Let's Talk Cyclecars

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... must correct my statement:
"proejct looks to me unreal, but obviously it is real!"
Great adventure and great exit from it!
Zoran

 

It did happen , a french magazine did a weekly article about his adventures,
Might be "moto journal" ,ive read some of it, no welder needed, just bolts and determination.
In truth i dont think"it got far, but far enough to get him back to civilisation,
You would do the same, i would, and ive been in the dessert, you use what you can,
My claim was bashing the moter off its mounts and breaking them, it popped a driveshaft out of the transaxle too, bit of branch to lever lift moter and put shaft back in, i tied the thing together with wire and a bit of wood to twist the wire tight, me and my late wife crossed the tunisian dessert in a renault clio mk1 of all things, it didnt make it back to france...lol.

 

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... looking again at photos inspired with comments above - I am in dilemma again: was that real?
It seems that body wasn't damaged at all, and chassis with mechanics and engine/transmission were re-used?
What was broken, then?

Maybe he had the following/supporting team as is often a case with such adventures, but not visible on films and photos?

As there is not any chain to rear wheel - power was transferred by friction between one brake-drum and tyre, with the blocked differential?
Z.

 

Zoran, i think that he broke the suspension on one side of the 2cv, all you need is food,water,a hacksaw and perhaps a hand drill and you can do great things in the dessert, for example i have watched someone take a peice and push it in the sand ,pulling it out and pouring molten alloy inside to make a copy, small furnace heated by date tree charcoal. I saw some mad engineering in dessert villages..that made you think "why didnt i think of that".... Much like the start of backyard motering,
The 2cv chassis was narrowed, and perhaps he did have secret support team, these magazine articles often do,...... but then again the french are crazy...lol

 

Tankette:

It looks terribly top-heavy, which may be the angle, or the front axle may be pushed in. The front axle was designed to be collapsible so the car could be pushed through a standard 3ft doorway. A similar feature was done on a 1950s microcar, to an equal lack of success. BTW, only the engine came from Birmingham.

 

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................. so, modern cyclecar: four wheels and hot motorcycle engine?
So-called "monocar" - single-seater?



Ciao,
Zoran

 

I am afraid that would be......
.....
too much fun...lol.
Go on Zoran.

 

Here in france we have lots of little cars called "voitures sans permis" .
Light weight cars under 400kgs that you dont need a drivers licence to drive,
They are more or less like "mopeds" most have little deisel moters with a variater and automatic clutch,
An old one could be a good base for a project like that,
Its a pity your far away because i can get hold these chassis and ive got loads of bike engines.

 

is that a rebuild of this one:

or a new build?

 

David ... yes, that should be too much fun, indeed - especially for two of us pensioners!​

That HD engine with side-car or side-car with HD engine looks to me as a modern version of BRAMBLE from the previous page?
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I know for such Franch microcars if I remember well - from the early seventies... In the beginning, they had moped engines and automatic transmission? They were my old dream - for cruising across and around Belgrade, Serbia, old Yugoslavia.
Unfortunately, they were not regulated by the law and what isn't allowed that was forbidden. Later, domestic factory POLIESTER from Priboj in Serbia - build a few prototypes, but that was too late... Economic crises started and if people have money they wanted real cars (even older European or Japanese) and for such "toys" modest people do not have money. One was driven by the older couple until some 10 years ago. It has a small Japanese diesel engine, quite noisy.





Of course, my secret plan was to take one with bad carrosserie and over chassis build my own creation! The same could be done with crashed modern micro-cars in the category of "light quadricycles" according to European Union Directives: 50 cc gasoline engine, or electric-motor up to 4 Kilowatts or Diesel engine up to 4 Kilowatts, with speed restriction up to 45 km/hour. Unfortunately they are quite rare here in Swiss and a few seen are extremely expensive, even if they are old over 15 years...

Diving licence isn't problem as I have both Serbian and Swiss licence for B category (passenger cars) and if/when I loose it, I wouldn't drive light quadricycle either...

David, do you have some photo of chassis with suspension and mechanics - just for me to think about that as practice for my old brain? Probably that my motorised quadricyle should be more modest and developed over my present pedal-powered quadricycle...

Ciao,
Zoran​

 

Here's one Arlen Ness did years ago.

 

yrsan from P.H. ...

 

Morgan

 

While looking through some Retromobile coverage, I saw the T68 replica that Klas mentioned a while back:

Doesn't look like they've made much progress other than hanging the doors.
Microcar? City car? Cyclecar? Who knows. There is a possibility that the engine is the one Bugatti tested in a motorcycle, so...
It's sort of a shame that they built the most obvious body. Of the sketches that were made, the spyder:

seems a lot cooler.

 

================================================
... as I know, black HD quadricycle is older: I found some article about it many years ago and it was made for a disabled motorcyclist, so he could ride with his comrades! The rear part of the motorcycle side-car is open so he could easily enter into driver's position...
It looks to me that both black and red sidecars are of the same model!
So, probably that there we had two similar solutions...

Ciao,
Zoran​

P.S.: I just found some more photos and information about black quadricycle: it looks quite the same as the red one, except engine and wheels - so, the red one could be a modification of black one, but also the second example made on the same basis...








Black one is known as "Trooper Trudeau's Super Trooper Roadster"...

 

BNC from Marc. ...

 

from another angle.

 

Is that a Hotchkiss next to the BNC?

 

I do not know.

 

...and yet...still another view.Looks like they are wearing this car instead of sitting in it.

 

Has anyone else seen this thread before?

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/cyclecar-build-so-cal.1081127/

 

I missed it.

 

Hmmm, I thought that he (Kris Blake) got that further along... maybe another thread and/or forum???

 

Yes that is a Hotchkiss

 

From: justacarguy

 

Your next project for the long winter nights?
https://www.prewarcar.com/235763-barn-find-restoration-project#group-1

 

Hello, Rolf!​

That would be a project for really looooong winter nights, and expensive too?
Maybe better to spend time and money in some luxurious and expansive Swiss hotel in beautiful and wonderful countryside: in mountains or at a shore of a nice lake!

However, it would be nice to reconstruct that Salmson and have it in a shape that is photo-registered in 1946 - if the story is true! (so-called history of ownership isn't well preserved and presented).

When find and install new gearbox, radiator, instruments etc, then re-make body (probably all metal, with new ash frame), total reconstruction of chassis, suspension, new wheels, replaced or re-created engine... Not many of originalities would stay?

How present market of oldtimers is developing, with the most used motto: everything is acceptable and buyer should be aware... Clever workshop/dealers could reconstruct or better said to re-create that oldtimer Salmson (as many other), practically built new one from the tyres up! Some even more clever workshop/dealer could make three of such automobiles from that one, using number-plate or printed numbers on chassis, then at a body (if there is one) and on an engine for sure... If there is registration plate - that could be sold too, with one of the cars or solo! (photo from 1946 made in three copies is useful)
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It would be nice to find and read quite the old book "They Don't Make Them Like That Any More" - a thriller about the happenings on oldtimer cars market... A lot of old tricks that could be useful to know and to avoid for any new buyer on the market...



It could be found and bought at Amazon Books for 3-12 Euros, and read a few introductory pages there online!

https://www.amazon.de/They-Dont-Mak...27629311&sr=1-1&keywords=they+don't+make+them

https://www.amazon.de/They-Dont-Mak...ywords=they+don't+make+them#reader_1908291001

Of course, a presumption is that everybody included at seller side is honest, qualified and fair, but - buyers should help them to stay like that (being careful)...

Ciao,
Zoran​

 

When I was looking at Retromobile photos, I was enamored by the slab-sided car, but couldn't identify it.

The pic was labeled Artcurial, the auction house that sells @ Retromobile, but the car doesn't show up in the results. After some digging, I found that it was a 1946 Georges Irat. It turns out that only the cars that sold were listed in the results. It isn't clear whether it didn't meet its reserve or it was withdrawn. The two cars in the foreground are prewar Georges Irats. The yellow Citroen cloverleaf in the background is pretty cool, too.

 

https://barnfinds.com/micro-mania-1953-mochet-cm-125-grand-luxe/ Very cute!!