Vintage Thing No.66 - 1921 Carden cyclecar

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 structure using ⅜ inch fibreboard. 

Motive power comes from a 707cc parallel twin two-stroke engine laid on its side and mounted at the rear where it also doubles as a radius arm in the suspension system. A two-stroke engine would undoubtedly be lighter than a four-stroke of a similar capacity and theoretically would produce twice as many power strokes so could be seen as an astute choice.

But two-stroke development in the twenties still had a glorious future ahead of it.

There are effectively two separate engines mounted on either side of a common transmission

There were two gears, low gear on a layshaft and high gear consisting of direct drive from the crankshafts to a gear on the solid rear axle.

There is a cockpit mounted kickstart but I missed seeing this in action.

When new it would have cost £90 and proved quite popular, despite its unconventional design solutions. Front wheel brakes would endear it to me a bit more, especially if I had the chance to explore the performance.


I've no idea what output this engine gives but the handicap time to beat at Wiscombe was 95 seconds - twice what some cars were managing. But it's all up weight is apparently only 400lbs - that's 182kgs!


It's small, it's light and it's charming. The Carden cyclecar is another fine example of a Steam Punk automobile, although it probably owes more to the bicycle to a lumbering great steam lorry.