CYCLEPLANE - Westerly, Rhode Island - (1914)
The Cycleplane was a cyclecar whose mechanical specification was typical for vehicles of its type but whose look decidedly was not. Arthur W. Ball was its designer, and he claimed streamlining was the factor he kept most in mind in coming up with the Cycleplane body. Set on a "truss bridge" frame, the car sported shelf-like fenders that ran the lenght of the car and were purported to have a shock-assorbing effect, although most probably they were more useful as armrests for the vehicle's two passengers. Actually the car looked less like a plane than a boat. In addition to the standard two-cylinder air-cooled Spackle-engined roadster with planetary transmission and belt drive, the Cyclecar Company of Westerly also planned to offer more sophisticated four-cylinder water-cooled models with three-speed slideing gear transmissions and shaft drive. But production apparently never began. It is believed that Arthur Ball's prototype was his first and last Cycleplane.
Standard Catalog of American Cars.
