The difference

The Supercars were hand made and apparently had some design changes through the years that are very obvious. No two are alike. Both of my cars have a different (boat tail) rear lid. The first car has a full rear lid and the red one has a 1/2 or partial rear lid. The full lid would make it easier to work on the engine and the half lid was probably introduced when they started using electric motors due to easier maintenance.

The petrol engines would stall when hot and this gave the operators allot of trouble so they introduced electric motors for better reliability. I was told that the engine in the 1st car is very rare. But not sure if its a Villiers or a J.A.P. engine. There are no names just a serial # that no one can seem to trace and I have asked all over the world. The only other known engine like this one belongs to my friend Steve Bingham who owns and operates his restored Supercars in the UK. He uses them in fairground events as originally intended.
For a look at his site and his cars please click on the following link:
Canal & Vehicle Services Restoration & Repairs

The engine in the 2nd car is a Villiers engine that was originally used in a 2-man chain saw. Although Villiers is casted all over the engine it has a brass tag with a manufacturer of a saw Co. Seems like this engine was taken out of a saw machine and used to run the car or was going to be used to run the car. Since the red car came with no chassis I cannot say for sure if this engine was actually used on this car. I have consulted with engine experts and one of the engines is currently being worked on. The older engine is siezed and I am reluctant to force it in any way so it is being soaked in a special solution?

Supercar's 1 and 2

The first car has no floor and the body , well as you can see, is shot. The red car's body is in better shape and has most of its floor although severely rusted. At least I have a better idea of how it was laid out. The cars were acquired aprox . 6 months apart. After taking many pictures of them, I had to ask myself what I wanted to do with them. They are too large for display inside a home and I was really thinking of restoring and taking them to shows. Then I decided on building an entirely new car.

First car came with its chassis, Villiers 98cc petrol engine, front and rear axles, tires and rims. No steering column or steering wheel. The red car came with no chassis but had everything else including a steering column and wheel. I built the chassis from same material as the original, 1/4" thick iron angle . I also built a 3/8" thick aluminum angle chassis. My idea is to create two models. I am using the aluminum chassis for the Supercar (electric) and the steel chassis for a Scootatruck (gas).

The Supercar will be electric powered by a 36v PM motor. It is still quite heavy but not as heavy as the steel chassis. When I add the motor and all the batteries it will probably end up weighing as much as the steel chassis, possibly more. Since this is an ongoing project I will posts updates as time permits. 



Supercar

  This is the second Supercar (red) found. Built by Supercar Co. LTD Coventry, England. I decided to build a new version of this model because of its simple and clean design. It also looks like a 30's Ford Roadster, one of my favorite cars. This is the largest build I am taking on and the boat tail design is proving to be very challenging. Slow and steady finishes the race.