Loon? I resemble that remark, you old poop. Put that boat on golden pond and see if it floats. I always liked cycle cars, one of the kit car mags had a series on building your own 3 wheeler, I have an extra Goldwing, hmm a woody cycle car........
In the era that that car was built there was usually a build your own sports car article in Popular Mecanics or one of the other similar magazines at the time every few months and often someone got a "Golden Hammer" award for his efforts. It looks like that car has the suspension and wheels of a Renault by the three lug wheels.
I thought you might like to see the cardboard mockup of the car I am building. My sister in New Zealand just loved the shot and gets it out to show visiters all the time. "look at the car my bro is building; wink wink" I think I am the laughing stock of the town. Note the lawn chair.
NOT SURE WHAT THAT MEANS THE LOONS DO FLY SOUTH FOR THE WINTER SEASON NOT ALL MINNESOTANS DO THAT NOW WHO IS CRAZY?
i just read an article in "Wood" magazine about the Splinter. It is using a Woven base and Resins.. everything else is INCLUDING the springs are basiclally pllywood, and resin, although they are using fairly exotic wood and every sheet in the ply is rotated something like 30 degrees to keep the grains at their strongest points. I think its viable. it will be very much like a full Carbon Fibre car.
True craftsmen... If they can do that with wood, imagine what they could do with metal? Great stuff... Not my cup of tea, but still impressive.
Ryan, the car is on Ebay right now http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cars-Trucks___1952-Ariel-Custom-Wood-Car-One-of-A-Kind-Street-Legal_W0QQitemZ330288179885QQddnZCarsQ20Q26Q20TrucksQQddiZ2282QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Cars_Trucks?hash=item330288179885&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_trkparms=72%3A727%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
A small wooden car with a motorcycle engine? Sounds like this belongs on my thread with the Dudley Bug. -Dave
Frank Costin was an aircraft engineer in the '50s, and designed all the early aerodynamic bodies for Lotus sports racers and formula cars, as well as the Vanwall F1 cars and the Maserati coupe that Stirling Moss drove at LeMans. After his work with Lotus and Lister ended, he designed an all-plywood GT coupe called the Marcos. The suitability of load-bearing high performance plywood body/chassis structures had already been proven by the DeHavilland Mosquito, which was a plywood bomber from WW2. The body/chassis unit of Frank's Marcos prototype, including seats and glass, was less than 150 pounds, and the cars went like stink. Not very attractive -- OK, ugly -- but they worked really well.
Great profile on that car. As someone else said, done in aluminum it would be really cool. Sort of a CycleKart on steroids. I have always had a thing for cyclecars since the first time I saw a Morgan 3 Wheeler.
Yeah, I just saw that too and was thinking maybe this thing is pretty cool, but not 100% sure. Have to admire it to some degree being vintage an all. So, I do a hamb search and the first thread is this. Has nobody else noticed that? Odd. $30K, click of a button, and it can be yours tomorrow.
Pretty cool. One of the contributing editors to Motor Trend in the mid eighties proposed a similar idea to the Hispano Suiza. Strip built sports touring car.
It looks like this car is up for sale on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1952...ewItemQQptZUS_Cars_Trucks?hash=item56384c491c
The Jalopy Journal
