Streamlined Car: October 1934

As far as home-built cars go, this model is one of the more novel designs in our archives. Dr. Calvin B. Bridges, a biologist from California, designed his car for lightness and speed. Weighing just 700 pounds, his vehicle was powered by a motorcycle engine and was expected to run 60 miles per hour. A gallon of gasoline could power it through 50 to 70 miles of travel. Like the Velodye, Bridges' car reduced wind resistance to a minimum, while its light frame, which was made of welded chrome-molybdenum steel tubes, would help the vehicle attain more mileage than one would expect from a car of its size.

Another year, another midget auto. This toboggan-shaped car was built by Wallace Henderson, an engineer from Glasgow, who assembled it for fun. While it looks simple and lacks a body, Henderson's car actually drove 3,000 feet up the Ben Lomond mountain in Scotland.

His surprisingly sturdy vehicle was powered by a 2 3/4 horsepower gasoline engine located in the rear of the car behind the driver's seat. A chain drive kept the car moving while dual tires provided additional traction. To prevent the wheels from spinning out of control, Henderson installed sheet-metal lugs on the inside pair of tires. You can't quite see it in this photo, but a curved shield kept dirt out of Henderson's face as he drove.

Read the full story in "Novel Homemade Car Climbs Steep Mountain"

At first glance, R.L. Shepherd's homemade automobile looks like a bike , but the Los Angeles inventor touted it otherwise. His vehicle, which was again made from various old parts, could run eight miles on one cent's worth of oil and gasoline. A half-horsepower lawnmower and a concave chassis rendered springs unnecessary, thus easing up the vehicle's weight. Although the car came with four wheels, only two actually drove it forward; the remaining two kept it balanced, the way training wheels do on some bicycles. While small, his car succeeded in covering 140 miles on a single gallon of gasoline.