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ArishMell · 70-79, M
Probably a Sharps Commercials 'Bond Minicar', which I could drive on a motorcycle licence as it was a light-weight 3-wheeler, with the single, driven wheel at the front.
Not to be confused with the better-known 'Bond Bug' - designed more as a fun or perhaps city commuting car than serious motoring - it had a 200cc Villiers 2-stroke motorcyle engine mounted on a column holding the front wheel. A link arrangement allowed the gears to be selected by column-change, but as a motorbike has no reverse gear,(unless it's a Cossack) Sharps came up with an ingenious solution.
The crankshaft was fitted with a motor/dynamo functioning as starter-motor with the key in a certain position, then with the key in the running position, as the dynamo. This enabled the engine itself to be started in reverse, using a secondary contact-breaker. As a emergency starter, the original kick-start was retained, but using that meant you had to open the bonnet, climb over the wing and stand in the engine compartment!
Steering was rather odd, and un-nerving at first due to its very direct response and curious geometry. It used a worm-and-quadrant on the head of the column holding the central engine/suspension assembly; rather like that on some early road-rollers. This placed the steering-wheel in a vertical plane with its own column at an angle to the car's axis, tending to make you sit in a slightly turned position. The horizontal steering-column passed through the dashboard and scuttle, which formed a box-section to hold the horizontal petrol tank feeding the carburettor by gravity alone.
Chassis: steel pressings; in semi-frame rather than pan form, as I recall. Body panels: some aluminium-alloy, some fibreglass; so not prone to serious corrosion.
Actually I had two of these beasts, the second one a heady 250cc machine; one in normal car trim the other a van; the difference being the former had a rear bench-seat and side windows. You could lift the seat out very easily, for maximum load area, but I doubt the car could carry much weight.
The end came when the crankshaft on the second broke at the taper holding the heavy, overhung Siba 'Dynastart' rotor, as the motor/dynamo was named, and although I obtained new parts, I decided it not worth repairing. I scrapped the Bond and sold the unused parts on.
If any of these quirky three-wheelers, which were a bit bigger than the better-known Reliants, still exist, you are likely to see them in restored condition at vintage-vehicle rallies!
So "crappiest? No, I would not be that unkind.
My examples were second-hand and fairly old, but in their day they probably fulfilled a need for low-cost, no-frills, simple transport not needing a full car licence; and if kept in good condition were probably no better or worse than many others of the "entry-level" cars of the time.
Not to be confused with the better-known 'Bond Bug' - designed more as a fun or perhaps city commuting car than serious motoring - it had a 200cc Villiers 2-stroke motorcyle engine mounted on a column holding the front wheel. A link arrangement allowed the gears to be selected by column-change, but as a motorbike has no reverse gear,(unless it's a Cossack) Sharps came up with an ingenious solution.
The crankshaft was fitted with a motor/dynamo functioning as starter-motor with the key in a certain position, then with the key in the running position, as the dynamo. This enabled the engine itself to be started in reverse, using a secondary contact-breaker. As a emergency starter, the original kick-start was retained, but using that meant you had to open the bonnet, climb over the wing and stand in the engine compartment!
Steering was rather odd, and un-nerving at first due to its very direct response and curious geometry. It used a worm-and-quadrant on the head of the column holding the central engine/suspension assembly; rather like that on some early road-rollers. This placed the steering-wheel in a vertical plane with its own column at an angle to the car's axis, tending to make you sit in a slightly turned position. The horizontal steering-column passed through the dashboard and scuttle, which formed a box-section to hold the horizontal petrol tank feeding the carburettor by gravity alone.
Chassis: steel pressings; in semi-frame rather than pan form, as I recall. Body panels: some aluminium-alloy, some fibreglass; so not prone to serious corrosion.
Actually I had two of these beasts, the second one a heady 250cc machine; one in normal car trim the other a van; the difference being the former had a rear bench-seat and side windows. You could lift the seat out very easily, for maximum load area, but I doubt the car could carry much weight.
The end came when the crankshaft on the second broke at the taper holding the heavy, overhung Siba 'Dynastart' rotor, as the motor/dynamo was named, and although I obtained new parts, I decided it not worth repairing. I scrapped the Bond and sold the unused parts on.
If any of these quirky three-wheelers, which were a bit bigger than the better-known Reliants, still exist, you are likely to see them in restored condition at vintage-vehicle rallies!
So "crappiest? No, I would not be that unkind.
My examples were second-hand and fairly old, but in their day they probably fulfilled a need for low-cost, no-frills, simple transport not needing a full car licence; and if kept in good condition were probably no better or worse than many others of the "entry-level" cars of the time.