On Automotive Continuation Page 1:
  Automotive Apocrypha - continued.
  Amphicar.
  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!, and
  Old 16 Locomobile

On Automotive Continuation Page 2:
  Gasoline Brands (moved from main page on 25 Jan 03),
  Automotive Slogans (moved from main page on 25 Jan 03),
  Nomenclature - automotive terms (moved from continuation page 1 on 25 Jan 03).
  Classic Cars.
  Woodlites.

On Odd Streets - highways and byways:
    An Odd NY City Street

Actually - the surprise is that I got so much material from Stan that I created completely separate pages on my sbiii.com domain, where I have moved all new material from this page and much more, as of 21 Aug and 14 Nov 2007 (this page is now more-or-less CLOSED!) {BUT see below}:   (28 Jul 09)

[Material restored to this page 14 Nov 2007:]

Who remembers Stan Mott's fabulous Cyclops automobile, which graced the pages of John Bond's great Road & Track Magazine in the 60s?  Well, Stan does!

The Cyclops was a tongue-in-both-cheeks concoction built in Italy of old Cinzano signs and vaguely similar in shape to today's VW Beetle II (i.e. - a half-cylinder), it had both sides identical and a huge Lucas P-100 headlamp centered in the front.  There was no transmission, differential, clutch, or starter, or any other fancy doodads; the single cylinder was mounted vertically at the rear and the conn rod connected directly to a cranked real axle!  You just stuck your foot through the floor and pushed back to start it going forwards and v.v.  It sat on two fore-and-aft elliptical spring leaves.  Stan had an absolutely brilliant idea one time; to ship them over here cheaply (they couldn't afford a ship), they turned the little buggers over into the harbor, lashed a bunch together as a giant raft, and floated them across the pond!

There were Cyclops races and rallyes, concours d'elegance, road tests, etc.  It was grand fun!

Since I couldn't originally get permission to reproduce one of Stan Mott's Cyclops pictures, I had sketched it out (very roughly) from memory (no plagiarism or copyright violation for me!):

MY TRUE LOVE RETURNS TO MY LIFE!

Ca. 15 Mar 99, Tom Gaffney (another "III") sent me a link to what appeared to be Stan Mott's own site; it has since dropped off the face of the earth, further prompting the creation of this page.

Roger, self-styled{?} as the "Ministry of British Operations" {sic}, advised (27 Jun 99) that I'm wrong; he stated "Cyclops II had a cranked rear axle but there was a chain drive from the engine to the wheel under the seat to which the drive rods were connected."

No way (sez I)!  Leave it to a Brit to misunderstand a good Eyetalian design (speaking only of the Cyclops I)!

Pur Sang DEMANDS my version of the Cyclops I be correct (in addition to a refusal to admit failing memory due to old age - we get so much input that we have trouble filing and locating it!).

Until Stan personally corrects(?) me (which he since has), I shall stand staunchly by my version; one cylinder connected directly to a cranked axle!  If I'm wrong, I shall stand stanchly by (the blood, don'cha know?).  Now that Stan has set me straight, I still flatly refuse to acknowledge any possibility of my being wrong!

AHA! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - see the new site for the Cyclops Simplice!.

On 12 Nov 00, Robert Cumberford, writing as Technical Director, Automobili Cyclops SpA, tied down the Cyclops II drivetrain as follows:  "the very rational Piero Martini had a separate engine in the rear of the bodywork (except in the first series of model II, where the engine lived outside, behind the body, its spark plug protected by a small all-season umbrella).  It drove forward by chain to a double-crank jackshaft, from which two rods linked downward and rearward to the double-crank rear axle, which of course had no differential.  This is the famous Torque-Whip Drive (the name is registered, copyrighted and otherwise protected).  Thus it is possible to remove and replace the multi-valve single cylinder engine without disassembling the driveline."  I stand corrected to a degree but deny the outside engine; not even the Cyclops I had any such outlandish arrangement (sez I; Stan - help me!).  Mr. Cumberford stated the next day that "you've never seen or heard of the Cyclops I, a machine known only to Mott, me, and Piero, who made it with his own hands."  I don't buy that; I'd swear there was an exceedingly basic model that preceded the "II" but can't prove it.  Mr. C. also wrote, "But as to the external engine placement, take a look at Beyond Belief, the Amazing Story of the Cyclops II, Road & Track, March 1957" (my copy is squirreled away and inaccessible); my irreverent response was, "you Cyclopean folks are sly and may well have planted that version then just to trip me up today!"

The lost Cyclops Website noted above had, in addition to construction drawings for the Cyclops II, a drawing of the Cyclops Model V-1 ENGINE (the world's first V1), that mysterious and incredibly powerful one cylinder, air cooled, 5 spark plug, 15l overhead valve grand prix engine that powered Cyclops to victory in the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix, AND, as if that weren't enough, there was an actual drawing showing the underside of the cylinder head to that Cyclops V-1 one cylinder 5 spark plug overhead valve V1 engine!  In the vernacular, THIS ya gotta see!

[You now CAN see all this on the new Cyclops page on sbiii.com!]

On 26 Dec 2006, I heard from Mike Walton, who remembered reading about the Cyclops at age 17, and one thing that sticks in his mind was that the extraction of the spark plug(s) required a special tool and was done through the tailpipe!  Oh, my; forgot that bit - thanks, Mike!

Whooie!  On 08 Jan 2007, along came Don Struke of Baltimore with real, honest-to-Gosh pix of the Cyclops at the Watkins Glen CanAm ca. 1976!  That's his friend "Cheryl at the helm, quaffing a Pabst before attacking the Glen course record".  "Note lightweight portable parking brake in front of right wheel".  Photos are IDed as "GlenGP" but Don spotted (and remembered) the Glen Can-Am decal on the windshield in the front end closeup:

[Thumbnailed images; click on pictures for larger images.]
(Photos ca. 1976 by, courtesy of, and © D. Struke - all rights reserved)

Thanks a million, Don!

Whoa!  Here comes Don again, on 28 Jul 2009, with the definitive story on the above Glen pix (which I quote nearly verbatim):   (28 Jul 09)

"I thought you might like a look at this story of one imaginary day in the life of Cyclops, which I wrote a lifetime ago.  I probably should have sent it when I sent the photos {above}; yep, that's Cheryl (still working on that Pabst), but I think I was unable to find it.  I'd blame my secretary but the last one I had is in a retirement home somewhere, I'm sure.  This appeared just once in print, in the Washington, D.C. SCCA region's newsletter, maybe five years ago.

Elegant body design evolved from many hours of research by Cyclops R&D in the Aeronautica Prova wind tunnel.

Focus on building a light-weight race car is demonstrated by clever parking brake, in front of right front tire.  Factory test driver is shown preparing for another “go” while several dozen Cyclops engineers hover in the background at the ready.

New Cyclops competition coupe is crammed with high-tech features.  Rear-mounted power plant shares engine bay with ingenious plug-in Pabst coolant pack. Beefy suspension components are said to be at least as reliable as those found on the 1958-61 Lotus Elite.

Photos by Don Struke

Somewhere in the Finger Lakes Region, October 1978 – by Don Struke

Reports by our European correspondent of a rumored onslaught by Cyclops S.A. in professional racing were bolstered with the appearance of the stunning machine shown here during the recent Watkins Glen Grand Prix weekend.

Flown in from the Cyclops America research center in Michigan and tended by many men in baggy yellow coveralls, the technologically-packed beauty was the star of the paddock area.  Language barriers hindered detailed discussion with Cyclops corporate representatives concerning the Italian industrial giant’s specific plans, but it is believed that successful testing in Europe (most probably at Ferrari’s Fiorano facility) proved that relatively minor modifications are necessary to allow the car’s debut on the Continent next season.

This particular car was fitted with a half-liter engine normally aspirated, but turbo power with twin Garrett AirResearch T-30 units has been explored.

Although in that configuration the car tends to pop wheelies (all four), downforce developed by the body’s truncated Clark NACA airfoil shape eventually will overcome lift created by overzealous motoring in the Turbo Cyclops.

Apparently “eventually” is the key word, because some scuffing and grass stains were visible along the roof edges of a carbon fiber-bodied “test mule” upon its arrival in Modena from an overnight engine bedding-in run from Brussels.

Although non-competition Cyclops models are air-cooled, the sleek race car seen at the Glen is beer-cooled.  Sprint races will call for the vehicle to utilize one regular 24-can case of Pabst throwaways, but team members said enduro outings will require Strohs cold packs (patented), most likely in dual or triple applications.

Heavy track traffic at the Glen prevented extensive trials but the car, while no match for the faster F1 machinery in its current stage of development, did at least one lap quick enough to place it almost near the rear of last year’s Glen Vintage Race.  Famed Austro-Anglo driver Wilhelm von Hagerty did not disappoint his Cyclops bosses, hustling the snarling special through the uphill chicane and along the back straight and posting times that proved the Cyclops R&D boys had “done their homework.”  Much credit undoubtedly is due to the machine’s hunkered-down stance and sophisticated suspension.

In the States the Cyclops program is overseered by Ing. Pablo “Snake” Engelhardt, who of course is well known in engineering circles and to American consumers for his superlative designs for CinzaMat, the Cyclops laundry equipment line.

Details of the company’s competition plans in the U.S. are sketchy at this writing, but it is confirmed that the Michigan property rental has been renewed and initial queries have been made on the West Coast towards leasing the old Shelby factory in Venice, California.  Engelhardt said that Cyclops S.A. was willing to invest heavily in its U.S. interests because the new race car shares many components with the company’s soon-to-be-introduced commercial clothes dryer line.  “Except for sure we have no coin slot in the macchina da corsa,” he pointed out.

(28 Jul 2009 Berlinerwerke photo by, and © 2009 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

Kick-up at rear of Cyclops side windows -

Note that there are two versions of the Cyclops II - one has full-arc side windows, as shown on the original R&T sketches, while the other is apparently a later concept, with a kick-up at the rear with three small diagonal louvres:   (22 Aug 07)

(images from and © S. Mott - all rights reserved)

---

[Thumbnailed images; click on pictures for larger images.]
(25 Jul 2007 photos ca. by, and © S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

[In fairness, I should acknowledge that the basic Cyclops image was liberated from the site of (apparently) one D. Loukota*, who claims (falsely) to have the "Official Cyclops Site" and half of whose text was cribbed directly from mine with no credit, and the power pack is from a model of an Oshkosh-McNeilus concrete mixer.]

[* - Loukota writes, "In the late 50's my friends and I were very interested in hot rods and sports cars.  One day Bob Campbell and a few others made a crude working model of the car (I was the only one that would fit inside).  We drove it through the pits at the now long gone Riverside Raceway.  20 minutes later it was sold to some guy for $200.  A good deal at the time because it only cost about $25 to build."  (Loukota is writing about a working Cyclops II.)]

I created completely separate Cyclops and Stan Mott pages on my sbiii.com domain, where I have moved all new material from this page and much more, as of 21 Aug and 14 Nov 2007 (this page is now more-or-less CLOSED!):