Take a minute to ey up this car.

What sort of Dr. Suess oddities and engineering WTFs do you pick up on?

I'm anxious to hear about the engine.

Looks like a steel bathtub on a wood frame.

Brian

one single headlight air cooled engine (possibly replaceable cylinders) Look like a wood frame no front brakes

I am sure there are more.

It looks like a cool car to cruise and take to car shows!

That is down right cool. Love the exposed rockers on the heads.

I like how the passenger/mechanic seat is set back from the driver - so the driver has plenty of elbow room to muscle the steering wheel around.

This car reminds me of a pre-War vintage racer who goes the Watkins Glen Vintage Festival. With the exposed valve train and all.

Very old, possibly air cooled engine, exposed rocker arms? Maybe aviation engine. Long stroke, too. Quater eliptical front springs are interesting, attached to a 40s(?) frame. Mechanical brakes in the rear only. I don't think the owner built the main portion of the body, that is, the seating area--if he did, he's a good sheetmetal man. A pic of the other side would help with the enging ID. Nicely done, though. Looks like it would be fun, and loud. Shooting flames at night, probably, too.

GN Cyclecar - are those JAP engine(s)? the beginning of frasier-nash - room for a riding mechanic - looks like an original Shelsley hillclimber.

Single headlight

oldtin wrote: GN Cyclecar - are those JAP engine(s)? the beginning of frasier-nash - room for a riding mechanic - looks like an original Shelsley hillclimber.

I cheated and went to the website... which is so full of cool cars it could kill hours...

the caption under the photo:

"This is a GN with Jap V8 airplane engine of pre-WW1 vintage"

I'm pretty sure you're right and they meant "JAP" rather than "Jap[anese]"

I would rock that car hard core!

EricM wrote: I would rock that car hard core!

Agreed.

I'm not seeing rear brakes either. Perhaps engine braking or brakes to a driveline component?

Eyyyyy! /fonz

How's that?

pinchvalve wrote: I'm not seeing rear brakes either. Perhaps engine braking or brakes to a driveline component?

I think I see what looks like a cable-actuated drum brake on the LR wheel.

I wonder if the front cowl wasn't from the same plane that donated the engine.... certainly looks like it could be.

I heard about the GNs when I was thinking about/researching building a cycle car. This was one of the GNs contemporaries - John Bolster's twin engined JAP motorcyle engines - the GN is a JAP (brand name) aero v8. Basically whatever the builder had laying around on the cheap - these were hardcore GRMers.

I can imagine that pounding around the outer high speed loop at Brooklands.

Looks like it's chain drive.

I don't see a back-up camera.

And where's the Bluetooth hookup? Adaptive cruise control? Tire pressure monitoring system? Self-parking feature? Satellite navigation? What kind of "car" is this? (And yes, I put "car" in quotes; I went there.)

oldtin wrote:

One of my favorite car magazine quotes:

You have to wonder what today’s Health and Safety brigade would make of John Bolster’s vintage special Bloody Mary. It was, as Bolster once wrote, built by two schoolboys in 1929 ‘…with the object of driving around a field as dangerously as possible.’

http://www.classicandperformancecar.com/features/octane_features/247345/john_bolsters_bloody_mary.html

Consider this car "ey'd"

Exposed valve train. Liberty V-8?

First glance Ithought it was burning up tire.

Yeah, can't edit a Title.

Cool car! A friend of mine has actually seen Bloody Mary run.

"JAP" is JA Preswitch. As stated above, they made all sorts of engines; some for airplanes. They also make motorcycles and provided many of the engines used in the old Morgan 3-wheelers (below).