When certain magazines drop through the letterbox, I down tools, make a cup of tea and read it from cover to cover – the quarterly mag from the VSCC Light Car & Edwardian Section is one such publication. I turned to page 17 to read about the Cyclecar Capers at the the 80th anniversary celebrations and there’s Kate in her 'Busy Bee’. The car is a wonderful home brew cyclecar built from scratch in 1919 by Mr. J.A.Mills and you can read more about it here. I believe this is its first time out since Kate and David did the necessary fettling after acquiring it last year. (David entered one of their other cyclecars, the Graham-White)
Kate looks a picture of concentration as she not only keeps control of her eccentric contraption but also tries to remember the instructions for the test she was driving. The rain didn’t help either, but it didn’t dampen her spirit as she splashed her way through the puddles to the finish line. The article describes the Busy Bee’s popularity… ”several friends enjoyed driving the Busy Bee , but a combination of slow driving and stationary idling ended when the V-twin decided to seize. Fortunately, in less time than it takes to drink two pints of beer, it had cooled down and recovered, apparently none the worse for the experience.”
(Words Robin Batchelor, pictures courtesy David Grounds)