Big Bamby!

[Bob Purton]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BAMBY-BAMBI-/310278169477?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item483e052385

Well the asking price is big anyway and it has a big engine!

[Big Al]

Daylight bigary in fact. Interest seems moped sized though.

[P50]

Have many left the country?

Does anybody want them save a few uber micro types?   

I mean you wan't a Bamby and there's one for sale.  I think 80's crap is a lose lose.  Next!!! 

[DrewS]

There are quite a few in the US I think, and you will probably see "gizmo" come up on the "$15k reliant robin in poo brown" dezer collection website in a few months, listed as a peel p50 and with an asking price of $300,000. Have to love the bamby, its an underdog.. and us brits love em! and you have to admire Alan Evans for having the (yorkshire) grit and determination to make them!! Think he might have struggled in modern britian with the health and safety, 5 star crash test culture!!

However for me I'd go for a Replicar Cursor!! that I believe had a lot of mini parts, including front brake drums but the same suzuki roadie engine, it always reminds me of a back to front mini bond bug... although probably well out of its depth on modern roads apart from a trip to your local tescos express for  one bag of shopping (which would include vodka and olive oil... to run the thing on being cheaper than petrol in this fair isle!!)

[Bob Purton]

Perry, But were not the Peels 1960's cr###! Look at how collectors value them now, whats stopping Bambys going the same way? I was under the impression that there were only about twenty Bambys made, perhaps daughter of Bamby can clarify?

[P50]

Perry, But were not the Peels 1960's cr###! Look at how collectors value them now, whats stopping Bambys going the same way? I was under the impression that there were only about twenty Bambys made, perhaps daughter of Bamby can clarify?

I agree Peels are indeed 60's crap!  but they don't have the X factor.  You can't polish a turd. But I concede you can roll it on glitter.

[DrewS]

I had heard that around 50 bambys were made, mainly mark 2's. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say... and I'd have to say I would put a bamby higher on my list than a P50, I think the whole P50 thing has got too commercial now with the dragons den/top gear thing and all. Granted it has raised the profile of micros, but in this day and age would you dare to use a P50 on a dual carriageway? or dare to even park it anywhere? and how often could you use it? I think the bamby was a brave attempt produced in a hard economic era to build a modern p50, flawed as it was. I do agree with Bob, these will be ones to watch in a few years.

[Stuart Cyphus]

I was under the impression that there were only about twenty Bambys made.

 There were about 60 made at least. Chassis numbers go as high as at least 58, plus there was the dozen shells left over at the bankrupcy sale, of which at least two were built up into cars. As regards the Mk1/Mk 2 split, it could be as high as 35/25 in favour of the Mk1 belive it or not, but let us not forget that several Mk 1's were later apparently given Mk 2 bodyshells. My car is chassis number 48 & Alan Evans himself rekons my car is the first "Mk 2A" shell (identifiable by the big caravan-type door lock), as mine has a seperate, as opposed to moulded, rain channel and a velour-effect seat.

 The Bamby Register: Coming to a RUM near you soon....?

[DrewS]

An interesting idea Stuart! and to know how many are still left, and more so how many are actually on the road. Am i correct in thinking that when they were intially introduced some were sold through Harrods? and if it is myth or fact that there was an incident related to a wasp getting into a customers car whilst they were driving through the air duct?

[Stuart Cyphus]

 Just about all of them are still around.    Alan Evans personally broke up the first three production cars, & the Ideal Homes Exibition car only existed for three months, but those are the only ones known to have been destroyed. As for how many are on the road: as far as I know, two, one being "gizmo" here & the other Bob P.'s old blue one.

 One at least was certainly sold by Harrods, confirmed by the Viscount Evans himself. It may well be possible that that particular car could prove to be our old fraind Gizmo, as it is the only Bamby in the whole production run to have been registered "out of area", in Stoke on Trent rather than Hull.   Meanwhile, the tale of the wasp & the air vent is true, countered by the addition of a tea strainer to the build speciforcation!

 Has anyone found the bright pink Bamby yet? Another car confirmed by the man himself to have been built but never seen again.....

 Hands up who wants a Bamby Register?

[DrewS]

I would add my approval!! It would be a good time given that in a couple of years, it will be 30 years since the first one rolled off the production line. That would be quite a fitting tribute, to have a 30th anniversary line up (a la peels to peel) in hull.... I think the factory is still there . And maybe a road run down into Hull to cause havoc in the city centre. Or how about a Bamby and Replicar Cursor register? in honour of 1980s small production run, 50cc, single seater, two stroke - three wheeled microcars. Have to say as much as Gizmo is a roadworthy example with its late 40s top speed ( interesting reading the bit about the speedo not working.. and it has an MOT! i must contact him for the details of his MOT tester!!!!) I'm not a fan, its like taking a good painting and adding a cheap frame to it.. it doesn't work for me. I think the mods that Bob P did to his example were far more in keeping with the look and general nature of the car.

[richard]

who was driving through an air duct ? doesnt sound right to me , i mean i've heard of micro cars but .....

[DrewS]

Well Bambys are only 50cc... the air in the duct aids performance and plus it will be appearing on the next series of top gear " Tonight on top gear, james drives a 2 million pound microcar through an airduct whilst wearing a flowery shirt"!!!

[daughter of bamby]

as with other microcars in recent times,it only takes one person to pay over the odds for a car and all of a sudden they are out of reach of us mere mortals. that said, if some mug were to pay 10k for a bamby i wouldnt be too upset as my inheritance (s?) will see me right in my old age. as for the exact number of bambys? who knows, and did the 1st one really get broken up !!!!!!!!!

[Jean]

Hey Stuart, All this talk about a Bamby Register.  What about getting all the known Bamby's (and Replica Cursors for that matter) on the Register of unusual Microcars where they belong?  Then we can find someone who has specialised knowledge of the marque to become responsible for the Bamby section of the main Register as we have done with the Nobels, AC Petites, Peels and Goggomobils.  This has worked well over the last 25 years and there is then the added bonus of a regular spot in the quarterly RUMCAR NEWS which would also help those poor mortals who are not yet wired up to a computer!!!
As you know Stuart the ICR only became independent so that all forms of invalid transport could be served, even those that did not fit in the parameters of the accepted description of a microcar.
The Scootacar and Frisky Registers were started before the Register of Unusual Microcars and have thus remained separate even though there are many Scootacars and Friskys on our Register.  Also in recent years both Steve Boyd and  John Meadows have been only too pleased (at least I believe they are) to contribute regular quarterly articles too.  At least if we handle the individual cars in this way at least they are all covered in one magazine.  Over the years the aims of the Register seem to have been forgotton or misunderstood by 'newbies' to the microcar scene which is a pity.   Jean