[kiosokkn]

Do you remember this little beauty, I had one when I was courting and money was very tight, from memory it did about 250 miles per gallon and saved energy and money, it made the hills so easy and could get up to about 30mph and no road tax. Just for the record that is not me in the picture

The Trojan Minimotor was designed in 1946 by Vincenti Piatti and by 1948 was being manufactured, under licence, by the Trojan company of Croydon (the same company which made the well known Trojan vans used by Brooke Bond).
It must be remembered that in the years immediately following the war, Europe was desperate for transport. Nevertheless, it must have been quite a feat to have sold over 100,000 units by 1951.
The beauty of the Minimotor lies in its simplicity. The small two-stroke cylinder is hung beneath the petrol tank with one end of the crankshaft driving the magneto and the other end having a drive roller to bear on the rear tyre. There is no clutch but instead a handlebar lever operating a cable mechanism to raise or lower the engine onto the tyre. A small carburettor regulates the petrol flow, by handlebar control. Apart from the lifting mechanism that's all there is to it.
With easy, open access to the engine this really was a motor which could be decarbonised during your lunch break.
This is one of the early Mk I models; it lacks a decompressor and the handlebar lever pulls the engine down onto the tyre. This makes control of my early model, interesting.......... One is used to a 'clutch' lever engaging the drive when released, but on this early unit it works the other way round, squeezing the control engages drive, releasing it frees the drive, and this takes a certain mental agility, at least on the maiden ride!

Any comments?? Have you memories to share??

[VIAGRA-VIAGRA]

30 MPH!! I'm amazed, is that down hill??

[tadacia]

No, on the level with a slight tail wind

[Peertantyb]

They played havoc with the tyres though

[Bemapayople]

There was also the Cyclemaster

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pattle/nacc/arc0322.htm

[obegeLype]

A musical nostalgia trip, how many recall Willis Connover presenting Music USA on Voice of America?

When I was in the Middle East with the RAF in trhe mid 1950s I used to listen most evenings on short wave.

[ttiokjbnhjjillp]

I never heard that station Mike but I do remember 'AFN' American Forces Network They broadcast some great Jazz

[Kryfamid]

I like listening to old radio programmes on the internet. This is probably of more interest to UK listeners (sorry), but I remember listening as a child to the Clitheroe Kid, and who can forget Hancocks half hour, and of course The Navy Lark. Does anyone remember "Have a go?"with Wilfred Pickles, I have memories of going to one of his shows. They don't seem to make comedy like they used to, or is my age catching up with me.


Margaret

[Maribellin]

Margaret, You want BBC Radio 7, Goon show today (Thursday) at 0800, 1200 or 1900. available for 7 days on iplayer. Tomorrow same times Kenneth Williams - Stop Messing about; Monday, Dad's Army (Radio adaptation); Tuesday TIFH; Wednesday H-h-h-h-hancocks H-h-h-h-half H-h-h-h-hour. Plus repeats of ISIRTA. When they finish a series of one show they run another, Navy Lark, Clitheroe Kid, Much Binding, Beyond out Ken, round the Horne and others.

Each episode is available on BBC iplayer for 7 days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio7/programmes/schedules

[Abaanto]

I never heard that station Mike but I do remember 'AFN' American Forces Network They broadcast some great Jazz

True, VOA was aimed at Eastern Europe mainly, but they had a floating station in the Med by one of the Greek Islands, I think that's what we picked up in Egypt and Cyprus.

[nasdfrdg]

Thanks for that Mike, that is what I use. I love all the old programmes.


Margaret

[vigraxtru]

Subject: Remember the corner shop?

Grandad was reminiscing about the good old days....................




"When I were a young fella,in dream time, my mother would send me down 　t'corner store wi' a shilling, and I'd come back wi' five pounds o' potatoes, two loaves o' bread, three pints o' milk, a pound o' cheese, a packet o' tea, an' 'alf a dozen eggs, and a packet tobacco.Yer can't do that now.
Too many damm security cameras."　　

[Peertantyb]

The house I'm now living in was a corner shop "when I were a lad"

[Saad Khan]

I remember the grocers shop we went to, Mr Westrop the owner would give us sweets from a big jar. The butcher and baker would deliver, on a bike I suspect. The shop I loved most was an old fashioned book shop, it was a cavern of old books.

I remember when I worked and lived in a remote village, the grocer came round in an old bus.


Margaret

[joOEMcheapSOFTWARE]

I remember having a milk box and having ice cold milk delivered in glass bottles! The milk tasted much better in glass bottles. I also loved cinnamon raisin bread which was delivered too. Hmmmmm

I remember making raids on our neighbors gardens and fruit trees. Only way my friends and I would eat vegetables. Each one of us would have responsibility to bring either salt or a knife or mayonaise to slather on whatever vegetables we could get! What fun!!

[halyshitzob]

I like listening to old radio programmes on the internet. This is probably of more interest to UK listeners (sorry), but I remember listening as a child to the Clitheroe Kid, and who can forget Hancocks half hour, and of course The Navy Lark. Does anyone remember "Have a go?"with Wilfred Pickles, I have memories of going to one of his shows. They don't seem to make comedy like they used to, or is my age catching up with me.


Margaret

I remember all of those plus, The Goons and beyond our Ken, 'ITMA' does that ring a bell ? no its not your age its these youngsters have a different sense of humor. Dick Barton, Paul Temple.

[ImmitsRom]

no its not your age its these youngsters have a different sense of humor. Or lack thereof.

(For Goons etc repeats see link to BBC7 in earlier post)

[XGoFivk7]

Yes, there will never be more Goons, that show was a one off.

I love this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jovKdnhRC5Q

[Malinguenem]

The opening post reminded me of my current two-wheeled ride. However, before I tell you about it- a little background, first.

Back in the day, Schwinn's major plant was a location on Kostner Ave. in Chicago, IL, USA. In fact, there was a person or two in our community that made a living working at that plant. Well, anyway-- in my mid-teens, I was given a red Schwinn LeTour. It was a little over 30 pounds, and built like a brick (****-house). The steel that went into the frame probably came from the work of other neighbors such as the ones who worked the mills of US Steel & Bethlehem Steel in Gary, IN, Inland Steel at Indiana Harbor, or Wisconsin Steel on the South Side of the City.

The underlying point of this was- the manufacturer was confident that it was built like brick- to the point that they offered a life-time frame guarantee. Any frame failure- they replaced the frame-- no questions asked. Now, I put enough youthful energy and questionable riding-surface choices into that ride that I actually collected on the frame guarantee. Only thing was- they no longer made the LeTour, so I instead got the frame for the Super LeTour- perhaps one of the last frames to roll off the line of the Kostner Ave. plant prior to its closing. [The story is on the front-plate: mine says "Schwinn/Chicago," foreign-made frames made after the plant-closing say "Schwinn/Quality."]

That frame was made over 30 years ago- and has seen some spirited use, as well- but it's still going strong. I've had occasional looks at more "modern" bikes, and discovered that to replace the one I have with a similar model would cost over $600.00. So, when I'm two-wheelin' it, I'm still aboard my "classic." And- after a fashion, I find some balance and symmetry to the fact that my bike & me came into being in the same town.

[Pasy]

OK from bikes to cars, anybody go back this far?

Ford Model A around 1930, Canadian Ford V8 1935 roadster, Austin 7s around 1933-37 (Taken at a classic car show 2003)