^^^^^^^^^^^^ Thanks Bob, I was going to steal that same photo and post it! I had a 4 cylinder Henderson powered car that looked a lot like that one. Lots of these cars were built, but not to race as far as I can find out, just an attention getter. Bob
Busy couple of days, 37 Hudson needs some love , then on Wednesday I am off to pick up a set of cyclecar wheels the first part for the jappic recreation and the off to the vintage sports car club library for some jappic research They have all the magazine indexs on PDF which makes searching much easier, Also have made a mock up of the body from the cad drawing I have done, after comparing it to the pictures it needs a few small changes but it's very close, can't post pics from my iPad thing Will report back later in the week
At the local Harley shop a 4 cyclinder Indian engine showed up and sat on the bench for awhile.One day it disappeared along with one of the employees. I liked the layout and from the first time i saw ,I was plotting the possibilities!
I've got an old '76 Honda Goldwing sitting in the garage drawing dust. I toyed with the idea of building a rear engine belly tank style cycle car just for fun. With the shaft drive and water cooled 1,000cc engine I think it could work well. They also used a mechanical fuel pump on these, so a remote tank would not create issues feeding fuel to the carbs. There are a few donor vehicles that have small rear axles that could easily work for a cycle car. Wish I hadn't scrapped out the tiny little stock straight axle that was under my Austin when I bought it. Mechanical brake wouldn't have been an issue on a cycle car.
Chain drive seems to be the easy option , except with you shaft drive wing engine, For a light cyclecar look at go-kart axles , old style 25 mm and 30 mm are easy to get and cheap , and would be plenty strong enough for something small and light,
Suzuki Samurai's have a small narrow rear, that is offset about the same as the driveshaft on the GW.
I've got a 700 Shadow water cooled and shaft drive that I've been toying with the idea of making a reverse trike out of...looking for the perfect lightweight front end - beam & transverse leaf are near the top of the list, but not ruling out something like Opel or Chevette...
Someone from the UK will correct me if I'm wrong but I think those wheels are steel not wood. The 1912 AC 3Wheeler I had used the same wheels, a two piece stamping that was welded together. Bob
. Cris wrote: I'd been working on a lengthy post concerning my replica cyclecar project but on reflection - - precious little of it is actually motorcycle based so I'll refrain from further clutter to the thread. I'd like to offer apologies for my part in the recent trend toward diversions from the original thread and intent. My only excuse is I'm new here - - both to the site and this thread - - - I'll not contribute to the thread --- or thread-drift in the future. Can anyone point me to a more suitable site and/or thread dealing with replica cyclecars rather than the originals? .
Perhaps Cris was referring to our recent tangent in the direction of '50s/'60s DKWs and the like? That is a region that borders very closely on VWs. I do not think replica cyclecars or even new designs are in any way unwelcome, as long as they are agreeable to the ethos of the original cyclecars, be they of the Amilcar or the Bedelia sort. Certainly motorcycle parts are not a requirement, however likely they are to occur when one is working at a cyclecar scale. By ethos I mean the way real cyclecars are arrived at by constructing rather than sculpting; the way the processes involved are palpable, transparent, and accessible; the readiness to be clever with technologies some might consider sub-automotive. It's the language of sand-cast aluminium alloy and tin-snips-and-pop-rivets fabrication and the smell of oil; it's not the language of injection-moulded plastic and electronic cable connections. I have a suspicion that what you have in mind will fit in better than you think. If you're unsure, send me a PM.
Does a Tri-Magnum qualify as a "cyclecar"? http://www.rqriley.com/tri-mag.html Oh wait, it's not antique....
I would say not. It fits into a class of which the only other two members are the Bricklin and the Pink Panther car. It's one that keeps coming up: there are things for which, to be x it is not sufficient merely to answer to the definition (eidos) of x, it is also necessary to arise out of the actual, specific historical circumstances that gave rise to x. No degree of accidental similarity, redolence, comparability, or parallel correspondence to an Amilcar or Bedelia can in itself produce a cyclecar. It requires a response to the cyclecar phenomenon's actual historical emergence situation, even if at the remove of a century. The only way to create a cyclecar today is as a direct response in kind to actual and more or less definitive cyclecars. The same goes for specials, traditional hot rods, customs, etc. The mere fact of modification does not a hot rod make.
NED LUDD wrote: Looks like my point was affirmed (in spades), so my original conjecture and decision should stand. Nuff said - - I get it. With the above admonitions still fresh in my rearview mirror I'll leave as I'd originally intended. .
Two photos from an A.R.C.A. race at Montauk point showing the George Rand Amilcar converted to Ford power. Though Amilcars were scarce in America in-period, there were at least three that ran in the A.R.C.A. along with a host of other cyclecars of purely American descent, from Briggs and Stratton boards through Austins and onto a handful of homebuilt cars. Rand's Amilcar-Ford was the only one that remained competitive over time. The start of the race, with Rand's Amilcar to our left/ When the car ran well it threatened for the lead; it unfortunately went out with ignition problems later in the race. The later Amilcars were beefier than their earlier brethren but in their from-the-factory form were still lightweights when compared to the Bugattis that dominated continental competition. They certainly sat at the top of the cyclecar heap, above peers like BNC, Rally, Derby, and a few others. This car lives in New England today and can be seen competing from time to time in VSCCA events. If you ever have the chance, pick up Rafaelli's "Memoirs of a Bugatti Hunter". It has a few fascinating Amilcar tales in addition to all the other stories.
What I'm saying is, Oliver Way's creations are bona-fide cyclecars, specials, etc., despite being recent builds, because they have a continuity with specific, unique historical phenomena. The Tri-Magnum is none of that because it lacks any continuity with those specific historic phenomena, despite having several discrete characteristics in common with cyclecars. You haven't given me a lot of specifics, Dale, but depending on how you go about it the build you have in mind could end up being a perfectly valid DKW special, if not quite a cyclecar.
When the car ran well it threatened for the lead; it unfortunately went out with ignition problems later in the race. The later Amilcars were beefier than their earlier brethren but in their from-the-factory form were still lightweights when compared to the Bugattis that dominated continental competition. They certainly sat at the top of the cyclecar heap, above peers like BNC, Rally, Derby, and a few others. I have owned a couple of amilcars a CS and a g special they are very nice with lovely details but better than a bnc , I beg to differ I think a c6 amilcar which is the factory and customer race car is possibly the only amilcar I would have over a bnc , But all in they are both very nice cars and my amilcar was great but it did need a more powerful engine the STD side valve 1200 was a bit slow and the g chassis was capable of so much more , I did toy with the idea of a hopped up model a engine There was a pic of my blue amilcar a few pages ago,
Speaking of Ford powered cyclecars.... I like this little BNC with Ford flathead.I posted it before.It was on the East Coast and raced at Limerock.I believe it has since returned to it's country of origin. The car looks to have been built for the engine.It fills the engine bay and sits well back of the centerline of the front axle. Concerning the comment by Cris that Amilcars were better ,faster than BNCs,this might be true about the earlier,lesser models of BNC and not the 527s and Monzas.
My friend Robin once bought a very rusty cgss amilcar with a gpw jeep engine and gearbox in , it was nasty
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