Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
Washington, D.C., or vicinity circa 1912. "Automobile." One of three photos of a curiously tiny motorcar. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, National Photo Co.
It was the precursor to the Civic, the Honda 600, that had a 2 cylinder 600 cc motorcycle engine, water cooled.
So it has a fan, but no radiator? Very odd. The original Honda Civic also ran on a motorcycle engine, but I think it was water cooled, too. I don't recall the original VW bugs having fanblades. At least it's bigger than that one-person near toy we saw in an earlier post.
[Being air-cooled, the motor (below) has no radiator. The boxer engine in the VW Beetle was fan-cooled from the start; most air-cooled car engines have fans. The original Honda Civic had an inline four, not a motorcycle engine. - Dave]
A 1912 issue of Popular Mechanics has an ad for the Auto-Bob, a car kit with a 10 hp four-cylinder air-cooled engine.
[From the Conceptcarz website: "Jack Hickman, in 1914, advertised his small vehicle in East Pittsburgh which he called the Auto-Bob and offered for sale at $130 in kit form. A fully assembled example was just $150." - Dave]
I wish I knew the make of this cyclecar, but I don't. Cyclecars were a bit of a fad for a few years in the early 'teens. Their economical operation would be welcome again today.
I wonder where they put the radiator on this one.
[There is no radiator. - Dave]
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5