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Oops! That ain't a Whizzer, sport.
Whizzer was not the only producer of motor bikes. Marman,(1948)(later Jack and Heintz(1949-195?)), also produced a bike engine. Monark Corporation produced a complete motorbike.(1949- 195?) The bikes were the same general configuration as the Whizzer, that is, the engine was mounted inside the frame and drove the rear wheel through a sheave, except that these manufacturers used a two cylinder, two cycle horizontally opposed engine. They had a little better top end than the Whizzer, but typical of two strokes, lacked the low end power for hills.
A PAIR OF MARMANS
A JACK AND HEINTZ
A significant difference was that all three manufacturers used a real dry plate clutch system, rather than slipping the belts. While Whizzer's engineering department drew up the concept, it was never produced.
A MONARK SILVERKING
The photo above is actually a "custom build up" by some collector, as the bike predates the engine by a number of years. The Monark was a complete motorbike, and not a kit.
Judging from the scarcity of these bikes today, the production and popularity was significantly less than that of the Whizzer, probably only about 1 per cent. It could be a case of "too little, too late", because by 1950, Whizzer had already been on the scene for four years, and was beginning to see a downturn in the market
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DYNA CYCLE produced from 1948 to 1952. This engine replaced the pedal crank, and was chain drive.
THE DYNACYCLE
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Whizzer engines were mounted on other mechanical contrivances. Bob Baker's newsletters have several photographs of "go cart" type vehicles with Whizzer engines. There was a bike put together with two Whizzer engines on it.
The Buckboard
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At the Hershey car show last year, I saw a Whizzer engine mounted to a frame which was affixed to a saw horse by means of clamps. The engine featured a pusher type airplane propeller about 24 inches long, and has also been fitted with a starting mechanism which cranked on the side cover end of the crankshaft. The gas tank was mounted transverse above the engine. It turned out the whole thing has once been mounted on the transom of a rowboat to convert it to an airboat.
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I have a not very good picture of a Scale Model B-36 bomber with six Whizzer engines on it. Judging from the size of the boy next to it, it must be 15 feet long. Whether it ever flew or not I have no idea.Judging from the autos in the photo, it was taken in the fifties. The thought of something that big flying around with a cranky old reed radio system in it is somewhat frightening.
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A fellow once wrote me that he has found a Whizzer but couldn't identify the chassis. It turned out to be a Simplex motorcycle with a "J" engine on it. Why? I guess that's what was available when the original engine quit!
Watsit?
