Engine Punk

It was the sight of this car that persuaded me to swot up on me Coopers. I knew it was a Cooper Bobtail because I could read the programme at the VSCC Hillclimb at Wiscombe. But what was a Cooper Bobtail when it was at home? Or racing at a hillclimb? At first I dismissed it as a single seater. These seem anti-social to me. But then I realised you could seat another person in it at a pinch and came to view it as a kind of 1950s McLaren F1. There are several reasons for this layout. One is that the Cooper Type 39 was based on the 500cc record breaker, which was itself based on the good old 500cc that Cooper pioneered. These little "D wagens" are the only single seaters that I really like. Another reason was that arch rivals Kieft had just done something similar. A passenger was technically possible but in practice had to be very small. But if you don't want any passengers, you just pull up the draw bridge. Many years ago I found a copy of Racing and Sports Car Chas...

Amid the "scurrying kindergarten" of Austin 7 specials at the VSCC Wiscombe Park hillclimb this year was Simplicity , probably the most famous baby Austin special of all time. Simplicity's reputation was established long ago by introducing many first time drivers to motorsport and these feats of derring-do, mishap and success were chronicled by its creator Jack French, who trail blazed the cause of affordable motor racing in austere post war Britain. I only know of Simplicity 's legendary status thanks to Alan Staniforth's excellent Race and Rally Car Source Book , in which he gives examples of DIY racers. There are also details of some cars produced in factories but only by way of inspiration to the keen DIYer. There are several Austin 7 specials in this book that still fascinate me but Simplicity is the one that inspired and catalysed so much and so many that came later. In his own words, Jack French wanted to "demonstrate that any effective and cheap fo...

This bike caught my eye at the Tavistock Steam fair. It's a BSA pre-unit twin frame fitted with a Honda CB550 engine. And to my eye it looks like the Honda engine fits very well although there is a bit of space above it under the tank. The frame isn't quite bursting with engine so I'm wondering if a CB750 engine would fit. But if it did have a 750 engine there wouldn't be all that space for ease of servicing. The handlebar fairing shows this bike has been built to ride. That's the beauty with specials - you feel more in touch with the creator's mind even more than you do with a mass-produced machine. It's the sort of bike I think more people should have made already - including BSA themselves - and it's giving me ideas, ideas of a cafe racer with similar lumpy bits. I once admired a mate's cafe racer and said how much I liked it, to which he got in a strop and said "It's not a cafe racer! It's an endurance racer!" There follo...

Although I appreciate their engineering, I don’t usually like single seater racing cars because two seaters seem more sociable with a passenger to – er – entertain with one’s driving but I’m more than willing to make an exception with this device. If you want a single seat vehicular conveyance you want a motorcycle, that's what you want. But I make an exception for this Vixen. Look at that engine. That's a Hillman Imp engine, that is. And look at that gearbox. That's an Imp gearbox - up-side-down! I’ve only ever seen a Vixen once before, many years ago at an Imp Club National, so imagine my surprise when one turned up at Wiscombe Park Hillclimb on 8th May 2010. It had so many features of constructional interest that I couldn’t stop photographing it in the paddock. Eventually my less than subtle activities came to attention of Penny and Andrew Coughlan, the owners and drivers, but this allowed me to ask them questions. The Vixen was originally built in 1968 for the...

My C15D - Mighty Whitey - looks like a Friesian cow at the moment, thanks to flaking paint on (or rather off) the new bonnet. It doesn't look like I'd keyed the black primer coat sufficiently when I applied the grey primer and white paint. I used the remains of the cellulose paint with which I'd sprayed the van several years previously (well, have you seen the cost of it nowadays?) and reckon the paint had passed its shelf life. Anyway, what's flaked off has flaked off and I'm encouraging the rest of it to come off with a small knife. It's laborious but doesn't harm what's underneath as much as sanding. It also gives the sort of surface the "shabby chic" VW boys and girls like to have on their old vans. Personally I'd like my van to be painted properly. I recently fell into conversation with someone while I was turning up at a campsite in the old fun bus. "That's an old van," he said. "Have you had any trouble with t...

This is a little old-fashioned for my usual taste but I'm hailing it as a Vintage Thing as I think it's another fine example of the internal combustion engine as Steam Punk and it's at completely the opposite end of the design spectrum from the monstrous Austin Hall-Scott ( Vintage Thing No.66 ). I like little cars as well as big cars - not to mention any in between - and admire the Carden cyclecar's flowing wings and obvious wooden construction that make it look like a portly aeroplane. It's also received an honorary mention on Engine Punk before now because it arrived at the 2010 VSCC Wiscombe Park hillclimb in the back of a Citroen Berlingo. Unlike the Austin Hall-Scott, which is a relatively recent creation, the Carden dates from 1921. It was designed by Sir John Valentine Carden who is better known for his work on armoured tracked vehicles, subsequently becoming  a director of Vickers. That was all later - for his cyclecar, Sir John used a monocoque ...

If anyone doubts that an internal combustion engine can ever be steam punk then here's the proof. Ladies & gentlemen, brothers & sisters, fiends & frankensteins, I give you the 10-litre Austin Hall-Scott of Edward Way. Engine and chassis were only recently introduced to each other by Oliver Way who was also responsible for Vintage Thing No.18 the Salamanda special, as well as the rejuvenated Mrs Jo Jo . I'm now thinking that when there is another Steam Punk exhibition, one of Oliver Way's creations ought to be included. The trick, of course, is to make it look like everything had been bolted together in one of the garages at Brooklands and used and appreciated every since. The Austin Hall-Scott has just the right amount of patina and epitomises one of the steam punk aims to recreate what a gentleman amateur scientist might have invented (with the help of his butler). If it's a little debauched, then so much the better. A couple of years ago at Wis...

The Undertones were the big draw for me at Volksfest and were predictably brilliant. In the programme for the event they were modestly described as specialising in 3 chord songs lasting 3 minutes. Who could ask for more? Not when they're so beautifully crafted as this. Paul McLoone electrified the audience but, in the course of leaping around to achieve this, pulled out the lead from Michael Bradley's bass. But that's pure rock'n'roll and nobody seemed to mind, least of Mr Bradley. In fact, The Undertones come over as a bunch of mates, out on the road, having a great time playing together and making each other laugh in between the songs. They played all our old favourites plus some of the newer songs from Get what you need , which is a cracking album. I'd like more of this please. It was interesting that Teenage kicks was not the encore. This honour fell to Over you , which is probably my absolute fave because I can play it on my git-argh, although not...