V Twin Front Wheel Drive BSA 3 Wheeler

1929 BSA Three Wheeler. Front Wheel Drive - Engine 1000cc 90 degree V-twin developed from a Hotchkiss aircraft engine. This car was restored by Tom & Malcolm McDonald"

The world's grooviest and gruntiest car?
Could be. At one time it must have been.
Those who know anything about it, speak in hushed tones of absolute respect, both for the car and for the man who restored it.
This car's got history.
More on that soon...
...and here it is now.

1929 V-TWIN 3 WHEELER


This remarkable little car had front wheel drive and a motor based on a famous Hotchkiss aircraft engine – it was in fact made partly from using surplus parts from aircraft manufacturers. B.S.A. produced a car far ahead of its time when most similar types of cars were driven by chain and drove on one rear wheel. You may be puzzled why three wheels and not four but it was designed to avoid the heavy tax which at that time was placed on cars. A three wheeler qualified for a low tax rate, the same for a motor-cycle or side-car, and was cheap to run and was affordable to a large group of British workers who in the depression years could afford little else. Three wheelers were sold in large numbers.



One of these cars found its way to Southland in the thirties and was restored by Tom McDonald when he was a young man, who owned it for a time. On retirement Tom searched for a number of years for a similar car to restore. By luck three years ago he discovered one on Trademe, converted to a four wheeler with no body. Tom managed to purchased it and has rebuilt the complete car, back to its three wheel form, to a higher than new standard, helped in the body work by his son Malcolm. This is still a fast vehicle having broken New Zealand’s speed records in different classes in the fifties.



This is a brilliant restoration of a 1929 B.S.A. Three Wheeler. Few of these cars are in existence world wide.