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BSA B50 MX – The Last Competition Motorcycle Ever Built By BSA

The BSA B50 MX was the final competition motorcycle ever built by BSA, a proud British motorcycle manufacturer who had built a staggering number of race winning motorcycles over its decades long history.

As the name suggests, the B50 MX was the motocross version of the standard B50. It was designed exclusively for off road competition with as much weight saving as possible, the final production motorcycle tipped the scales at approximately 300 lbs or 136 kgs.

The B50 is powered by a single-cylinder, four-stroke, air-cooled 499cc OHV unit-construction engine producing 34 hp and sending power to the rear wheel via a 4-speed transmission. The model uses a tubular steel duplex cradle frame with oil stored in the top tube, and it has standard drum brakes front and back.

BSA produced the B50 in three distinct model variations, the BSA B50SS (Street Scrambler), the BSA B50T (Trail), and the BSA B50MX (Motocross). Production lasted from 1971 until 1973, after which time BSA ceased to function but a small number of B50s were still sold rebadged as the Triumph TR5T Trophy.

Despite the relatively low production numbers the B50 did still enjoy some successes on the race track thanks to specially modified bikes built by Mead & Tomkinson in England. These bikes would win the Zolder 24 Hour race outright and take class wins in the 1971 Thruxton 500 Miler and the Barcelona 24 Hours, they also set a class lap record in the Production Isle of Man TT.

By the time BSA released the B50 series of motorcycles in 1971 the British had enjoyed decades of dominance as one of the world’s leading motorcycle producers, and one of the most successful builders of four-stroke, off-road racing motorcycles.

Above Image: The B50MX is a popular lightweight scrambler with a reliable 500cc single-cylinder engine, and this one is fully road legal.

It would be the late 1960s and early 1970s that would see this period of success come to an end for the Brits, two stroke motorcycles from the likes of Husqvarna and other European manufacturers had been chipping away at their lead but it would be the arrival of fast, inexpensive motorcycles from Japan that would mark the end of the British motorcycle industry.

Sadly for the B50 it wasn’t able to compete with the inexpensive, lightweight, and very quick two-stroke motorcycles that had come to dominate off-road motorcycle racing. The downfall of BSA and many other marques was directly attributable to poor company management and product planning, whereas the actual motorcycles themselves were often great.

The BSA B50 has now become a popular lightweight vintage scrambler with plenty of torque and a much lighter, more manageable construction that makes it easier to ride off road than other British off roaders of the era like the Triumph TR6 and the Norton P11.

The BSA B50MX you see here was first registered in the USA in April of 1974, it was later imported back into Britain and re-registered with the DVLA. It now benefits from a top-end engine rebuild including new piston rings, full gearbox and clutch inspections, and the fitment of lights and a horn to ensure that it’s now road legal.

The bike is currently listed for sale on Collecting Cars with 6 days left to bid, bidding currently sits at £4,000 with 4 bids cast. If you’d like to read more about it or make a bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

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For Sale: A Goggomobil Cutaway Engine

This is a Goggomobil cutaway engine, it’s had parts cut out to show the internal workings, probably either for mechanic training or public display for promotional purposes.

The engine itself is an air-cooled, parallel twin two-stroke that would have originally been intended for installation into the back of one of the must endearing German cars of its time – the Goggomobil (pronounced “Go Go Mobile”).

Microcars like the Goggomobil model family proved hugely popular in the years after World War II in Europe. The entire continent was suffering under a heavy burden of austerity, meaning that access to things like steel, glass, rubber, and gasoline were severely limited.

Once work around for this was to build very, very small cars that used minimal materials in their construction and sipped fuel abstemiously.

The Goggomobil T250 was first introduced to the world at the 1954 IFMA International Bicycle and Motorcycle Show to a bemused audience. The tiny little car had undeniably cute styling, seating for two, independent swing axle front and rear suspension, and a rear mounted two-stroke engine.

Above Image: The original engines were built with swept capacities ranging from 245cc, to 293cc, to 392cc and power levels including 13.6 hp, 14.8 hp, and 18.5 hp.

The Goggomobil was originally developed by Hans Glas GmbH which was later sold to BMW, and the Goggomobil would stay in production from 1955 until 1969 across three main model lines. There was also an unusual antipodean member of the family, the Goggomobil Dart, which had a body developed in Australia fitted to a chassis from Germany.

Original surviving Goggomobils are now sought after by collectors, and it’ll likely be a collector who buys this unusual piece of microcar history when it crosses the auction block with RM Sotheby’s in May.

If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing, at the time of writing there’s no price guide and the weight is listed as 110 lbs.

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Willys Jeep Station Wagon Camper – An Original Overlanding Rig From 1949

This Willys Jeep Station Wagon was converted into an overlanding and camping vehicle using many of the same additions that people add to their vehicles nowadays, including a roof mounted A-frame tent with ladder, roof rack mounted storage, and roof rack mounted water tanks.

The concept of motor vehicle camping has been around almost as long as the automobile, and of course many of our ancestors ventured out on long cross-country journeys in horse drawn carts that were set up with canvas roofs and living accommodations.

The Arrival Of The Willys Jeep Station Wagon

The camping and outdoor recreational boom that occurred in the United States and many other western nations in the years after WWII led to a surge in new companies offering a wide variety of camping equipment and other accessories for Americans setting off on adventures.

American automobile manufacturers weren’t slow to cash in on this trend either, with Willys quickly producing civilian versions of their indestructible WWII-era Jeep. Countless GIs had driven and/or ridden in Jeeps in the war, the tough little 4×4 was deployed across Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific meaning that it became a familiar sight to millions.

Many of these GIs had fallen in love with the challenge of off-road driving during the war and in the post war years they went in search of Jeeps they could use for weekend adventures. Willys unveiled the Jeep Station Wagon in 1946, just a year after the war had ended. It was the world’s first mass-produced, all-steel station wagon and it proved an instant success – with over 300,000 built between 1946 and 1964.

The body of the new Willys Station Wagon was designed by Brooks Stevens, one of America’s most highly respected industrial designers and a man who singlehandedly designed a staggering range of products. Stevens designed everything from cars and motorcycles to trains, bicycles, boats, and even some things you may not have expected, like the Miller beer logo and the Weinermobile.

Above Image: The tent folds away for transport, in this image you can also more clearly see the cylindrical water tank on the side of the roof rack.

Many of the parts used under the steel Brooks Stevens body were sourced from the Willys Jeep initially as there was no shortage of supply after wartime production had ended. The first Willys Station Wagon was powered by the L-134 Go Devil flathead inline-four cylinder engine, and a slew of other components from the original Jeep were used. This had the added benefit of keeping costs down, ensuring there was no shortage of mechanics who could work on the vehicle, and it meant that there were plenty of spare parts available.

Willys updated the model relatively quickly over its early life, with uprated engines and a growing options list. Four-wheel drive was offered for the first time in 1949 and the considerably more powerful 6-226 Super Hurricane flathead inline-six engine was offered in 1954.

It would be the Willys Jeep Station Wagon that would establish the company as a major manufacturer of civilian off-road vehicles, a role that it continues to fulfill today, albeit after the original company has been bought and sold a number of times.

The Station Wagon Camper Shown Here

The Station Wagon you see here is an excellent example of the kind of camping set up that was available to people back in the mid-20th century. The beautiful roof rack mounted tent folds open to reveal a classic A-frame structure that can sleep two comfortably, with occupants getting in and out via a small steel side ladder.

There are cylindrical water tanks on either side of the roof rack, they’re mounted up high so that they will have a little water pressure for rinsing pots and pans, showering, and washing the sand off after a trip to the beach. Around the back of the tent you’ll find a lockable storage box for things you might not want to store in the car, like fishing rods or wet clothing.

If you’re in the market for a 1940s-era adventure wagon this one is due to cross the auction block with RM Sotheby’s in May. At the time of writing there’s no price guide listed, you can click here if you’d like to visit the listing.

The post Willys Jeep Station Wagon Camper – An Original Overlanding Rig From 1949 appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/willys-jeep-station-wagon-camper/
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The Fiat Dino – A Fiat With A Ferrari Formula 2 Engine

The story behind the Fiat Dino is legendary. It’s a car that only exists because of a rule change for Formula 2 racing in the late 1960s, which after much wheeling and dealing with Enzo Ferrari, resulted in a handsome Fiat grand tourer fitted with a modified version of the Ferrari-designed engine from the company’s Formula 2 race car.

This rule change required F2 engines to have no more than six cylinders, and they needed to be based on a road-car engine with a minimum of 500 produced in any given year. This homologation requirement was beyond Ferrari’s production capabilities at the time and so Enzo Ferrari went looking for a solution.

The solution to this dilemma would be Fiat, the famous Italian automaker who needed a new halo car at the top of its model range. A deal was struck that included Ferrari engineers designing a version of the F2 engine for road use, this engine would then be built by Fiat and used in both the Fiat Dino and the Ferrari Dino.

Now some will be quick to point out that the original Ferrari Dino was in fact never called the Ferrari Dino, it was just called the Dino. Many enthusiasts and motoring history buffs refer to it as the Ferrari Dino for the simple fact that it was built by Ferrari, and this name helps to differentiate it from the other car to share its engine – the Fiat Dino.

By the mid-1960s Enzo Ferrari had noticed the popularity of the then-new Porsche 911 – a rear-engined six-cylinder sports car that was priced well below a Ferrari and which was selling in significant numbers. Enzo wanted to develop a competitor for the 911 but he didn’t want to dilute the Ferrari brand name, so instead he created a new marque named Dino in memory of his son who had died in 1956.

The Dino that the team at Ferrari designed would have the engine behind the driver just like the 911, though in a mid-engined position rather than rear-engined, it would also have six cylinders, it would sell for considerably less than a Ferrari, and it would prove slightly faster than its rival from Stuttgart.

Above Image: The engine that powered both the Fiat and Ferrari Dino, a lightweight all-alloy 2.0 litre V6.

The Fiat Dino was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Bertone, it looked nothing like its Ferrari-built sibling with its engine instead mounted up front and a passenger cabin that could accommodate four people, with space for luggage in the trunk.

Of course the centerpiece of the Fiat Dino is its engine, its design is said to be somewhat related to a V6 Formula 2 engine designed by Alfredo Ferrari in the 1950s before his death, though the Dino engine used in this application was a newer design by Vittorio Jano.

This V6 has a swept capacity of 1,987 cc, a 65º bank angle between the cylinders, double overhead cams per bank, an alloy block and heads, and hemispherical combustion chambers. It would later be offered in more powerful 2.4 litre form, however in its original 2.0 litre form it was capable of 180 bhp at 6,600 rpm and 120 lb ft of torque at 6,000 rpm. This power was sent back through a five-speed gearbox to a limited-slip differential.

The Fiat Dino has steel unibody construction, double wishbone independent front suspension, a live axle on leaf springs in the rear, and it has four wheel disc brakes. The performance and comfort of the Fiat Dino ensured it was a popular car when it was released, despite the fact that only 500 needed to be made for homologation Fiat would sell 1,133 of the first generation and 424 of the second generation.

The 1967 Fiat Dino Shown Here

The car you see here is a 1967 Fiat Dino that is presented in what is arguably the best color for the model – bright red. With just 25 miles on the odometer after a comprehensive restoration, this Dino is doubtless one of the best in the world and it’s about as close as anyone can possibly come to buying a brand new car.

During the restoration the car was fully disassembled and taken back to bare metal, the engine was rebuilt along with the transmission, and the completed car is now presented in immaculate condition throughout.

If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing on RM Sotheby’s. It’s due to roll across the auction block on the 22nd of May with a price estimate of $60,000 to $80,000 USD.