So now I'm going to have a go at travel for few posts and see what the minds of men have come up with to carry us on our travels. It's not very hard to come up some absolute head scratchers when it comes to the automobile. Even the craziest airplanes and stupidest boats can't touch what some people think is OK to drive around in. Once again, I am amazed someone thought that these wack jobs were just fine, thank you very much.
So to get the travel ball rolling (sorry) I give you the 1913 Scripps-Booth Bi-Autogo. The first, and only 2 wheeled automobile. Yeah, thats where the story gets muddy. Two wheels is a motorcycle. Not with this monster. What we have here is a V8 powered 3 seater with 37 inch wooden wheels and a set of retractable training type outrigger wheels that the driver lowered at slow speeds. These features alone secured its place in the "safe and fun to drive" category. The list goes on. Since electric starters were only available then on Cadilacs, this puppy started with compressed air power, generated from an engine mounted compressor. Hmmm, getting safer. Didn't anyone stop to think how crazy it was to power what was essentially a motorcycle with a 330 cubic inch V8 engine? Mankind hadn't really perfected the motorcycle at this stage and hadn't been flying 10 years!
Keeping the engine cooled was the work of about 140 meters of copper pipe that coiled and snaked its way around the chassis and farings. The overall look of all of this piping is truly astounding. Steering was with a steering wheel, but steering was actually accomplished motorcycle style. That is to say, by turning slightly and leaning. This ugly and ineffective system must have been terrifying to perfect as it was next to impossible to turn the wheel straight ahead from a sharp turn unless you were a linebacker.
This gem was the invention of James Scripps Booth, of the famous publishing family. Luckily, he actually drove the prototype a few times and went on to 4 wheeled cars instead.
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