all else is equal you will find that older is better.

I personally believe that no passenger car should be over 1 tonne and no single or twin seat commuter needs to be over half that. Any more and it is by nature inefficient.
Also, trucks under 2 tonnes. I don't get why someone would want one of those either.

So yeah, back to the cyclecars. Those brilliant bits of half-tonne engineering which if properly updated could solve much of the energy crisis.

 

Maybe it is time to reread the topic "Let's Talk Cyclecars", and define what they are? I enjoy seeing what may in truth be a "vioturet", but the latemodel stuff just isn't stuff I care to see. Old fart view of things, maybe, but I like to see things stay they way they were. Bob

 

1919 Mills Busy Bee Three Wheeler on offer through www.PreWarCar.com . With AJS 800cc engine asnd three speed tranmission,sans reverse.

 

That's a neat little trike.

 

Now - you should be able to buy an updated one of those with roof to get to work in everyday.

 

Seen at Locomotion en Fete (in Evry about 30 km outside Paris);







That last one is really just a farm implement but you still see them hooked up to a buckboard and used as transport on the smaller Greek islands. Beats walking when you've got a lot of produce to take to market. Looks to have at least 6 cup holders though....

 

The first one has the feel of a miniature Scammell Scarab:

 

Sanford ad

 

When someone starts putting up photos of VWs (and it will happen, given what some people keep insisting on posting pics of lately) then maybe the thread will either get locked or cleaned up. Too bad...this was a nice, clean, tidy, topic.

BTW, Banjeaux Bob, thanks for trying to keep it on track.

Cris

 

Here's the little 6 cylinder Derby car again.It was out for a run with the boys this spring.