Projects miniature anglia / willys ? rider gas powered cars ??

a few yrs ago these was the fad /but i think the bigger car shows -outlawed them ? they used lots of differant style bodies but all had differant style frames and engines ? anybody got any pics some of them ? i got a couple of bodies ,thought i might build them& use around my place ? any to dos or not to dos ? ive got some go cart wheels & tires, spindles axles -just need some ideas ? thanks{ hope this is not too far out or guidelines on the hamb !!!}

 

bttt

 

Please post pix of the bodies, including measurements or something in the pic to show scale.

 

Yeah, no clue what youre referring to, but I want to see the bodies you have.

 

The one I built for my son.

 

I used to see a custom Stude and a 48 Ford custom in miniature back in the '80's at some of the shows

 

I too love the little cars. Here are some photos I've collected. I have no additional information on these.

 

MAN! one of those bodies and a crotch rocket motor. Talk about a great time and a bad idea all rolled into one!

 

Most of my best memories started that way...

 

So bitchen!

 

Just type in "Willys go cart" on the internet. Then check the images. I want one also. Gary

 

Now those look like a lot of fun.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

This very interest is what begat the Midget race cars in the 1930s...

 

Type in nsra uk totrod pics and you should be able to see a few

 

Man! I'm having flashbacks to some of the sidewalk cars my brother and I used to build. It was all kids and no adults were harmed during the production of these abortions. The mere sight of a set of 4 Radio Flyer wheels was enough to start us on a building frenzy. Our dad never threw away scrap materials and always had plenty of hand tool laying around where we could get at 'em. Neighbors with stashes were fair game, also. An axle might be a simple 2 x 4 with a couple of bolts stuck in each end or, if we were lucky, a hunk of pipe. We learned about measurements, the tensile strength of bent nails, split wood and various other materials. We learned about geometry, turn radius, center of gravity, action vs reaction before we knew the words and phrases. We also learned that tools would rust if left in the grass for a year.

The fruit of our efforts was never pretty and couldn't preform to any degree worth mentioning. They ran on kid/push power, not internal combustion, and never saw paint because we were too much of a hurry to hit the road. My memories are of the builds. The rides were anticlimactic and inconsequential after effects and the "cars" didn't last long, doomed to be cannibalized for other yet to be thought of projects.

I would write more details but Mom is calling out the back door and I have to go wash up for dinner.

 

MAN! one of those bodies and a crotch rocket motor. Talk about a great time and a bad idea all rolled into one![/QUOTE]<br />Most of my best memories started that way...

Amen brother...!!! X2

 

Mike, These cars were built in the late 30's in LA, around 25 were produced, they were the forerunner to 1/4 Midgets, I think one reason it failed was WW2. I know a guy that has 4 or 5 of them, a couple are restored to perfection. They were so well built, they had to be expensive, one was sold to Earl Warren !

 

<br />Most of my best memories started that way...

Amen brother...!!! X2[/QUOTE]

The only thing you didn't say was "here, hold my beer and watch this." (someone had to say it...)

 

my mini altered made out of a wheelbarrow

 

Yes, @marty! (I didn't have any pics, but those were them!)

@ The Shift Wizard:
Oh yeah, the wheels! Many sizes were available, but $$. A kid we knew had some big red ones, (12" diameter, looked like real Soapbox derby wheels...solid tires, traded him my brother's old bike for 'em. Front wheels came off little bro's wagon...matched the rear, only way smaller...8" diameter.
My brother and I did the sidewalk cars too, obviously. 2 X 4 single spine chassis...2 X 4 rear axle 'housing'...piece of rod for rear axle, could actually be sawn! Metal could be sawn! (would take a hacksaw, but Mr. LaRauge had one, lent it to us! He had a drill, too. Slid us into a pair of cotter keys for the wheels, so we ditched the nails...)
Steering was clothesline cable, my Dad installed pulleys on the frame to guide the cable up to the steering shaft. (1.25" diameter wood dowel, from a closet) Steering wheel was from a clothesline, lots of carving to make it fit that closet dowel! The front upright (where the radiator would be) got a 'D' shaped shortened shelf, for a 'nose former', then we ran some stringers front to firewall former in the 'hood' area, covered with cardboard, then painted black. Red flames were painted on after the black soaked in and got the coat that was shiny. Probably 4 coats!
People would drive by in their cars and take a look, slowing down...some came back with cameras!
Lotsa fun, not a piece of scrap anything was safe around the 'hot rod brothers'...LOL

 

Built a push car from scrap with the neighborhood boys. Big heavy fiberglass over wood back end shaped like a scoop bucket. Still can't figure out what that used to be...
Then a 2X4 out to another with the wheels attached at each end (clothesline steering).
The boys pushed and it did a wheelie downhill (no steering or brakes) into a Silver Cadillac.

My dad was NOT impressed with my building or driving skills that evening!

The Willys/hot rod kart thing was about the same time as the bar stool racers. Just did a quick check and they seem to have died out - like the time-out dolls.

 

My weekend soapbox project. OT as disc brake rear end. Drill the wheel bolt pattern in a 1-1/2" washer. Replace the Harbor Freight wheelbarrow tire 4 bolts on ~2-3/4" BC with 8mmx70mm add some 5/16"x2" Ebay spacers and the bolts fit into the spoke corners with no slop (original mounting bolts fall half off washer). $20 for discs and calipers and $22 for spacer. I also put a ~1/2" spacer on the axle as it is welded to the underside of a 1" square stock so the bolts would not hit the bar. A 16 ga plate at the end of the bar with two holes will hold the caliper. Calipers are same so mount on sides with cables pointing up. At the other end drilled two small holes in a 1/2" conduit clamp attached to brake pedal and threaded the cables through short springs and then the clamp. This acts as an equalizer.

 

Back in the mid 80's the owner of the construction company I worked for was heavy into truck pulling. All of his trucks were bodied with 36 Chevy PU bodies. His son in law was the driver. They got the idea to build one of these little versions of the trucks to pull the full sized trucks onto the line.

The son in law spent weeks fabricating a body out of styrofoam as a form then made a glass body. They built a tube frame and installed a snow mobile motor. It was gorgeous when it was done.

Unfortunately I wasn't there when they fired it up the first time but they took it out in the front parking lot for its first test run. The lot was sloped from each side towards the center and had a concrete culvert (for lack of a better term) down the center. He climbed in and in typical Ron fashion, romped on it. It had a fairly long frame as it mimicked the full sized trucks. He drifted across that culvert at speed and, because it was rigid with no suspension it did a mid-air corkscrew and came down upside down. It destroyed the truck and did about the same for the driver. He was busted up pretty bad. I came in the next morning and the truck was in the shop, totally mangled. What a shame.


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Here is ours, somewhat like what you are talking about.

 

yes guy thats them ! got any chassis pics ?

 

bttt

 

Acauto fiberglass in buffalo ny makes a small body for $225

 

i starting on the frame -cant seem to buy one ?? any ideas on what to do or not to do ? which honda motor should i buy ? northern seems to have all models in stock !

 

Some of these cars remind me of a small car my grandfather built in the late 1930s. I never thought to ask him about it when he was around and it has puzzled me ever since. I don't think it fit into any racing class, my best guess was that it was a parade car. It appears to have an upright agricultural motor, which would have been what he loved to build things out of. He designed a 3 wheeled go cart for us in the 1950s that used a car flywheel on a Briggs and Stratton and a rubber friction wheel slid across the flywheel at right angles. The farther out you slid the wheel, the faster it went. you could slide it past center for reverse. A hand lever with a hand grip from some old farm equipment did the shifting. You squeezed the hand grip to release the friction wheel from contact, then shoved the lever to the speed you wanted and released the grip. Off we went!