E Type Jaguar jack

 This jack with the square recess is apparently a jack for an E Type Jaguar. Everything else on the table has a price tag- not the jack. 

When asked... "Well, I've seen them go for $500 to 1000 US". Yes, how much is this one?  It takes a bit of back and forth but eventually we arrive at the fact that he is asking $500 Canadian... 

I guess. If E types are selling for $100k, the accessories are going to be correspondingly ridiculous. 

The First Classic BSA Scene, 1979

By some coincidence, there have been a lot of BSAs appearing lately. So I've been looking for more, these 1979 photos come from the 1982 Bruce Main Smith book.

 It's refreshing to see what might have been a typical bike and attitude 10 years after the factory closed.  No danger of over-restoration accusations here.

 This looks like a good fun bike to own and ride.

Frazer Nash

 Frazier Nash seen at British Car Day.

 Wait a minute, isn't that an old VW Beetle front end?

 And 4 pipes? 

Oh yeah... that's what it is.... well, its still rare...

We used to make things in this country#342 Radio Tubes

 Ad from 1935. 

Ripped directly from Wikipedia... In 1924, Edward Rogers formed Rogers Radio Ltd of Toronto to manufacture radios. While visiting the United States, he witnessed an experimental tube operating using AC current demonstrated by Frederick S. McCullough. The demonstration proved that an AC operated vacuum tube was feasible, but it exhibited too much hum, due to the filament cycling at the generator frequency. Returning to Canada, Rogers experimented with ways to reduce this hum by redesigning the filament and successfully demonstrating the hum reduction in the fall of 1924.

The Standard Radio Manufacturing Corporation was formed in 1925 to mass-produce this new AC operated vacuum tube. Rogers produced and marketed one of the first Canadian and United States AC operated triode vacuum tubes with the production of the Rogers R30 and R32. RCA would market the UX-226 AC triode in September 1926.

In 1928, Rogers changed the name from Standard Radio Manufacturing to the Rogers Radio Tube Company Ltd. Rogers by this time had put more emphasis in vacuum tube development and manufacturing over the manufacture and selling of radio sets.

As well as developing radio receivers he was getting interested in the broadcasting end of the business and in 1927 started the radio station CFRB. Not content with audio, in 1931 he was granted the first television license. He passed away at 39 years of age in 1939, leaving a son Ted Jnr. who, following in his fathers footsteps, entered the broadcasting business in 1960 with the radio station CHFI FM. Ted Jnr. also saw the future in cable television and by 1979 Rogers Cable TV dominated the Canadian market. 

Grand Prix poster 1950

 Poster for the Grand Prix races on the Albi street circuit in 1950.  

Event poster by André Bermond, printed by Moullot, Marseille.

`1935 Ford V8

 

Sidecar Sunday

 

Snail brand wrenches

Snail brand wrenches (with two different styles of snail!) continue to turn up occasionally. Previous post by the Duke here.

 

Horse drawn days

Before trucks and cars there was horse-drawn vehicles. Traffic jams were common, wagons pulled by teams of horses took up a lot of room and weren't easily maneuvered, the horses probably weren't enjoying the work and environment, they could and did kick, bite and bolt, threatening bystanders. They also got sick and sometimes died. 

One of the less attractive things about horse drawn transportation was the manure problem, on any street with traffic there would be a fresh carpet covering the roadway, add the urine and the city might not be a nice place to live in the summer.

 Stables, many located in urban areas, always had huge piles to get rid of, sometimes accumulating for months. And if the urine-soaked manure was distasteful, as it dried out it to turned to a dust that blew around causing the respiratory diseases that were part of urban living at the time. 

Cities tried to keep things clean but it was a daunting task. In 1880 Kansas City announced it would only clean the streets once manure was more than 3 inches thick. 

Most streets were unpaved, making cleaning inefficient. The abutting householders made the decision to pave or not, and a smoothly paved street brought more traffic, the "elites" with their fast carriages (and towards the turn of the century, bicycles) who made life hazardous for the pedestrians, residents and children who, having few parks, shopped, socialized and played in the street. 

New York,1893

Clay McShane, Down the Asphalt Path, Columbia University Press. 1994

A blockade at Broadway, 1883.

Messerschmitt M33

 

In between building light transport and training planes, the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (Willy Messerschmitt's company) produced this lightweight design for the homebuilder in 1932. Perhaps because of the depression, none were built.

Make your own model here.

Look like a winner...

 All right, then...

Napier Eland

 D. Napier and Son started business as a precision machining company in 1808. After a century of making parts for various industries, they manufactured internal combustion engines and luxury cars, before moving on to airplane engines in WW1, first as a manufacturer of other designs and then designing their own. Taken over by English Electric in 1942, the Eland was their entry in the turboprop engine market and was used on several passenger and cargo planes as well as the Fairey Rotodyne.

 Rolls Royce stopped production of the Eland when they purchased the company in 1961.

Eland engine pictures here.

Sidecar Sunday

Source unknown...

Triumph 1968

 

Modern Morgan Replica

Here's someone's ambitious project, a modern replica of a 3 wheel Morgan. It's powered by- yet again- a Honda CX500 motor, with an extended driveshaft to the stock CX swing arm. Quite well done, I might have done a few details differently but can't wait to see it with bodywork!

Honda XL350 1975

 

King George VI funeral train

The funeral train of King George the VI arrives at King's Cross station in London. February 12 1952

 

Apco Mossberg ratchet

 This is the ratchet was included with the Autokit of a couple of days ago. It's not the original one, though from reading online there seems to have been some connection between the two companies. The pressed steel ratchet shown here was designed and patented in 1913 by Frank Mossberg, and enjoyed a production run past the 1927 acquisition of the APCO company and resultant name change to Apco Mossberg. 

Frank Mossberg started making tools in the late 1880s for the local Attleboro jewelry companies, but soon started patenting and manufacturing adjustable wrenches and various bicycle tools as that market took off. The automotive tool market brought more growth for the company and the 1908 acquisition of the Quincy, Manchester, Sargent company added their pressed steel socket wrenches to the lineup. Unfortunately business declined through the 1920s as they failed to respond to the new tool designs entering the market. 

  Apco Mossberg settled into a niche making torque screwdrivers and is around today also making custom CNC parts for medical, electrical, aerospace and similar applications.

Once again see Alloy Artifacts for their usual detailed company histories.

 

BSA Thunderbolt

650cc twin with a single Amal concentric carb points to a 1968 or newer model, this one is in fine shape. Seen at the British Car Show...

 

Heresy?

 This might be my favorite engine transplant for a featherbed frame.

First motorcycle to 100 mph

The ACU decided in 1909 that world speed records should be restricted to motorcycles of 1000cc or less and Billy Cook of North London Garage quickly became the recordholder with his Peugeot V twin powered NLG at 75.92 mph. Charles Collier on his Matchless JAP raised it within the year.

 Although Indian already had some success in British racing, in 1911 they joined the racing scene with a vengeance, finishing the IoM TT 1-2-3 and then set a new record at Brooklands of 87.38 mph. This was soon beaten again by Charles Collier and the record was raised incrementally over the next few years. After a pause for WW1, Bert Levack on an Indian raised the record to 95.24 mph.

About that time, becoming aware of the speed record attempts at Brooklands, Harley Davidson built 3 special long frame 998 cc track motorcycles and shipped them to England to join in the fun. In late April, after a few attempts,  Douglas Davidson on his Harley achieved 100.76 mph. In the picture above everyone looks pretty pleased. 

It was short-lived however, the very next day, Bert Levack, on his 10 year old 8 valve Indian, took the record back- 106.72 mph.
 

Bert Levack on the Indian.

Bay State Autokit

The ratchet at least is probably not original, but a nice collection of century-old pressed steel sockets in a very lovely wooden box. (Silly logo too.)  According to the tremendous Alloy Artifacts site, it was the first automotive tool kit sold by Sears Roebuck.

 

Fowler Botrail Tractor

 Here's a heavyweight steam tractor outfitted for use on soft ground. The wheels are double width (even the wagons), fitted with pivoting plank-like treads, restrained by steel cables. The system was devised by Australian Frank Botrill and must have functioned on some level, but it sure looks ungainly!

British Car Day DeLorean

Perhaps not the colour I might have chosen...

 but there was no shortage of the cars at the event...

 

Monday Mystery, reciprocating saw

I'm guessing this is some sort of ancient power hacksaw, perhaps for some specialized use? No names or markings anywhere. The two level stand with screw adjustment is odd and the little 45° shelf might be part of a missing feed table? Anyways, information and guesses welcomed!