Dacon 828

Thanks to Jalopnik posting this up in their recent “Theses are 10 unbelievable cars you never knew existed” article, along with a few others that will end upon here, its appeared on a few Facebook pages, but it was the same picture the one of the rear I wanted to see and know more.

Lancaster Insurance Classic Car Show, NEC, Birmingham

Thanks to Lancaster Insurance I headed down to what is probably the largest indoor car show in Europe last Friday, the first time I’ve attended since 2008 and how it’s grown. Over those years it’s gone from filling three of the NEC’s massive halls to now spanning five. The quality and abundance of metal now on show has also improved from “just a classic car show that’s in doors” to showcasing the best of the best as well as club projects, rare gems and concept cars. Enough to make walking round this colossal show take six hours, and some of that was at some pace!!!!

BMW 600

I like the Isetta bubble car, I like its quirkiness, its barn door, the fact you have to carry two spare wheels as the fronts and the back have different offsets, it was good looking and so of its time. The one thing it was lacking though was two extra seats. BMW at the time wanted to expand their range to provide a economical four seat car and needed it on the cheap. The result was this elongated bubble car, with a bench rear seat and additional side door to get in the back!!!! It does remind me of the recent increase in size of the Fiat 500 to the 500L. Unlike the 500L it was well received thanks to its interior space, value and those modernising bumpers, they look they should be on something built in the 70’s rather than the 50’s.

BMW 700 LS Coupe

When I first saw this at the recent “Passion for Power” car show I was certain it was rare having never seen on and unusual after all it was a rear engine BMW. But I didn’t realise how rare. The 700 was in production from 1958 to replace the Isetta as a 4 door family economy car. Nearly 260,000 were built until 1965 when BMW moved into the more lucrative luxury saloon market. However in its last grasps of life and sat on an elongated chassis, a lightweight Coupe version was produced from 1964.  

Replicar Curser

In the UK you can only drive a car when you reach 17, however you can ride a moped at 16. This was a way to build a car like vehicle in the UK that 16 year olds could drive on this moped license. The result was a 3 wheeled vehicle, with a tubular steel chassis, rack and pinion steering and a single seat. Power came from a rear mounted moped derived 49cc Suzuki CS50 engine from, ran through a 3 speed automatic gearbox that drove the rear single wheel. Top speed, like a moped, was limited to 30mph. Which when you realise how small this thing that would be fairly scary!!!! Built between 1985 and 87 approximately 100 were produced, which included a very small run of 2 seaters.

Atco Trainer

In 1935 a driving test was introduced in the UK due to the scale of accidents on the road. Charles H Pugh Ltd (who previously manufactured lawn mowers) seeing a possible new market he designed and debuted the Trainer in 1939 as a possible means to reduce the accident rate by starting driver awareness early. You may have noticed that this car is rather on the small size, you could be forgiven for thinking is should have peddles connected to the wheels rather than an engine.

Ligier LS4/6

We’ve seen what F1 teams can come up with when they decide to build a road car, McLaren F1, Ferrari Enzo etc but French builder Ligier went down a slightly different route in 1980!!!! In France until quite recently if a car had a 50cc engine or produced less than 4.5bhp it didn’t need to be registered as a car or require the driver to hold a valid drivers licence yet it could still be driven on the road!!!!! Therefore they were bought by the very young, very old or prosecuted drink drivers!!!!! They were also popular rental cars.

Zundapp Janus

In the early 1950’s peoples expectation of private transport was changed, after the war a motorbike was deemed enough, but now comfort and more importantly staying dry was a requirement. This was at the time of the micro car explosion with low weight and usually scooter engines fitted meant cheap motoring for the new generation. Zundapp a German scooter manufacture decided to jump on the band wagon. The result was the Janus (from the Roman God) with its front and rear facing seats and doors it was mid engine with the 248cc scooter engine nestled between them.