Let's Talk Cyclecars

Went to a Classic car show there 3 or 4 years ago. Fantastic venue.

 

The building inspires awe in us today just in old pictures.Just imagine what people thought when it was new and saw it in person?

 

Have we discussed this 1924 Farham on this thread before?Admittedly,a little large for a cyclecar.Interesting none the less. Plank fenders and rear entry.

 

From the days gone by picture thread.

 

check out "the enthusiast's guide to VINTAGE SPECIALS' by John Bateman Haynes Pub.
It has 200 pages detailing many of these specials

 

A legends shop in Phoenix AZ. was developing them a few years ago.

 

A7, not technically a cyclecar, but wow!

 

A car named "SALAMANDA",built by a young man in England named Hay.

 

Thanks, Bob.

 

I dig the aero treatment.

 

Amilcar CGS cabriolet ,Amilcar CGS,and Bugatti Type 13 Brescia. Gerard pic...

 

SR100,I remember when the car was first built,I was taken by it as well.It's been a while,I forgot his name.Oliver Way....

He has done other great work,and not just on cars. Take a peak....

www.oliverway.co.uk

 

Stuard Sandford in the Morgan...

 

Morgan...

 

isabelle pic...

 

1913 Lemans,driver... Heck

 

Senechal

 

The Jarvis special, based on an Austin 7. There is a higher res version of this pic @ http://www.austinharris.co.uk/photo/1946-brighton-speed-trials/225. It is cropped down from a larger shot of the starting line of the 1946 Brighton Speed Trials (also on that page). Jarvis is watching Alec Issigonis, who has just launched the Lightweight Special (another great car) in the other lane. From the position of the SU on the Jarvis Special, I assume it was supercharged.

 

I'm starting to figure out the difference between a cyclecar and a special. Is a cyclecar a vehicle with more than 2 wheels that is primarily made with motorcycle parts? And a special is a lightweight car made with an automotive drive train? Sort of a very early version of the American hot rod?

 

This thread uses a looser definition of cyclecar: motorcycle-powered light car. In the heyday of the cyclecar it was generally defined as: two seats, a maximum weight of 772lb and a maximum swept volume of 1100cc (although different countries defined them slightly differently). A special was basically a home-built car. Typically based on an Austin 7 or a Ford 8/10, but particularly during the austerity years, they used whatever was at hand. Some had hand-made bodies, but there was a cottage industry providing bodies. Specials are somewhere between rodding, sports cars and kit cars (but with a completely different culture than U.S. kit cars). Specials culture, British-style, never really took off here in the U.S. There was a racing specials culture, of which the Ol' Yeller series is the most famous example, but British specials encompassed everyday transportation as well as motorsports.

 

More Stuard Sandford and Morgans.

 

SR100, Welcome to the HAMB and thank you for the above definition, as well as the link to this photo. We would call this a Bobtail back in the 1920's when the style was popular on MidWest dirt cars. I do hope this car has survived and is Vintage Racing today. Bob

 

I'm new to this thread, but WOW! Would anyone know or care to guess what the wheel base is on this car from Smith & Enander's shop in Rockford?
Thanks for all of the great ideas and pictures. Jay

 

Thank you SR100 for the above information. Still trying to figure out what I'm building. It is somewhere between a cyclecar and a special. Too heavy to be a cyclecar, more like a special with a motorcycle engine. And too new to be either.

The link for the #45 bobtail includes some information indicating that the driver was killed in that car and that the engine is now in another car.

 

I'll guess 6 to 6-1/2 feet tops.

 

Don't know if this has been posted before, but a interesting use of a Trumpet twin.

 

Hello all,
Been reading this thread for over a year now and decided to join. I have always
loved tiny cars ever since childhood. I sold my Moggie last year(1935 F4) and
am miserable without something to fiddle with. I have been thinking of a
cyclecar in the style of the Bedelia, only with more modern mechanicals. A
Briggs&Stratton vee twin of about 20-25 horses, coupled through a torque
converter , to a lawn tractor transaxle, with final drive by v belts. Chassis
and bodywork would be of wooden construction.

Only problem I have is a source for wheels, 28x2.75 wires which could be adapted to four wheel use safely. Anyone have any ideas?

 

Salmson...

 

Welcome aboard.

http://www.clubchopper.com/forums/shop-talk/92210-26-28-wire-wheels-3-4-wide.html

 

I suspect that much of what we see here is temporary construction specifically for the exhibition. It was not an uncommon practice.

Compare this scene, a few years earlier:

Some structural elements are visible in both photos. Both scenes are much more imaginative than the Beaux-Arts exterior; not my cup of tea at all!:


Here is the hall almost empty, during WWI:


All from the Wikipedia page that Stretchmobile linked to.