The Cyclecar
WHICH CAME FIRST, THE BIKE or the car? Neither. It was the cyclecar, or autocycle. The first powered road vehicle, Cugnot’s “Fardier à vapeur” steam-driven artillery carriage of 1789 was a three-wheeler. As was the first internal combustion engine powered vehicle, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, built in 1885.
In the early 1900s there were several vehicles built following the pattern of the three-wheeled safety cycle – a relatively simple conversion of the basic pedal-powered design with an engine bolted above the rear axle, though it wasn’t something anyone but the brave would attempt to ride at any speed. It was only when the likes of H.F.S. Morgan got the idea of reversing things, so the two wheels were at
