It's a Curse

[Barry]

Kick-start mechanism is not engaging so I have had a look to see if the starter motor can be made to work.  Dead as a dodo it seemed.

Took a fair time to discover that there is a switch on the hand brake to earth.  When the hand brake is off, you can't start the engine.
Nothing was happening using the starter button but the starter was working fine when connected direct.  If I had had the hand brake on it would have turned over from the beginning.

I am not sure if I can just remove the side engine cover or if a load of oil will drop out.  There are no filler plugs or drain plugs so I assume it is dry in there where the kick-start mechanism is?

No one seems that impressed with this Suzuki motor and an upgrade to 70cc / 80cc seems a good option.
Keeping the original engine at 118 miles for posterity and originality.
The manual says do not exceed 25mph when running in.  Looks like it is unlikely to exceed 25mph when running out!

Not seized and the plug colour is perfect from the last time it was run???
I will get some fuel and give her a go on Monday.
 
All lights, wipers, horn are working.  Hydraulic back brake is not returning - I will give that a flush through.

Next will be a dating certificate and an age related plate.  85, 86, 87, 88?
I have been in touch with the inventor, Alan Hatswell, and he has offered to help with information.  He thinks late 86  early 87

[Barry]

Engine now running.  Petrol tap completely bunged up with the remains of the first tank of juice in 1986.
It has a vacuum shut-off which foxed me a bit.

New petrol tap needed I think as the filter has disintegrated and will allow any debris from the tank straight into the carb.
Carb is flooding but I hope the fresh petrol will dissolve some of the crud, otherwise it's a strip-down.

I am interested in finding out a bit more about the production run of Cursors.  The inventor,  Alan Hatswell, has filled me in on the demise of his project briefly.

    Unfortunately the original records went when he sold the whole project to a Belgian in the late 1980's who subsequently disappeared still owing thousands of pounds.
     Production of the single seater started in earnest at the end of 1985 after the Earls Court Motor Fair and ran through to chassis numbers in the 50's. The 2 seat version was developed for
      Jelinek' a dealer in Austria who then took most of the production which ceased in 1987. (dispute).
     Austria took about 50 or so  (Mainly 2 seaters) of  the Cursor production in all of the LHD cars plus some single seaters.
     Wilks of Shoeburyness had a few of the original single seaters but no 2 seaters
     A high proportion are still being used on the roads.

I would like to collect as much data as possible about the Cursor.  If anyone has one (or had one) could they let me know the chassis number, date and registration number.  I would like to build up a picture of all the cars to see which ones have survived.  Photos would be great. My car is number 0066 but without registration umber as it is Austrian.



 

[milnes]

Barry i will get my Chassis numbers & Registration to you next time i'm back in the Uk and have a bit of time on my hands.
Funny you should mention a Belgium and Cursor I was contacted by a guy from Belgium who claimed he had bought the rights to the Cursor. He said that he had the moulds for the body and had manufactured a 2 seater pro to type but the factory had went on fire.
He asked if he could take moulds from my Cursor, which i agreed to. I've not heard from him since.

[Barry]

We should keep talking Scott.  It seems the guy from Belgium may think he has the rights but may not have coughed up all of the money.  It would be good to know who he is - personal message I think.

I am collecting photos of all of the vehicles I can find.  Mainly with registration numbers

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/63m4igeg1mbwaf1/AAAUVM4koZhznQT3-Xw7IAKKa

Any other photos would be appreciated.

[milnes]

Barry let me see what i can dig up from past E-mails. Will PM you.

[Big Al]

I have met said Belgium fellow while driving my Schmitt in Belgium. He also told me he had the rights to the Cursor and that it was to go into production near Ostend to orders from several differing countries, but not the UK where there was a court case brewing over the safety of the crimped together chassis. This undermined his business plan by removing the largest potential market but he hoped sales in Austria, Switzerland, Spain?, Denmark? and some place weird, Argentine? would see 25 units a week, or month perhaps, sold. 
Later I met him again at Antwerp several years later and I am sure he was involved with marketing the Mini El. He had made some cars during the Cursor period but had suffered some kind of issue. I forget the details but the fire sounds likely. He was making two differing machines when this happened.
Later it sounds like the same guy was involved in another manufacturing initiative. I forget what.

So maybe the threat of a legal challenge to the early car was the reason the sale did not go through as Replicar hoped. Hard to sell a car found to be unroadworthy. This is all from memory bank, deep storage S35, so the detail might be mangled.

[Barry]

Thanks for that Al.  Do you recall any rough dates for your meetings?

[Big Al]

Now your asking! It was when I went to Antwerp Bouwcentrum and Utrecht in Feb/Mar time for the second meeting. So that will be early 90's. The first meeting was returning from a rally and I was with Wynford Jones, plus some others who had naffed off somewhere while we waited for a ferry at Ostend. Trouble is I did that many trips over in those years I cannot remember which one it was. It was prior to meeting the guy with two unknown Tigers. So I would say 1989/90 as a guess.

[Barry]

Alan Hatswell wanted me to share our email conversation so that other people in the Microcar world would be clear about the history of Replicar Cursor.

Here is a summary of our last communication:-

Hi Barry
 
Thanks for the e mail.
The information you supplied just goes to reinforce my idea that the guy from Belgium is probably 'a few pence short of a shilling' living in a world of his own. Shortly after collecting the moulds and tooling he contacted me saying he had moulded a body (single seater) and made a chassis and was completely unable to fit the 2 together. From this point on in my eyes his competence was clearly in question. My operation built over 50 of the single seaters without any problems except those created by lower than average intelligence drivers. Some of them could not even read (or did not bother to) and  set about kerb bashing with the nearside front wheel which bent the front suspension.I put the vehicle under notice of recall and redesigned the uprights and chassis legs which removed the problem as it was then 'over engineered and able to withstand excessive abuse. One of the big problems here in UK was that although the vehicle was aimed at 16 year olds with moped licences, the market turned out to be middle aged people with a history of not being competent to drive because at that time instruction of any kind or necessity to take a test was not compulsory.To my knowledge (and I think I would be the first to know) there has never been any such court case in the UK for any structural fault on a Cursor save the the situation mentioned above but may be he does not want to show his hand here in case I persue him for monies owed and has therefore concocted this story. I don't know what he means by ' crimped together chassis' as all joints were 'Mig welded by a coded welder to the highest standard. Sounds like just another story from his fantasy world. I would be happy discuss the whole situation with you in depth as I feel you have a more than genuine interest and deserve to know what I was dealing with in case you can pass it on to protect anyone else getting involved with this less than honourable guy.
As you can see this has really wound me up as apart from not paying what he owed he is casting dispersions on my products to cover his tracks and inadequacies.
By the way the CS80 engine (or barrel which I understand in creases capacity I think to 65cc) can only be fitted to those that had the CS50 engine and none of the 2 seaters which were CP50 or Honda Vision 50 powered.
It has been interesting as this renewed interest in Cursor (now a trade mark registered to IVECO trucks) has jolted my memory  and I am able to recall far more information.
I will let you have more details when I actually get around to prototyping the Replica Bugatti car but RUMCARS did an in depth feature in the magazine about a year ago with pics of my son's original car. I have tried to trace the car but so far without success.
I am pretty tied up at the moment but would appreciate it if you could add the above salient information to your forum discussions which hopefully might stop anyone else being involved with the Belgian guy. The money he owed me was a couple of thousand pounds which I wrote off as I am sure it would have cost more to persue and I really don't have time to deal with such characters.
I hope the tone of this letter does not appear bitter by I am cross that these circumstances still keep happening.
 
Thanks again for your interest,
 
Regards,

[steven mandell]

Insightfully informational, and not appearing to be undeservedly accusatory.
Thank you for your contributions to the wonderful world of micro cars.
Perhaps you could grace us with your insights on a more regular basis.

[Big Al]

It does all rather fit in. One wonders if the fire was real.
My only comment on the alleged court case was the rumour went round of a problem with the car. I recall that. I kind of accepted his story then. Though I contented myself with the knowledge that I had met the new Belgium owner of Cursor, rather than repeating the entire tale. My knowledge of Cursor was limited. So I could not comment. And remains so as one has never come into my ownership.
I liked the style of the cars, coming as some did in metalflake finish and such. Its a shame it did not with a better run and end.   

[milnes]

An extract from an E-mail conversation i had with the new owner of Cursor a couple of years ago.

Alan Hatswell was the director.
He now makes carbon music instruments.
I got in touch with him at the Earls Court motorshow.
With a view towards importing these Cursors into the Benelux.
That being Belgium Netherlands(Holland) Luxemburg.
But he sold the project to me because he had problems with the Britisch Taxman
I tryed to restart the project in Ostend Belgium.
But the molds of the single seater had already been cut up towards making it a twoseater.
And unfortunely European law required twoseaters to have four wheels.
And on top of all that while I was on a business trip towards Austria with a view to see the Austrian importer/dealer disaster struck.
The glassfibre shop where the twoseater mold and the first new twoseater was just made burned down.
That was the end of the Cursor for the time being.
I deciced to concentrate my energy towards my very succesfull and rapidly growing recumbent business.
But I have always had an soft spot for microvehicles.
Mainly because my father used to be an Isetta dealer.
So since a couple of years I have been thinking about restarting Cursor production.
Lets say a fourwheeled 400 kilogram twoseater electric vehicle.
The engineering is basically all finished.
All that needs done is designing and building the first grp body.
With a view towars realising this I am on the hunt for a secondhand Cursor.
Or a Cursor owner who could lend me a a body to have a new mold made.

[Barry]

I thought it would be easy to find a fuel tap.

Perhaps I could just get a new Gause filter.  That's all that is wrong with it.

Any suggestions?

[Garybond]

You could try a tractor factors looks very similar to the tank filter in mf 35's

[Jean]

There seems to a great of interest in the Replica Cursor at the moment, so I thought I would mention that Alan Hatswell the designer hopes to be a the Hammond Collection Open Day on Sunday 27th July.  I am sure he would be delighted if some of you could up to have a chat with him, especially if you came complete with car.  Jean