it wouldn't be the first thing I did, but if I had a time machine, eventually I'd go check out the car and motorcycle shows of the newly made stuff in the brass era

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/57/

Cool look at a tire service sidecar business booth display

quite an advertising campaign, lined up on the waterfront in Melbourne, Australia. These rolled through Stockholm, Sydney, London and more, turning sidewalks into showrooms.

Axel Wenner-Gren was not an inventor, but he had an inventive mind that could see the possibilities of others’ inventions. Born in 1881 in Sweden to a family made wealthy by exporting lumber, he spent five years working for his uncle’s spice-importing company in Gothenburg. In those hours after school, he picked up English, French, and German and then moved to Germany, where he enrolled in business school, from which he graduated early.

Wenner-Gren continued to work as a salesman and by the end of World War I, he held controlling interest in a company called Svenska Electron that was apparently representing a Swedish lighting company named Lux.

In one version of the story, Wenner-Gren successfully convinced Lux to buy a patent for a home vacuum cleaner, agreeing that in lieu of cash, he would get stock in Lux based on how well the vacuum cleaners sold, eventually owning enough stock that he controlled the company.

in 1919 that a licensing agreement between Elektron and Lux gave Elektron the sole rights to sell Lux vacuum cleaners

by the 1930s Wenner-Gren was one of the wealthiest men in the world. While his name isn’t familiar to us today, his efforts to obtain the vacuum-cleaner contract for the Vatican may have spawned the Hollywood trope of door-to-door salesmen who demonstrated vacuum cleaners.

Supplying the Holy See with vacuums would not only be a valuable contract, it would undoubtedly be a promotional coup for any appliance maker. Five companies each made a pitch, and each were given a piece of soiled carpeting to clean using their respective machines. Wenner-Gren waited until the other four were done with their demonstrations, and then went over their pieces of carpet with an Electrolux vacuum cleaner. When he opened the dustbag, showing how his machine picked up dirt the other cleaners left behind, the contract was his.

Wenner-Gren commissioned a body shaped like an Electrolux vacuum cleaner to be mounted on an automobile chassis. The reaction was so positive that the company commissioned an entire fleet of Citroën-based Electrolux cars and BSA motorcycles with Electrolux-shaped sidecars to promote the brand in Stockholm, Berlin, and London.

Electrolux contracted with coachbuilders Karosseriwerke Drauz in Heilbronn, Germany, and another firm in Denmark to do the fabrication.

1921 advert

https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/the-crazy-cars-built-to-sell-thermoses-and-vacuum-cleaners/

https://thistedbilleder.dk/index.php?pr=101&n=517&img=35042&p=35

https://www.mypension.com/media/i2sd2rbu/electrolux-echo-issue-61-v2.pdf

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/248/

Gloria Swanson and her manager, using a scooter with a cargo sidecar... which is pretty weird

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/476/

Russ Meyer, director of "Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill!" borrowing a Nimbus from a Chicago owner who bought it on Ebay

 

Thank you Kim!

made of wire, by Shi Jindian, who studied at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, and currently lives and works in Chengdu.

Shi Jindian’s works are based on destruction and reconstruction of real objects. His works, such as “Beijing Jeep BJ-212”, are based on industrial products with particular significance in social, political and cultural life, as well as symbols of the times.

https://are2.tumblr.com/post/22202927120
https://shijindian.wordpress.com/page/2/

the Razorback Racing team have a hell of a cool looking sidecar! Raced at the Isle of Man TT I think is where I found this photo

 https://www.facebook.com/razorbackracing570

https://www.smallmotorservice.com/racing

XS650 powered, just set a new lap record breaking the 1972 record speed, at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park

I'm back to looking for another job, and this always turns up cool material for interesting posts... like, if you're a motorcycle guy, and have an outgoing personality for customers, etc, know beers and wines, here's a SWEET job

Sidecar Tours is a travel excursion company specializing in unique entertainment experiences, operating in 9 locations nationwide and partnered with the local wineries, breweries, and restaurants.

They often have a Uber type independent contractor position with the amount of hours/shifts depending heavily on the amount of bookings placed by customers as well as the seasonal weather conditions. It's a part-time side gig for bike enthusiasts who want to earn some extra money or fight off retirement boredom

Tour drivers lead the guests through an itinerary of wineries or breweries while acting as a private chauffeur while driving/operating motorcycles and or three-wheeled vehicles 

So, people with bubbly, outgoing personalities who aren’t afraid to tell stories and make jokes, but can remain professional while entertaining the guests and leading the tour are perfect for the job, but the foundation is probably a knowledge of wine, beer, local landmarks, and tourist attractions.

https://sidecartoursinc.com/san-diego/

Currently they do a wine tour, Scenic tour, brewery tours. They intend to kick off a "date night tour" and "specialty cocktail tour" and a "Food Tour" 

This reminds me that the sidecar tour thing was going on in New York with a Ural, back in 2019, and in 2020 those drivers were transporting health care workers back and forth to work, https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2020/09/what-do-you-do-if-your-company-depends.html

beautiful paint design on this matching Vespa and Steib

 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=938235336964096&set=a.744901262964172

A Police Officer And His Dog Riding A Motorcycle, 1930

 

https://www.aol.com/78-fascinating-old-photos-history-062914823.html

Scott Walden’s 2004 Harley-Davidson XL 883C Evo Sportster powered 1950s Harley sidecar

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1008907531373399&set=pcb.1008907561373396

https://www.fwbusiness.com/fwbusiness/article_b4ec448a-1695-5c45-be38-cce62d416f6d.html

1913 catalog for the Compeer Motor Carriage Co

 

https://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2024/11/sidecar-sunday_0749340749.html

Kradkurbelwellenanlasser

 

https://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2025/02/monday-mystery-2-kradkurbelwellenanlass.html

how about this... it falls under my "crankstart" genre in my tags!

Honda Monkey by K-Speed, and sidecar, made the 10 ten best custom motorcycles of 2024

 https://www.bikeexif.com/best-custom-motorcycles-2024

1933 Sunbeam 346cc Model 8 with Launch sidecar

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10226747122884386&set=a.1617402035143

this 1928 Harley JDH was there at the 1984 AMCA national roadrun, and Jerry Ottaway (87 years young) and his sweetheart Randi, went 160 miles on the 40th anniversary of the road run

https://www.facebook.com/groups/111664952275098/posts/7561711053937080

two things you've never seen

https://www.tumblr.com/periperico59

adorable

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=899414244877387&set=a.205848817567270

there was only one Nimbus with a left hand sidecar legally registered in Denmark... the milkman's 1952 motorbike was put together that way so he could make deliveries easier (thank you Kim!)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10159759755186344&set=p.10159759755186344&type=3

The National Motorcycle Museum (aka personal collection of the late John Parham) in Iowa, will close its doors for the final time this September, it was open for about 34 years, but like most things, when that person dies that made it, it dies too

1918 Harley and side car... very nice

Harley battery tester. 

this 1911 with a Gnome engine, caps off just a few things I found interesting

A Smith Motor Wheel on the toboggan

Originally founded back in 1989 and long owned and operated by John and Jill Parham of J&P Cycles fame

This September 6-9, its remaining 300-plus motorcycles, cycle cars, midget racers, servicars and dispatch tow three wheelers, scooters, whizzers, Mini Bikes, motor wheels, streamliners and land speed racers, board track racers, an Ed Roth trike, one airplane, two Von Dutch helmets, out boards, motors, tin toys, pedal cars, posters, and thousands of petroliana items will be at the Mecum auction block at an offering to be held on-site at the Iowa-based museum.

https://www.mecum.com/auctions/from-the-john-parham-estate-collection/

the fun and incredible claymation of Aardman, the Wallace and Gromit world