Thursday 6 October 2011

Homebuilt Swedish scooters


This pic is from around 1950. Two young Swedish brothers decided to build their own scooters. One of them worked at the JB factory, building the 128 cc engine for small motorcycles and the same engine that later ended up in Svalan Scooter and Apollo Biet.
That didn't help, the factory didn't sell them any engines. They had to look for another supplier, enter Husqvarna. The old Swedish firm building weapons since the 18th century, then bicycles and from 1903 motorcycles. After the WWII they started building small motorcycles, equipped with their own 118 cc twostroke engine.
In 1950 the two brothers obtained two 120 cc Husqvarna engines. Through a "white lie", loose engines were only sold to disabled persons who intended to build their own three-wheeled vehicles.
Four wheelbarrow wheels were bought, also steel pipes and sheet metal. They build their own saddles and succeded in getting MOT's.
The scooters were used during a couple of years, at one time moving a large sofa driving in width...carefully.
Then the scooters were scrapped, it would have been nice if at least one of these vintage scooters had been saved.

1 comment:

  1. It looks like they got more than a little inspiration from a Cushman scooter...

    http://scooter.lst1090.org/cush15.jpg

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