Bob Blackman beats slush pile

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Here I am doing it!

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Vintage Thing No. 13 - the DKW two stroke triple

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The cutaway gives any idea of how few moving parts the GKW engine had. It had 3 coils through Following VT 10 about the Mercedes-Wartburg, I tried to find some more information about the DKW engine that was the basis of the Wartburg motor. The Deek also sired the early Saab and Auto-Union two-strokes. There's still quite a following for these little cars. Wartburg's and Trabants have a kind of retro-Commie Cool but I couldn't find the technical info I was after. However, in the course of my latest investigations into Trojan engines, I found a slim volume in the Anarchadia Publishing research library, entitled The Two-Stroke Engine (bit of a give away, that) by K G Draper, published by Foulis. Not only did it have a schematic diagram of the Trojan engine but also a cut away of the little Deek - DKW stands for Das Kleine Wunder, the little wonder. You can clearly see the seven moving parts - 3 pistons, 3 conrods and a crankshaft. This elegant design was first ...
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Tempted? It was during a rather ribald discussion with some of my motor cycling friends that the question arose -- what is the motorcycling equivalent of an Austin Allegro? My Austin Allegro is a particularly nice example but that doesn't stop them taking the piss out of it. I know that it is not one of the world's greatest cars and some people voted these chubby little cars the worst ones of all time but I like to point out that much of the Allegro's vital organs are shared with the Mini, which, at about the same time, was voted the greatest car of all time. It seems odd to me that two cars with the same engine, gearbox and the clutch from the same manufacturer, and with suspension systems that follow the same damperless and space saving concept, could be both the best and the worst between them. But, as we say in Cornwall, "There it is and there you are." And as some deeply philosophical type might also say, "Less is more." After a great deal of...
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