Topic: Barrett's #227 - Solved - AVRO Monocar MkII, 1927

[barrett]

Somewhere between a car and a motorbike.... Full details of what this is and when it dates from for a point please

[barrett]

I guess this is quite tough.... let's see if the experts know

[barrett]

Up again

[Paul Jaray]

Could this be just an AVRO Monocar from 1926?
Built by Sir A.V. Roe.

[barrett]

Well, that's more or less correct. There is something missing from the name, and the year is wrong (which should be a clue to the missing bit)... Locked for you

[Paul Jaray]

Far from my books I can only rely on the net and on my index.
I think you are looking for BICAR.

The 1st pic cames from a 1929 article, and the vehicle is named Roe Car:
The 2nd pic cames from a 1931 magazine, no-name:
The 3rd pic comes from the Aviation museum in Southampton, where is displayed as AVRO Monocar 1926:
The 4th pic cames from the net, showing an AVRO Mobile from 1924
The 5th pic cames from the net, a website about motorcycles and it is called AVRO Monocar 1926
I found also a source that calls it BICAR, where the Monocar is a totally different model (a quite ordinary car). The same source shows pics #6 as AV first Monocar 1924, but I suspect this is the most reliable source.

[barrett]

Actually, what I was looking for was a lot simpler... apparently this is the MkII version from 1927. The previous vehicle had small auxiliary wheels to stop it tipping over. It does seem like the same basic design went through several name changes over the years though it was my understanding that it was never really a production vehicle, just a series of prototypes.

It seems Alliot Verdon-Roe was involved in the manufacture of the inter-war Harper Runabouts , and was somewhat obsessed with the idea of fully enclosed motorcycles which he tried to unsuccessfully market for several years. I think the 'BICAR' is a much later (1950s?) vehicle that still adhered to the same basic design principles.

I'm not aware of any connection to the AV Monocar cyclecar, which strangely also spawned 'Bi-Car' and 'Runabout' variants - very confusing!

[Paul Jaray]

PM sent!
The puzzle car seems to be one of the early prototypes, from 1924, as my pic #6.
Here is another prototype with additional wheels: