Tricycle undercarriage late 1950s

[Airspeed]

This beast was at a camping site which we stayed at in the late 1950s, probably Devon or Cornwall:

[Nigel H-J]

Might be wrong but to me it looks very much as though it is French made, possibly a Citroen?

Remember my father once pointed out that three wheelers were death traps if you happened to brake on a corner as all the weight is transfered to the front near-side/off-side. Not long after he said that we came across a Robin Reliant three wheeler upside down after a bend!!

Regards
Nigel.

[Tako_Kichi]

I wouldn't call 3-wheelers death traps but they did have to be treated with respect and driven to suit the conditions. I had one for a few months over the winter of 78/79 as I only had a motorcycle licence and didn't want to ride my bike through another winter. It was a lot of fun but you did have to drive it intelligently and not like a moron. My older brother drove them for years and even towed camping trailers behind them with two adults and two kids in the car with no issues. IIRC Dave B also had a long history with them as his dad had one (or more) when he was a kid.

[simondix]

I remember when I was a child in the late 1950's I was living in Westminster the GPO ha three wheeler Scammels for hauling trailers.

[blanston12]

Of course they are perfectly safe.

https://youtu.be/QQh56geU0X8

[Molyned]

Hmm - Larry - I trust you had the reverse gear position securely blanked off in view of your m/c licence .
I knew one bod who had the blanking plate surreptitiously loosened for clandestine removal. That was in a Messerschmitt (or was it a Heinkel ) bubble car.
Cheers
Dave M(oly)

[Tako_Kichi]

Nope I had a fully working reverse. I think that restriction had been lifted by the late 70s as I don't remember anyone having a 3-wheeler with no reverse.

I know my older brother fell foul of the 3-wheeler on a MC licence rules when he bought a BMW-Isetta bubble car in the late 60s or early 70's. Most bubble cars were 3-wheelers and therefore could be driven on a MC licence, unfortunately my brother didn't look too closely at the car when he bought it and it was only after he got it home he discovered that he couldn't drive it as the BMW-Isetta had twin wheels at the back! It was therefore classed as a car and not covered by the MC licence rules.

[Tako_Kichi]

Of course they are perfectly safe.

https://youtu.be/QQh56geU0X8

In my original post I said "It was a lot of fun but you did have to drive it intelligently and not like a moron" and you posted a clip of one of the world's biggest morons driving like the tw@t he is! He deliberately rolled that Robin by instigating a sudden and hard left turn on an adverse camber at a speed that was ridiculously high for joining a highway from a T-junction. If you watch the video closely you can see him yank hard on the wheel to intentionally upset the balance and thus instigate the roll. I bet if he did the same thing in one of the small SUVs (like a Suzuki Vaterra which also had a bad reputation for rolling over) it would do the same thing. Incidentally, if he had turned right instead of left at that junction he would have had no story to tell as the Robin would never have rolled on a right turn as his fat a$$ would have kept the inside wheel nailed to the road!

Left turns must be treated with respect when driving any 3-wheeler as sidecars will lift the inside wheel on left hand turns too if they are not executed correctly. The example in the video would not have happened if he had had a front seat passenger either as their weight would have prevented the inside wheel from coming up. If he had flicked the steering wheel to the right and back as the inside wheel started to lift he would have corrected the roll and again there would have been no story to tell.

Bottom line is that the video was deliberately set up to play on the myth that 3-wheelers are dangerous. I know I could make that same turn 100 times and never have the inside wheel lift once!

[Tako_Kichi]

I remember when I was a child in the late 1950's I was living in Westminster the GPO ha three wheeler Scammels for hauling trailers.

When I was a kid growing up all the milk floats in our area were electric powered 3-wheelers.

[Airspeed]

I'm pretty sure that we had a few 3 wheeler Scammels in our Dinky fleet when I was a lad.
Research makes me think that the photo is of a converted Reliant 10cwt:
https://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/l ... es_reliant