Velocars and other interesting vehicles.

I found this on on that website.
Great way to recycle an airplane. I bet yo could get an old plane body cheap if you knew where to look.
 

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1947 Re-cyclecar... Ottumwa, Iowa

I was looking through some old family photos and ran across this interesting gravity car or whatever you want to call it. On board are the Wright Brothers and the wrong brothers & sister. Up front is Kenny Wright at the foot powered steering controls. Behind him is my oldest brother Donald. Next in line is Terry Wright testing one of the foot brakes. Then my brother Jon and in back is my sister Nancy. I guess I was too little to go along or was sleeping in one of the box compartments.

Please note the clever sprung suspension. Also the all wood frame as found on the more expensive Morgan three wheeled race cars. This hand made vehicle was built entirely from recycled materials.

As I recall that street had a long and fairly steep grade to it. Why our parents thought this activity was not courting death I don't know. Kids were left more on their own in those days. As I recall the emergency brake was activated with the voice command, "JUMP".
SB
 

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I had to activate that type of emergency brake last week while I was playing on my mountain bike! Lol only difference is i didn't say "jump" it was more like " oh crap!"
 
silverbear said:
1947 Re-cyclecar... Ottumwa, Iowa

I was looking through some old family photos and ran across this interesting gravity car or whatever you want to call it. On board are the Wright Brothers and the wrong brothers & sister. Up front is Kenny Wright at the foot powered steering controls. Behind him is my oldest brother Donald. Next in line is Terry Wright testing one of the foot brakes. Then my brother Jon and in back is my sister Nancy. I guess I was too little to go along or was sleeping in one of the box compartments.

Please note the clever sprung suspension. Also the all wood frame as found on the more expensive Morgan three wheeled race cars. This hand made vehicle was built entirely from recycled materials.

As I recall that street had a long and fairly steep grade to it. Why our parents thought this activity was not courting death I don't know. Kids were left more on their own in those days. As I recall the emergency brake was activated with the voice command, "JUMP".
SB
Click to expand...

I was looking at this photo again and thinking about how different things are today. Note that none of these kids is over weight. And of course nobody has an electronic device stuck onto an ear. When school let out at the end of a school day there were no organized activities to be driven to with uniforms and coaches. If you played baseball it was with whoever in the neighborhood you could get to play. Mostly you needed a bat and a ball. Tree forts were built without parental supervision or knowledge. Bicycles were ridden everywhere once you were big enough to ride one. There was a lot of make believe... pretend wars or cowboys and Indians with dramatic deaths once shot by a cap gun. I suppose the girls had their own make believe stuff, too, but boys didn't know much about that and didn't want to know.

Like many elders I tend to think things were better then when kids were less pressured with too many adult organized activities. We did our own and made up our own rules. By the time you went in for the evening meal the average kid had done a lot of running around or bike riding or wrestling around. Some of the girls jumped rope and made up their own jump rope songs to jump to in rhythm. We got strong and independent that way. No batteries required.

And so I look at this crazy death machine and marvel that nobody died and everybody got along. It was a lot of work getting that beast back up the hill for another run, but you can be sure those tired little legs did it over and over again until a final crash turned it into a wounded three wheeler, perhaps. I'm glad I was born when I was.
SB
 
I love that photo of the 'gravity car' SB. When I was growing up trolley building (we called them trolleys here in NZ) was almost a rite of passage and nearly every boy had one when I was in Primary School.

Here's a picture of an interesting little cyclecar. Edit: Builder is Tim Gunn (Why am I not surprised).



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWlf4DTLTlI
 
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SB, that is a great picture! Question; where are Spanky and Stimey? Your childhood sounds like mine, man, I miss those days. This is the first time I've checked this thread, now I'm hooked! In the 70's (in college) I owned a Subaru 360, tiny car with a rear mounted 2 cycle 360 a and 4 speed trans-axle. It was fun to drive and got excellent mileage. Government and the Nader folks banned their import, citing unsafe car. Anyway, that drivetrain would make a great one for this type car.
 
Now thats KOOOOOL! Do you have a shot of the rear drive?

So easy to do today with just some time, all the modern stuff out there ....Curt
 
So jealous. SO very jealous of this little car. Could only be more jealous if it were a Sandford GS. (I just happen to like the styling of the Sandford a wee bit better.)
 
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