Interesting car that I spotted at Motorclassica in Melbourne recently. Looks like it could have been quite a weapon in its day.
Reg Hunt - The Flying Bedstead (1949 Hunt Spl)
Started by
275 GTB-4
, Nov 06 2013 23:21
24 replies to this topic
#3
275 GTB-4
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Posted 07 November 2013 - 08:03
It was!
I would love to have heard it with the 500cc J.A.P. 
#4
GMACKIE
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Posted 07 November 2013 - 08:22
Would you mind speaking up a bit.....my hearing has been damaged by a 500cc J.A.P.
#5
275 GTB-4
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Posted 07 November 2013 - 08:30
Would you mind speaking up a bit.....my hearing has been damaged by a 500cc J.A.P.
Imagine a Mazda rotary berapp brapp brapping away, then imagine it being rendered inaudible by a four stroke!
J.A.P. will do that...or an AJS7R (but that's another story :-)
Greg, I know a fella who sells ear horns for the hearing impaired....do you need his number? 
#7
Allan Lupton
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Posted 07 November 2013 - 08:38
I would love to have heard it with the 500cc J.A.P.
What is the engine fitted in the photos? Seems to be a v-twin but doesn't look like a JAP 1000
#9
275 GTB-4
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#10
GMACKIE
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Posted 07 November 2013 - 08:56
I was just calling the dog, if you don't mind !
#11
275 GTB-4
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Posted 07 November 2013 - 09:25
I was just calling the dog, if you don't mind !
Thought he was called Vinnie?
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=qzPZOh2IfEc
#12
GMACKIE
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Posted 07 November 2013 - 09:33
Vinnie for short. Called him Vincent, because he followed me around like a 'Black Shadow'.
#13
david5
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Posted 07 November 2013 - 11:38
Vinnie for short. Called him Vincent, because he followed me around like a 'Black Shadow'.
Baboom tish . I had a cat called syndrome.
#14
GMACKIE
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Posted 07 November 2013 - 19:55
Vincent caught another rabbit yesterday.....not bad, considering the rabbit had 4 legs - Vinnie has only 3. 
And you started this, Mick. 
#15
275 GTB-4
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Posted 07 November 2013 - 22:14
Vincent caught another rabbit yesterday.....not bad, considering the rabbit had 4 legs - Vinnie has only 3.
And you started this, Mick.
Be that as it may...here endeth the discourse....interesting words...
#16
elansprint72
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Posted 07 November 2013 - 22:46
The modern front tyres are fitted the wrong way around or, to be more pedantic (bearing in mind present company) fitted in the wrong direction of rotation.
What a lovely machine.
#17
austmcreg
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Posted 08 November 2013 - 03:12
It is a lovely machine, but such a pity they had to 'restore' it with that hideous seat / headrest. I note the oil tank is now mounted on the (new) rollbar support, so it seems a degree of updating was done. I still dont understand why people 'restore' these cars using modern motorcycle tyres , when more period looking tyres are available. I understand it has a new chassis now, so not sure how much of it is original anyway.
Now all it needs is for a new owner (it was auctioned at the show but dont know if it sold) who actually uses it and exchanges some shiny paint for evidence of use.
This car's most famous race was at Bathurst (Oct 51 or Easter 52, I'm not sure without looking it up) when Reg and Alf Barrett, in Misha Ravdell's Cooper Vincent ran away from everything else in the under 1500cc race . Barrett passed Hunt on the last lap to win.
If Garry is reading this, perhaps a re-enactment could be arranged!
Rob Saward
#18
275 GTB-4
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Posted 10 November 2013 - 23:15
The modern front tyres are fitted the wrong way around or, to be more pedantic (bearing in mind present company) fitted in the wrong direction of rotation.
What a lovely machine.
It is a lovely machine, but such a pity they had to 'restore' it with that hideous seat / headrest. I note the oil tank is now mounted on the (new) rollbar support, so it seems a degree of updating was done. I still dont understand why people 'restore' these cars using modern motorcycle tyres , when more period looking tyres are available. I understand it has a new chassis now, so not sure how much of it is original anyway.
Now all it needs is for a new owner (it was auctioned at the show but dont know if it sold) who actually uses it and exchanges some shiny paint for evidence of use.
This car's most famous race was at Bathurst (Oct 51 or Easter 52, I'm not sure without looking it up) when Reg and Alf Barrett, in Misha Ravdell's Cooper Vincent ran away from everything else in the under 1500cc race . Barrett passed Hunt on the last lap to win.
If Garry is reading this, perhaps a re-enactment could be arranged!
Rob Saward
Hmmmmm maybe they found that for hillclimbs that running wrong direction of tread balanced the chassis overall at the cost of "optimal" grip or wear rates??
Hmmmmm quite negative comments above (overall)
....old nails are often "modernised" or whatever in the interests of safety etc its a debate for elsewhere don't you think?
I'm just happy to see old nails being kept alive and not stuck in a shed somewhere or a garbage repository
(next week's topic: period hose clamps!)
#19
275 GTB-4
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Posted 13 November 2013 - 22:41
Note: supercharger from the Bedstead mentioned in Racing Minors thread.
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#20
tsrwright
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Posted 15 November 2013 - 00:38
Well, it is overdone, but how do you do things these days as badly as they used to?
Edited by tsrwright, 15 November 2013 - 00:48.
#21
Levin68
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Posted 15 November 2013 - 08:42
The tyres are Michelin Macadam 50s and are actually fitted correctly for motorcycle rims. But I agree that something more from the period might look better. But I'm sure the car would grip rather well on these things.
#23
GMACKIE
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Posted 15 November 2013 - 20:06
Perhaps too well?
I agree...the wheels, suspension, etc. were not meant for that sort of grip.
#24
D-Type
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Posted 15 November 2013 - 22:42
The tyres are Michelin Macadam 50s and are actually fitted correctly for motorcycle rims. But I agree that something more from the period might look better. But I'm sure the car would grip rather well on these things.
If you say the fronts are the right way round, does that mean the rears are not? Or are the fronts orientated for braking and the rears for putting the power down?
#25
Levin68
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Posted 17 November 2013 - 05:05
Both are correctly fitted: they were standard fitment on my Honda CB1300 but gone before I got it. I don't know the logic of the tread patterns, other than that the front one is designed to pump water away along the diagonal sipes, like an arrowhead, as it contacts the road. Where that leaves the rear one, I don't know, but a unitrack vehicle like a motorcycle clears most of the road water with the front tyre, which also does a fine job of kicking up nails for the rear tyre to find.
