FOLDING CAR

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28512, 15 February 1958, Page 2

FOLDING CAR

Use For Airborne Work LONDON. . A British company would welcome inquiries from large-scale buyers for a new light-weight vehicle which folds up for airborne use. At present this folding car —called the “Harrier”—is in prototype stage and will only go into production if sufficiently large orders are place. The “Harrier” has obvious military applications: it would also be of use in, for example, oil-exploration work and for similar “location” activities. The “Harrier” is an open fourseater weighing only 6{cwt. which can be assembled by a e crew of four without the use of any tackle and made ready for the road in one minute. Top speeds, claimed for the car is 70 m.p.h. \

It is powered by a 650 cubic centimetre capacity twin-cylinder engine mounted at the rear end of the central tubular chassis member and driving the rear wheels. The four occupants are carried in two hinged panniers, one on each side of tfye chassis member.

When the car is folded up, the two panniers swing upwards and inwards and lock together to form a box. The wheel units in their turn retract upwards and inwards and the front of the box is then completed by replacing two removable scuttle units to enclose the retracted front wheels, steering and springing assemblies. * The engine is mounted above the divided rear axle as a removable unit, which includes a motor-cycle-type gearbox, exhaust pipes and silencers. The drive is taken by a vertical chain from the gear box to a layshaft mounted across the chassis and thence to the centre portion of the rear axle by a horizontal chain. The drive then passes to the rear wheels through pairs of universal joints which allow for vertical wheel movement.

The folded “Harrier” measures 20 x 28 x 104 inches and occupies a little more than 33 cubic feet of hold space.