Brian S's Journal

Always loved the shape of the early thirty's MGs. Simple sporty lines, cars obviously designed for fun.
This one started out as two old MG badges and a spare Morrie eight grill I had lying around. Two achieve some resemblance to the original it needed to have the steering wheel on the right side giving the appearance of a two seater.
I was lucky to be gifted some hardwood 3 ply and some particularly handy bendy ply courtesy of a builder friend moving house. The latter perfect for tight curves such as bucket seats and bonnets[hoods].
Unfortunately some of the chassis steel I bought turned out to be a much heavier gauge than required so many hours were spent drilling holes and cutting sections out of it to lighten it.
The Morris grill sits below the dumb irons to accommodate the scale and the addition of a supercharger helps disguise it.
The car has the usual cyclekart details, 6.5 hp motor 17'' wheels mechanical disc brake, rack and pinion steering etc.
To give a period look I have covered the sides with green vinyl and varnished the hood.
Cheers B.

Unfortunately the Bugatti project has been put on hold, owing to the fact that my good friend for whom the Bug was intended had a serious accident, when a careless individual left the handbrake off his parked car and it ran down a slope crushing him into his own car. His injuries will keep him sidelined for a while and so I decided to embark on another project. I was gifted an old English steering box from the wonderful Mr. Mike thorpe and when i mounted it on the simple wooden ladder frame chassis, I decided because of the angle of the column it would suit the design of a veteran truck. I dont wish to upset the purist's of you out there but I never like to make two things the same and what could be more different than a Cyclekart truck. So here it is .. A 1910 Austin ''C cab'' tow truck. The tow truck idea came about when looking at it, it was all front and so to balance out the design i built a crane from an old ladder I never trusted. I'm sure that thing was out to get me every time I climbed it. 1910 Austin [Gittreiville] tow truck for the purpose of rescuing stranded and broken cyclekarts where ever they lie. Be it mechanical or emotional we will be there. [ Sir Henry [Tim] Birkin. At your service.
PS. Oh I almost forgot, when the cab and crane are removed it turns into a rather splendid roadster, It will have bucket seats, of course.

1924 Bugatti type 35 Grand Prix car,, hopefully to scale?? ,steel chassis and engine mounts etc. plywood frame sheathed in aluminium. Will seat two slim people or 1 1/2 regular bods. Lots of compound curves in this one,, wish me luck..B.

Repairs all done, spliced new chassis rails in, re/built the left fender, replaced broken seat hinges and road tested the Stutz. A couple of small bugs to iron out and she is ready for adventures.

Well, it was all done and looking good too, so i thought i would take her around to show a friend, and take him for a ride. All was going well until i turned to go up the final hill on the way home when about to pass a parked car i suddenly lost my steering...I had no time to brake and hit the rear end of my neighbors car at about 30 ks. The impact snapped both chassis rails and the passenger side fender. Luckily I was not hurt, the cars another story!!
The neighbor was extremely gracious about the whole thing and even towed me home. When building the Stutz I made sure all important nuts had a split pin through them. What had occurred her was the bolt that holds the steering shaft into the steering box universal came out, so the steering shaft came out of its housing. Tough lesson learnt. Double check everything. Brian S.

This is the fun part, putting together all those little finishing touches. Still a work in progress but coming together. Upholstery next..