LaSalle was from the very beginning an economical fiasco. The name Alfred Sloan had fetched the part of a name from a French explorer in 1700 in America. René Robert Cavalier Sieur de LaSalle.

This man wrote the Mississippi map making several journeys starting from the north. France had at this time the possessions of Louisiana area where Mississippi river ended.

Cadillac had also got it's name from an explorer, sieur de Cadillac. He explored the area around the great lakes. But it was Henry Leland who started the production of Cadillac cars.

The LaSalle car was created 1927 as a part of Cadillac production.

The idea from the beginning was to produce a car, which fit in the tax system. The first car made became what was called a cycle car.

It was not allowed to have a bigger engine than 1100 cc and max weight 350 kg except all extras. If the car could fit within these rules it could take the name as a cycle car and tax was 100 franc pro year. If not it was in France called Voiturette.

France hade the same sort of classification according help engines (mopeds) in the end of WWII. A help engine with over 50 cc was taxed. Read more about ABG VAP4.

But back to Amilcar. The first Amilcar was a cycle car and presented at Paris Motor Show 1921. It was Jules Solomon and Edmond Moyet who constructed this car. This car type led to a boom of success for such a cars. This was because the low taxation.

This home built car is equipped, for the moment, with a Chrysler Hemi engine.

From the beginning it had a Ford 79 A V8, which simply translated means a side valve V8 100 ps from 1947.

The front end is a rigid axle from Ford.

Further info is not available.

1951 Nash introduced a smaller compact car. They had produced this in cooperation with Nash-Healy and the chariot was designed by Pinin Farina.

Harry Earl turned on this and started to convince the lead of GM that it was time to produce a sport car in USA. By some reason this project was named "Project Opel". Anyway this led to a hand built prototype car. This car was shown on all car fairs with the name Corvette.

The reception for this in USA was overwhelming and for this reason GM decided to start production 1953.

The chariot was mould in the new material armed plastic. The same as Volvo used for their unsuccessfully car Volvo Sport.

All pipes had been screwed together. This made that the frame was easy to put together. Engines mounted were Villiers and had the volume of 137 up to 343 cc. JAP engines were also used.

The main idea about Francis Barnet was that it should be a cheap working cycle without any special signs. With this as a background it was very easy for the producer to stay in market up to 1966.

HD could not accept this so their test driver Paul Goldsmith got order to bring back high speed record from Norton. To do that a 37 hp engine was mounted and the record for highest speed raised with 42 km/h.

HD was though created long before by the 2 mates William Harley and Arthur Davidsson. They started to produce motorcycles in Milwaukee.

The two men were a good combination and already after some years they had developed a V-twin, a layout that should remain till today.

They understood that in order to sell they must have several resellers and they created that. Already 1912 they had over 200 in America.

The models replace each other but engine type and layout were the same. To get the name known they joined all types of competitions in America.

Here he opened an import export firm 1883. This was, 1885, named Triumph Cycle Company. The factory was placed in the industry town of Coventry.

He also started TWN in Germany. 1902 the first motorcycle was produced with a Belgian engine. Triumph has a very up and down history and among, it went bankruptcy during time between wars.

Bettman disappeared from the board 1933 and Jacob Sangster bought the company 1936. The mark Trumpf-Adler office machine was a cooperation between Triumph and Adler.

With this he sold parts for bicycles. In the beginning he used engines from Clement or Motor Rev. When Norton with Rem Fowler won the first Isle of Man TT, James decided to construct his own engine.

James had no good health and because of being away very much, the firm went bankruptcy and soon he died. Any way the firm was restarted and saved, by one of his part deliveries.

The time between wars was an continuing development and competition. Norton was a winning machine. The constructions from Norton were for the time advanced. Besides the cycle won Isle of Man more times than anyone else.

This was the result that William III in the end of 1600 century understood that he needed a war industry independent of foreign countries.

Already 1903 the first bike was built, although it had Belgian Minerva engines. These bikes were green which became the BSA color.

Till WWII several different models were sold with increasing volumes. Names as Sloper, Blue Star and the M-Range. The last well known for it's use by AAA as support bike on the English roads.

Being Rudge company is a another story. As every other firms working with transport vehicles Rudge started with bikes. Accessories for bikes, rims for cars and motorcycles. One period Rudge also produced 3 wheeled cars. In England they were called "Cyclecars".

The progress started before 1850 when Daniel Rudge, who build high wheelers, invented the adjustable ball bearing. Equipped with this the bike got a better balance. Rudge contracted a French racing cyclist, Charles Terront. He won important races in France with his own bikes.

Note that France was the leading country for all sorts of racing, while they were positive to build new roads and arrange competitions for bikes, cars and motorbikes.

The main idea of the bearing came from the time when Daniel made his military service in France. French German war 1870-71. Henry Clarke the fellow worker met a Frenchman whose bike seemed to be much better than all others. Daniel and his mate decided to find out the secret. It is said that they made the Frenchman drunk. Now they could dismount the bike to look at the secret. They found that the high wheel was mounted with ball bearings instead of  plain bearings. This was the bearing that Daniel made further development to a useful product for his own produced bikes.

Daniel was now lucky that among all other bike producers in England it was one company with the leaders of Walter Phillips and George Price. They searched for a capable engineer and they chose Daniel Rudge. Now the bikes were updated and a the merging of companies in several steps became the result. This was good and they earned much money.

The company showed many new ideas, like the multigear box. It was about the same construction as the Volvo 343. It is simple to explain it this way, but it was of course a construction for it's time. The most important thing was that the driving belt was adjustable in relation of the rear wheel. With this construction they won Isle of Man TT, 1913. This construction was not good when the engines power raised and 1923 they had to change for gearboxes of normal type. Just like Volvo did.

Rudge produced engines with IOE, (inlet over exhaust). The second update of engine was updating the cylinder head with 2 inlet and 2 outlet valves. They were placed parallel. This idea with multi valves had been tried on Triumph Ricardo head 1921. Well known is the Ricardo head for A-Ford engine.

This construction was developed in several steps and lastly Rudge had a cylinder head where the valves were placed radial. With this type Rudge won 1930 Junior TT. This winning mc got the name Ulster and was offered for sale as a replica.

During the depression 1930 the sales was reduced considerable in spite of several updates on the engine. The valves were placed semi radial. (parallel valves radial ports). The cylinder head was cast iron.

The valve arrangement was complete closed (see picture). The economy was still bad and may be the changeover to work for the war effort and producing radar equipments  saved Rudge from shutting down 1939. Any new production didn't start after the war 1945.

Velocette motorcycles was established 1905, at that time the producer was Taylor & Gue.

Velocette was an English company between the years 1904-1968. It produced Veloce MC:s in Hall Green, Birmingham. The successes was mainly in road racing during the 50th.

The founder was John Goodman, born with the name Johannes Gütgerman. Changed later name to John Taylor before he formally changed to Goodman. His co worker was William Gue. The company name was up to 1905 Taylor & Gue. His sons Percy and Eugene were also members.

Their first mc was named Veloce. Later the same year it was changed to Veloce Limited. They had in mind to produce motorcycles, close up parts and give service. The first engine was a four stroke. The first two stroke came 1913 and got the name Velocette. The following models inherit this name.

1933 they decide to introduce a new mc with overhead four stroke engine. The main task was to cut cost in order offer mc:s which had big demand.

It was now decided to change to a simpler cylinder head construction and this called for less work.

The first of these was MOW and they used a 250 cc engine. It had square cylinder, 68x69. This mc became a immediate success. 1934 the MAC 350 cc was introduced and this became even more popular and the company earned much money.

Now they got funds to develop the earlier more expensive engine, Velocette. This mc was offered on the market 1935, and named Velocette MSS 500 cc.

This last mc got also a more firm frame and could easy be completed with a side wagon.

The name Velocette became now the name on all mc:s that were produced. John Taylor change also name 1935 to Goodman.

The company ceased their production 1971.

Rex Acme GB
Rex Acme was the English version. It was produced by the brothers William and Harold Williamsson 1899.

They first made small cars in Coventry but went over to motorcycles 1904 and used engines from other producers like JAP.

Telescope front end was used already 1906. 1908 they leaned the cylinder unit in order to lower the height of the motorcycle.

Rex Acme was the English version. It was produced by the brothers William and Harold Williamsson. They first made small cars in Coventry but went over to motorcycles 1904. They used engines from other producers like JAP. Telescope front spring was used already 1906.

During a few years there were popular to mount two exhaust pipes from one port. But it showed that the cycle had a better run with only one pipe. Royal Enfield had such a model. The owner found that it was better with only one working pipe but kept the none working one.

The name Rex could be found in several European countries like Sweden, Germany, Italy and Rex Acme in England.