Let's Talk Cyclecars

I did buy a Moto Morini 3 1/2 Sport in 1976. One of the best balanced and handling bikes I have ever owned.

 

For awhile now we have been seeing construction pictures of this bike by Pavel Malanik. Pavel measured the engine in a museum so that he could go home and build one from scratch for this project.There were only three of these engines built. We know of the one from Rick Scadwell's J.A.P. V-8 GN. . Did I mention that the rest of the bike was also built from scratch.

https://www.pavelmalanik.cz/jap-v8/...P35A_suc-rw-MxZ3yQMLRebCOyHnE7PXVstfurey1NSxs

 

Beautiful!!

 

Too pretty to crank!!

 

Are you sure it's a motorcycle engine and not a 850cc from a later Panhard ? Unless they did a BMW swap, but I believe they are bigger than 850cc.

 

It is the car engine. I'll stand by my statement that this is what Dave had in mind. He groused the direction the thread took toward "cyclecars" rather than cars powered by cycle engines. at 850CC it's more like a cycle engine than a car...even though it was.

 

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Hello, ​

For sure that mentioned Panhard engine is an AUTOMOBILE engine, from the start of the after-war series of autos! In that period, in Europe, a capacity of 850cc was not considered an extremely small engine. There were a lot of autos with engines of 500-850cc, used successfully in light but real autos, not micro-cars of modern cyclecars.
Panhard engines were extremely unusual for that period, the same as models...

BMW motorcycle boxer engine (opposed-twin) in the same period had 500cc and was used as automobile engines only in their own products: BMW 600 developed from Isetta and a "real" auto - BMW 700!
--- ---
Anyway, the term "cyclecar" wasn't popularised because of motorcycle engines used, but because of simplicity, lightness, and low prices - in a range of motorcycles. Some had motorcycles' engines but the majority had original engines made by the same company as cyclecar or bought on the market of small engines...
--- ---
As the often repeated old story - I almost bought a wonderful light-blue Panhard coupé from a friend in Nis, central Serbia. He had two of them, one in his backyard, with a few other oldtimers, including a motorcycle Ferrari... His Panhard had installed a Citroen Dyane engine of a similar layout. But, that "should-be-mine" was in a nearby village on a farm of his relatives. We went there, to see it and make a deal... When he was talking with his aunt, I saw that all of the "houses" for chickens and sheep - were covered by light blue metal plates, strange shapes - but of the light-blue color! Therefore, I said to him: we could go now - your/mine Panhard coupè is gone forever...

Ciao, Zoran​

 

P.S.: For me - shown Panhard special (quite ugly, but cute) - is in the spirit and style of a possibly constructed "modern cyclecar"...
Not all of them must have a Hayabusa engine, and an Akrapovic exhaust system... Cl***ic cyclecars didn't have the best and the most powerful, the most expensive engines, and for sure not necessarily taken from motorcycles... But, who likes that - could buy a big and expensive, but nice looking and powerful: Harley-Davidson V-Twin, or Moto-Guzzi V-Twin, or BMW boxer-twin, or some Asain (cheaper) big V-Twin. For me - an engine from Citroen Dyane two-cylinder boxer, 600cc, 33 hp - would be enough...
Z.

 

Like the engine drawing.

 

Model Y, Australian built

 

'Probably Arch Tuckett's Midget speedcar with Henderson motorcycle engine, having engine work, in lane behind William Street, East Sydney/Woolloomooloo next to C.A. Martin, decorator, late 1934' Sam Hood photos; State Library of New South Wales

 

Too cool!!

 

ACP Magazines Ltd photographic archive including Pix magazine negatives 1930s- 1980s

 

Mike

 

That is beautiful with or without the body.

 

This is a beautiful bike, plus your feet would stay warm while riding.

 

'Mrs MacKinnon midget car October 1938' - ACP Magazines Ltd photographic archive including Pix magazine negatives 1930s - 1980s; State Library of New South Wales [note the Willys poster on the wall, and the poster next to it could be another Willys poster]

 

Written below photograph: Alex Collingridge - Canberra. State Library of Victoria

 

Would that be an "M" type?

 

https://www.mgownersclub.co.uk/mg-guides/pre-war/mg-mtype-midget

Looks like it might be an M-type. It appears to have a boat-tail rear end.

 

1934 Morgan Family for sale £15,000. Part restored several years ago, SV air cooled Matchless MX 998cc, 3 speed and reverse. Needs finishing and recomissioning a fantastic entry into MTWC and VSCC motoring. Contact me ewan@cameronracingengines.com 07815 119447, 01684 899084. Please copy and share.

 

Nice. He is the guy in the UK that reproduces JAP engines. All the race guys use his engines and parts. Amazing company.

 

'C. Head driving Tempest midget, AMSC Standing 1/4 mile' - 1946 Doug Head driving Tempest midget, 11th Rob Roy Hill Climb 1946 (hill climbs are still held there, just outside Melbourne, Victoria) Doug Head driving Maribyrnong speedway, Melbourne All photos by George Thomas; State Library of Victoria

 

Too bad Midget racing has declined as it has. Look at this article on the new? Offy engine:
https://imola.motorsportreg.com/racer-aims-to-shake-the-rafters-with-this-miller-look-alike/

 

It's that time of year, so a few more of these photos ... RPA Hospital Christmas, December 1944; Sam Hood photos; State Library of New South Wales

https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/di...e&search=rpa hospital christmas december 1944

 

Not quite a cyclecar but seemed to fit the vibe of the thread. Not sure if it's been posted before, popped up in a FB thread.

 

fred ,here's another one of those OFFY type engines that never took off....https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/rare-midget-engine-info-needed.319043/#post-3413780

 

Hinstin is a new one on me. Ran a few different engines including the ubiquitous Ruby according to the Bolster's bible on French cars. I have always liked this faux paint effect. wish I could replicate it - reminds me of that Hispano Suiza Alfonso in the Mullin collection.

 

Wow, I never heard of those engines. I bet the 6 is a smoothe runner.