Sidecar Sunday

Silverstone 1973, Rudi Kurth and Dane Rowe.

BMW 700

First available in 1959, the car was built in various forms until 1965. In total, about 190,000 were built. Power was provided by a rear-mounted 30 hp flat twin sourced from the motorcycle the company also built. 

1968 Yamaha 125

All the ingredients of a teenage boy's moto-fantasy, chrome, polished alloy, candy paint and a zippy multi-cylinder engine. 

And the hard cold reality when you find one these days. I gave up on it...

Setting out a cam for a bench stop

Department of Useful knowledge...

1969 Dodge Charger R/T

Wilenskys Light Lunch

Closed for the night... opens at 9 am.

Find it here

Fiat 508S Balilla Spider Sport

The shapely little Fiat 508S Balilla Spider Sports was the sporty variation of the Fiat 508 line which ran from 1933 to 1939. it was first powered by a sidevalve 1000 cc engine was was upgraded to overhead valves with 46 hp.

 Below, even a book to search for!

Holley Downdraft 1930

Racing at Sanremo

Sanremo is an Italian town located on the coast near Monaco and is known as "the City of Flowers" due to the nature of the agriculture of the area.  

The artist of this 1948 race poster, Mario Puppo, used the elements of a town view and carnations as a backdrop for a motorcycle charging through the scene to promote the race. 

B & O William Mason

This locomotive was one of two purchased in 1856 from the Mason Machine Works in Massachusetts. It was one of railways first modern steam locomotives and worked for 40 years before being retired and preserved.
 It was taken out of storage for display at the Chicago World Fair in 1893 and other expositions over the years and also has had a long movie career, probably best known in The Great Locomotive Chase of 1956 but continuing as recently as 2003.
 The boiler now needs a new crown sheet and the locomotive has been cosmetically restored for display at the B &O Museum.

 More here.

Special tool KD-870

 We were visiting  our friends at our local engine rebuilding shop, TDC Engines, and saw this tool clamped to the corner of a work bench. Its use wasn't immediately apparent to me but it is a grinding wheel for removing material while setting the end gap of rings. 
Of course there would be a tool for that! 
Apparently there is also an electric version, which  might be a just a little aggressive in removing the few thou usually required. 

Manxman cutaway

250cc Excelsior Manxman engine, with shaft driven overhead cam. Although the drawing looks like it was hand coloured with coloured pencils, it's from the October 1992 issue of The Classic MotorCycle. 

Melnor traveling sprinkler

A nice imaginative cast iron travelling lawn sprinkler.  The company is still around making sprinkler systems including a travelling device though not as nice as this one.

Avro Arrow cutaway

Structural cutaway view of the Avro Arrow.

 The Avro Arrow was introduced on October 4 1957, the same day Sputnik was launched. It was the first supersonic fighter designed for sustained supersonic service and made Canada a world leader in aviation. The program was cancelled on February 20 1959, a day that became known as Black Friday in Canadian aviation circles. We've done a few posts on the aircraft and program cancellation over the years including this one.

B&O #2024

Built in 1901 as part of the B-18 class, this 1927 paint scheme is olive with gold stripes, matching the new President Pacifics used for Royal Blue Line trains between New York City and Washington. 
The locomotive was prettied up to pull the company president Daniel Willard's inspection train. During the depression the paint returned to basic black and 2024 went back to regular service. 
So far I have not been able to find when it was scrapped.

Sidecar Sunday

thanks, Jon!

Autorama Winnipeg

Lots of Winnipeg hotrodding history here.

Morgan setting speed records

This Morgan got a streamlined aluminum nose in 1925 for its record setting run at Brooklands, first three wheeler to exceed 100mph!

Herbert lathes

During the first half of the 20th Century the Alfred Herbert company was one of the largest manufacturers of machine tools in the world. Located in Coventry, they supplied the manufacturing heartland of the UK. Herbert machines don't appear often in my part of the country but when they do, they're too large for a home workshop. (below)
The photo above came from an ad from a motorcycle shop in Wales. (no delivery available- too heavy).
A quick Google search produced a Herbert section in the fabulous lathes.co.uk site with many pictures of the manufacturing floor, well worth a visit. Not sure I would want to work there. 

Also much more info at Grace's Guide

bidspotter

1901

Norton, 1948

Know your Schrader valve

Section view of a common Schrader valve. Name the parts. 

And yes, this will be on the test.

Fiat Giardiniera

 Enjoying an 18 year production run after being introduced in 1960, this little wagon was the utility version of the Fiat 500.  The rear mounted engine is a horizontal variation of the aircooled 2 cylinder engine and is located under the rear cargo area. Looks like a ton of fun! And boys being boys, if the stock 19 horsepower isn't enough, people are hopping them up to 30! 

Henderson Excelsior double brake system model

Although there are no identifying marks on this lovely model, this is a demonstrator or patent model of the unique double brake system developed for the Henderson motorcycle in 1918. One brake acts on a pulley, the other a drum. The case on the other side is the chain drive mechanism. The hub on the extension arms apparently represents the front wheel. 

thanks, Rolf!

 From History of the Henderson 1918 ~ 1931 
In 1918, Both William and Tom Henderson were now employees of Excelsior.  William had taken the role of Factory Superintendent at $5,000 per annum and Tom the position of General Sales Manager at $10,000 per annum plus a one-off payment of 200 shares of stock worth $25,000 to be held by Schwinn for five years.  These would be forfeited if Tom was to leave Excelsior on unfriendly terms within this time.  Finally, Tom was receiving a royalty of $2 for every motorbike sold over the next five years or until the design was changed.  The manufacture of the 1918 Model H had been moved from Detroit and the Chicago built models were distinguished by a serial number beginning with Z rather than H.
Hendersons were still hitting the headlines.  Notably, August E. “Blick” Wolter knocked 32 seconds off the 9.3 mile Mt. Wilson Hillclimb record on a stock Henderson.  Wolter followed this some weeks later by driving his Henderson round two laps of Los Angeles’ highest rollercoaster.
The 1919 Model Z still used the Detroit designs.  Improvements included a GE generator on the Z 2 electric model.  The 4-cylinder engine now had a 70 cubic inch capacity and developed 14.2 H.P.  It sported a new Henderson logo incorporating the red Excelsior “X”.
On December 2, 1918 Tom Henderson tendered his resignation with effect from January 1, 1919 to join Melchior, Armstrong and Dessau to export Henderson and Excelsior motorcycles to Europe.  He received the $25,000 from the shares less a $62.50 interest charge.  However, the $2 royalty was stopped from December 31, 1918 due to changes in the rear hub and double rear brake.

Christmas Bullet by Cantilever Aerial Company

This poor photo came from an old book and I was drawn to the name, "Christmas Bullet". A little googling and a crazy story comes out.
Billed the worst airplane ever constructed, Dr, William Christmas in 1919, convinced a senator, enough people in the military and an airplane company that this was the future. The wings had no struts as the wings were intended to "flap", and had not enough strength, both prototypes killed their pilots when the wings broke off. Read the whole story here.