Cycle Cars

[Doug T.]

I also have a soft spot for any oddball means of transportation ;D
Here's a Slaby Beringer

an Auto Red Bug

and finally, Le Velocar!

They look like a lot of fun, don't you think?

Doug

[photax]

Hi Doug !

Funny vehicles, they remind me somehow of Monsieur Hulot`s car in the early Jaques Tati movies ;D

MIK

[daveh]

Doug,

Wonderful machines. In the photo of the three side-by-side the middle one looks as if the lady is sitting in it with the gentleman at the steering wheel between the lady's car and the next vehicle. We used to make trolleys when we were young, usually from pram wheels - push and go rather than pedalled. No one seems to make them now.

Dave.

[PeterW]

Cyclecars are wonderful contraptions, no other word for them. They must have been great fun on empty roads and cheap to run though some were very temperamental.

Here’s another example, a French Parisienne of 1899



In the UK cyclecars were effectively killed off in 1922 when Herbert Austin launched his immortal Austin 7. It was reliable and a true motor car in miniature with a wheelbase of only 6ft 3in. It stayed in production with numerous upgrades and modifications including several sports versions and a van until 1939. It has a massive following today and is the ultimate grown-up boy’s Meccano set.


Austin 7 from the early 1920s.

PeterW

[daveh]

The epithet "dinky" comes to mind for those early Austin 7s.

[colray]

Old cars.. quiz of the day

The car was French.. but was the star of an English film.

Then is some lost corner of the world it was found rusting away.

Purchase and ended up in Albany.

After several years it was ready for display it's now home was a new specially build gallery.

Then a very sad day for Albany its owner was killed in an helicopter crash and soon after the gallery was closed and the beautifull car left Albany.

So the car was? and who also stared in the film.

[colray]

I'm sure Peter or Dave will have the answer just from the first line

[photax]

The 1904 Darracq from the 1950`s movie "Genevieve" ? Can`t remember the actors.

MIK

[daveh]

Yes, I definitely know the answers. I don't know if the film was known in the USA. I believe the car is alive and well, unlike most of the stars, one of whom died of leukaemia quite young.

[colray]

Genevieve taken at the big roundabout Albany

[colray]

Kay Kendall died in 1959 soon after the movie was made.

Nobody would ever forget.. in the Brighton night club when she play the trumpet..

[nikkortorokkor]

Whilst the 1st two pictures are of cycle cars, i.e. ultralight powered cars, the 3rd picture appears to be of very early (circa 1926) Mochet Velocars, which were pioneering velomobiles or pedal-powered enclosed vehicles (related to, but different from, recumbent bicycles and tricycles).

I admit that at first I didn't think that these were genuine Mochets - the classic Mochet Velocar has a slab sided teardrop body - but a quick trip to Mochet.org provided a picture of a similar machine, though with enclosed rear wheels.



For those that can read it, the site has good information on the quixotic Mochet Velocar - the future of bicycle racing which never happened.

www.mochet.org

Velomobiles still have a small following, especially in the Netherlands and Denmark, where a combination of cycle-friendly road engineering and inclement weather makes them a practical alternative to the city car and the bicycle.

Many, I think, suffer from over-engineering, whereas the original Mochet, like its cycle car brethren, was comparatively fast because it was also comparatively aerodynamic and comparatively light.

This is one modern example of the Mochet approach - a home-made, front wheel drive, rear wheel steer trike by John Falconer.



Although it looks sleek, it is not an ultrafast vehicle - RWS means that its design limit (fully understood by John) is about 25km/h. After that, it topples over on the bendy bits (much like many cycle cars did).

This, on the other hand, is very fast:



Nigel Farrel in his streamliner. Despite being made of exhaust tube and Coroplast (the stuff real estate agents use for their for sale signs), Nigel's bike would probably outrun all of the motorised vehicles pictured above (Nige is a pretty good engine though).

Sorry to hijack the topic again, but I've spent a lot of time researching, writing about and photographing these weird contraptions (the word is apt, Peter).

Going back on topic, Mochet did make powered versions of his Velocar which would, I guess, also count as genuine cycle cars.

As an aside, I own a 1912 750cc Clyno motorcycle (a basket case). In a brave but doomed business decision, Clyno moved from luxury motorcycles (aimed at the sidecar market) to very nice light cars. They were definitely not cycle cars, but proper, well-engineered little cars. But like the cycle car, they too were ultimately killed off by Herbert Austin's remarkable 'baby'.

[Doug T.]

Hi Michael!
Here's a couple more....

These were called PPVs ( I wonder why ? ), and were produced during the first arab oil embargo. At least I'm pretty sure they were.
This one's an Aviette. That's all I know about it.

If you'd like to see some more strange vehicles, look up Frank Didiks' pages! He's got some very off the wall things there
Doug

[daveh]

I think we can take as much as you all can give us on this subject. Michael, there is no such thing as hijacking a thread - or if there is, keep doing it. Thanks all, some very interesting snippets.