A cyclecar was a type of small, lightweight and inexpensive motorized car manufactured in Europe and the United States between 1910 and the early 1920s. The purpose of cyclecars was to fill a gap in the market between the motorcycle and the car. It could accommodate only two passengers, often sitting in tandem. [1]
The demise of cyclecars was due to larger cars – such as the Citroën Type C, Austin 7 and Morris Cowley – becoming more affordable. Small, inexpensive vehicles reappeared after World War II, and were known as microcars.
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Cyclecars were propelled by engines with a single cylinder or V-twin configuration (or occasionally a three or four cylinder engine), which were often air-cooled. [2] Sometimes motorcycle engines were used, in which case the motorcycle gearbox was also used.
All cyclecars were required to have clutches and variable gears.[ citation needed ] This requirement could be fulfilled by even the simplest devices such as provision for slipping the belt on the pulley to act as a clutch, and varying of the pulley diameter to change the gear ratio. Methods such as belt drive or chain drive were used to transmit power to the drive wheel(s), [3] often to one wheel only, so that no differential was required.[ citation needed ]
The bodies were lightweight and sometimes offered minimal weather protection or comfort features.
The rise of cyclecars was a direct result of reduced taxation both for registration and annual licences of lightweight small-engined cars. On 14 December 1912, at a meeting of the Federation Internationale des Clubs Moto Cycliste, it was formally decided that there should be an international classification of cyclecars to be accepted by the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Austria and Germany. As a result of this meeting, the following classes of cyclecars were defined:
Class | Max. weight | Max. displacement | Min. tyre section |
---|---|---|---|
Large | 350 kg (772 lb) | 1,100 cc (67 cu in) | 60 mm (2.4 in) |
Small | 150 kg (331 lb) | 750 cc (46 cu in) | 55 mm (2.2 in) |
From 1898 to 1910, automobile production quickly expanded. Light cars of that era were commonly known as voiturettes. The smaller cyclecars appeared around 1910 with a sales boom shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, with Temple Press launching The Cyclecar magazine on 27 November 1912 (later renamed The Light Car and Cyclecar), and the formation of the Cyclecar Club (which later evolved into British Automobile Racing Club). From 1912, the Motor Cycle show at Olympia became the Motor Cycle and Cycle Car Show.
The number of cyclecar manufacturers was less than a dozen in each of the UK and France in 1911, but by 1914, there were over 100 manufacturers in each country, as well as others in Germany, Austria and other European countries. [4] By 1912, the A.C. Sociable was described as "one of the most popular cycle cars on the road, both for pleasure and for business", [5] though another source states that the "Humberette" was the most popular of cycle cars at that time. [6] Many of the numerous makes were relatively short-lived, but several brands achieved greater longevity, including Bédélia (1910–1925), GN (1910–1923) and Morgan (1910–present). [7]
By the early 1920s, the days of the cyclecar were numbered. Mass producers, such as Ford, were able to reduce their prices to undercut those of the usually small cyclecar makers. Similar affordable cars were offered in Europe, such as the Citroën 5CV, Austin 7 or Morris Cowley.
The cyclecar boom was over. The majority of cyclecar manufacturers closed down. Some companies such as Chater-Lea survived by returning to the manufacture of motorcycles.
After the Second World War, small, economic cars were again in demand and a new set of manufacturers appeared. The cyclecar name did not reappear however, and the cars were called microcars by enthusiasts and bubble cars by the general population.
Several motor racing events for cyclecars were run between 1913 and 1920. The first race dedicated to cyclecars was organised by the Automobile Club de France in 1913, followed by a Cyclecar GP at Le Mans in 1920. The Auto Cycle Union was to have introduced cycle car racing on the Isle of Man in September 1914, but the race was abandoned due to the onset of the war. [8]
Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than 700 cc (43 cu in). Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are often covered by separate regulations to normal cars, having relaxed requirements for registration and licensing.
L'Aster, Aster, Ateliers de Construction Mecanique l'Aster, was a French manufacturer of automobiles and the leading supplier of engines to other manufacturers from the late 1890s until circa 1910/12. Although primarily known as an engine mass manufacturer the company also produced chassis for coach-works and a complete range of components.
Bédélia was the archetype of the French cyclecars.
J. A. Prestwich Industries, was a British engineering equipment manufacturing company named after founder John Alfred Prestwich, which was formed in 1951 by the amalgamation of J. A. Prestwich and Company Limited and Pencils Ltd.
The term light car is used in Great Britain since the early part of the 20th century for an automobile less than 1.5 litres engine capacity. In modern car classification this term would be roughly equivalent to a subcompact car. There are numerous light car clubs in Britain and Australia.
The Staver and Staver-Chicago was an American Brass Era automobile manufactured at 76th and Wallace Streets in Chicago, Illinois, by the Staver Carriage Company from 1906 until 1914.
Blériot Aéronautique was a French aircraft manufacturer founded by Louis Blériot. It also made a few motorcycles between 1921 and 1922 and cyclecars during the 1920s.
The Blériot-Whippet was a British 4 wheeled cyclecar made from 1920 to 1927 by the Air Navigation and Engineering Company based in Addlestone, Surrey.
The Red Bug, later marketed as the Auto Red Bug were a vintage era cyclecar automobile manufactured by the Automotive Electric Service Corp. of North Bergen, New Jersey from 1924 to 1930. It is considered an early version of a microcar.
Bollack, Netter, et Cie(French: Bollack Netter et compagnie), more commonly known as B.N.C., was a small French automobile company in Levallois-Perret, situated on Avenue de Paris 39.
Gustave Adolphe Clément, known from 1909 Clément-Bayard, was a French entrepreneur. Despite being orphaned, he became a blacksmith and a Compagnon du Tour de France. He later ventured into racing and manufacturing bicycles, pneumatic tyres, motorcycles, automobiles, aeroplanes and airships.
Della Ferrera was an Italian motorcycle manufacturer active from 1909 to 1948. Four-valve motorcycles built by the company won events in the Trofeo Turistico Nazionale, at Cremona, and elsewhere. The company built a prototype for a cyclecar in 1924. The only model was a Cyclecar and was only produced in 1924. A four-cylinder two-stroke engine with a displacement of 707 cm³ provided the drive. The vehicle featured a four-speed gearbox and four-wheel brakes. The design-related top speed was given as 80 km/h. The Officine Meccanica Giuseppe Meldi took over the model in 1927 as the basis for its own vehicles.
France was a pioneer in the automotive industry and is the 11th-largest automobile manufacturer in the world by 2015 unit production and the third-largest in Europe. It had consistently been the 4th-largest from the end of World War II up to 2000. It is 16% of sales of French manufactured products.
This is a chronological index for the start year for motor vehicle brands. For manufacturers that went on to produce many models, it represents the start date of the whole brand; for the others, it usually represents the date of appearance of the main model that was produced.
Chapuis-Dornier was a French manufacturer of proprietary engines for automobiles from 1904 to 1928 in Puteaux near Paris. Between 1919 and 1921 it displayed a prototype automobile, but it was never volume produced.
Automobiles Darracq France was a manufacturer of motor vehicles and aero engines in Suresnes, near Paris. The enterprise, known at first as A Darracq et Cie, was founded in 1896 by successful businessman Alexandre Darracq.
Arthur William Wall was an engineer in the field of motorised transport and inventor of the self-powered wheel in England in the early 20th century. He is best known for his creation of the self-powered wheel, the Wall Autowheel, which could be used to power a bicycle, but he was also the man behind Roc motorcycles and a tricar and four-wheel cyclecar. His main company was A. W. Wall Ltd, but he created several other companies to compartmentalise his different activities, such as the Roc Gear Co, who supplied epicyclic gears to a significant number of manufacturers before WW1.