Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Sunbeam S-7 cutaway drawing


 A nice cutaway of the inline twin said to be inspired by the prewar BMW twins... 
Mr Fooks was an British motoring artist who turned out drawings for magazines of bicycles, motorcycles and cars from the 1930s through the '50s.






Trident- electric ships log, 1938

 Definitely a must-have when you didn't have time to send a crewman aft to take readings on your minesweeper-sized yacht. 

Lube NSU


This is the first Lube-NSU I've seen. Parts are probably close to impossible to find, these bikes were made in Spain and do not show up often. Previous post on a Lube race bike here. Tank logo below.

 

Monday, June 29, 2026

David plane


Here's a little hobby trimming plane made in Holland. By the wing nut and the groove on the bottom, it must be part of a system but I can't find much information on it. Its different than the one in this old post and appears to be very similar to the Australian-made plane in this ad.





 

Discard sculpture?

  I was skulking around an industrial area of Toronto and came upon these statues out behind a factory. I just have to wonder, are they factory seconds, defective castings or ??? They don't seem to be cared for...

 

Sunday, June 28, 2026

Sidecar Sunday


     Officers from the West Riding Police Force in Yorkshire taking delivery of seven new Brough combinations from the Brough Superior factory in Nottingham. 1933

License plate set


 In Ontario, 1966 was the last year the Ministry of Transport required 3 license plates on a motorcycle. One on each side of the front wheel and of course the rear. Predictably, complete sets are rare these days and rather expensive.



Saturday, June 27, 2026

Honda Motocampo


 The Motocampo was a 50cc folding scooter made by Honda as a an option for the 1981-83 JDM Honda City. The unit fit in the trunk and was intended to be used as a "last mile" commuter. 53,000 units were made and they are considered to be a collector item now. They were never imported in North America.

Moko Lesney #12 Land Rover


These were made between 1955 and 1959.  Originally sold and distributed by Moko (a partnership between Lesney  (Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith) and Moses Kohnstam.
 

Friday, June 26, 2026

Cutaway from How to Keep Your Volkswagen Rabbit Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot.



Not your average cutaway drawing of the VW Rabbit engine and the illustrator is not R. Crumb. This was an illustration Peter Aschwanden did for the book How to Keep Your Volkswagen Rabbit Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot. by Richard Sealey. It followed an earlier book by John Muir called How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive with technical drawings done in the same 60's counterculture style.  His drawings are accurate but not technical in nature, they really make mechanical work seem less intimidating. Anyone in the sixties or seventies trying to keep his VW running would have felt completely at home with the style. 
More here.