Motorbase.com

[Chris Thomas]

Dear Friends

You may be interested in the misinformation that exists on the following web site www.motorbase.com in the encyclopedia section they have an incomplete list of car engines and for each engine the list all the cars that used that engine along with a photograph.

Looking through the listings for the VW beetle flat4 cylinder engine, it lists amongst other the Vauxhall Cavalier, and for the A series BMC engine it lists the Peel Trident, Surly they mean a Peel Viking. I wonder how many other pieces of wrong information are on the same web site.

This poses the question should we do a similar thing with each of the under 700cc Villiers, Enfield, Sachs, BMW, Motobecane, Lambardini, Yanmar and other engines that have been used in Microcars over the years, as a point of reference?

Also should we publicly name and shame, books, Magazines and web sites that publish incorrect information about our beloved Microcars?

Chris Thomas

[Bob Purton]

Hi Chris I think its an excellent idea to have a microcar tec spec data base, most of the information must already exists in the rumcar files but I suspect not laid out as a data base like some of the sites you have been looking at and not so accessable either. All we need is a volunteer to do the job, someone with good writing and research skills and who doesnt own old microcars that take up all there sparetime. Looks like you got the job Chris!   

[Chris Thomas]

Dear Bob

Thank you for being the first to throw his hat into the ring with a comment.

Whilst I am good at making lists in the form of a spreadsheet. I am not sure how this could be best handled. Should it be on the forum, whereby everbody can add to it, or should it be on the website as a fixed list that is updated via the web master, or should it be something that is researched and compiled for Rumcar News and then uploaded onto the web site?

 I do not see the list ever being complete as we are always discovering rare Microcars. Also for each engine there are different generations and sizes which span the life of the model, and new models being developed.

As I see it all you guys with the Microcars know more about your individual engines than I ever will.

If we do it, we will need some good photographs of each individual engine (preferably not in a vehicle) and a good image of each Mocrocar model that uses that engine. This could take up a lot of memory.

More comments please

Chris Thomas

[marcus]

Inreresting idea, but it sounds like a huge amount of work. Mind you, you could get loads of facts from Wikepedia, which is almost as reliable as "a man in a pub" !
Sometimes incorrect information can be VERY hard to correct: I actually had an argument with a man who repeatedly told me that MY Trojan does not have a reverse gear, and his "neighbour" got stuck in a garage because of this.

[Chris Thomas]

Dear Bob and Marcus and anybody else that is listening

I have started the list of Microcar engines, and so far I have 21 and I know at least another 10 makes, for which I need to get more information. But as always you guys know more than I do, so a question for you. What make , model, cc, type (2 stroke, 4 stroke, Diesel, Electric), Cooling type, is the motor in your Microcar?

For instance the Sachs ADLX (Saxonette) engine is 47cc 2 stroke air cooled. But there is also a Sachs SC50 engine of 49.8cc 2 stroke, aircooled. so to just say Sachs 50cc would not be good enough.

Perhaps rather than clogging up the forum if people want to email me that would be OK tileroofconsult@btconnect.com

Do not forget to tell me what your Microcar is, otherwise the job will only be half done.

Many thanks

Chris Thomas

[Chris Thomas]

Dear all who are interested

Thank you to all of you who have contacted me by email

With your information and a little bit of research I have expanded the list of microcar engines to 53 manufacturers and 105 different engines, of sizes from 38 cc to 700cc, and the list is still growing. There may be up to 70 different engine manufacturers with over 150 different engines.

If anybody has done this excercise before please put me out of my agony  and let me see your list.

Many thanks again

Chris Thomas