Topic: Solved - Monty012: "Brannan Special" Cyclekart by Peter Stevenson (2006)

[el_monty]

Is this photo available on the internet? I have tried every permutation of key words I can think of and can't find a thing. I think your clues have been sufficient and thank you for them.

American motorcycle engined?

This photo is from the internet. The car belongs to a type of vehicles that have many websites dedicated to them. A different image of this car has appeared in at least a couple of very popular automotive blogs.

The engine is not American and it's not from a motorcycle.

[oko94]

Built in the nineties ?

[el_monty]

Built in the nineties ?

Even later. Not much left! 

[nicanary]

You naughty boy!

It's a Cyclekart, this one's called the Brannon Special. When you said it was powered like a kid's car, I thought that meant a motorcycle engine, not human power! Built by Peter Stevenson.

[el_monty]

You naughty boy!

It's a Cyclekart, this one's called the Brannon Special. When you said it was powered like a kid's car, I thought that meant a motorcycle engine, not human power!

Congratulations! You found it!
But cyclekarts are not human powered! They have a Honda GX200 engine! It's a general purpose engine normally used for lawnmowers, leafblowers, water pumps, etc. Quarter-midgets of some categories use smaller versions of the same engine.

Locked for you to tell me the name of the builder and the year.

[nicanary]

It was built by Peter Stevenson. His website is very strange - it actually doesn't tell y ou very much about the cars - I didn't see any mention of the type of engine! It's called the 1934 Brannon Special, but obviously that date comes from the year of the Austin 7 racer which inspired the car (and the Austin Pathfinder child's car). He built it in 2006.

[el_monty]

A well earned point for nicanary!
According to my source, the late Peter Stevenson, builder of several cyclekarts, was inspired to create this one by a German Schuco tin toy which was based on the Mercedes W25 from the mid-30s. It also says that the cyclekart's name is spelt "Brannan Special", in honour of the car driven by Clark Gable's pilot character (Mike Brannan) in the 1950 film "To Please a Lady", which it also resembles. That car was a 1948 Don Lee-bodied Kurtis.
I will post the unmodified picture later.

[nicanary]

 . I didn't even get the child's toy correct!  I noticed on his website the mention of the Schuco toy, and didn't relate it to the country of origin. It all makes sense now.

I got my "lead" from a photostream site after I had asked Google an enormous number of key words. I think in the end it was something like "modern replica childs toy midget racer", since I was convinced it was a copy of a Hillegass or similar.

[el_monty]

Below is the unedited photo.
I feel I must credit the source of the photo, which is www.cyclekarts.com, a site made by enthusiasts, although sadly it hasn't been updated in a while.