One question I get asked regularly is how long it takes to get steam up and my usual reply is: - from cold about half an hour. One time a chap then said: – OH – I couldn’t wait that long. Then an old friend of mine lent over to him and said: - Son – in those days it could take you that long to catch the horse …..!

Don

As usual, I frequntly get asked what the middle steering wheel does on Whistling Billy. I have a variety of replies from "ones for turning right and ones for turning left" to " the middle one is for rear wheel steering". Infact it is! When you open the throttle on a bend in the wet especially on dirt or grass, the back end soon steps out of line and correction is needed with the large wheel.
I have just found a picture where Billy is cornering at high speed with the rear wheels spinning and kicking up lots of dirt and the car on opposite lock - but there is a riding "mechanic" with one buttock on the smaall wood platform on the right beside the driver and hanging on to the fuel tank for dear life!
Last weekend I was at a small show, and when I drove off I did a quick small circuit on the outfield of the cricket pitch where it was being held and one poor man was reported as doubled up saying "its mad, completely mad, it cant be true!"

(I am sorry, I have repeated some of this again, I had a problem with one picture being over-sized and when correcting it, this one was posted and I do not seem able to loose it - try the next entry!)
Bob



Edited 3 times. Last edit at 06/19/13 04:43AM by steamcarbob.

I have the usual quetions too with Whistling Billy. When I have had a series of uninteresting questions, for amusement I might tell someone that the middle steering wheel is for turning left and the large one for turning right etc but the usual one is that it is the rear wheel steering. Well, it is!
When one looks at all the old pictures of Billy racing one can see the driver leaning over the two wheels, one controlled with each hand. Billy raced on dirt tracks before the roads were tarmaced. The rear would soon step out of line on a bend when the throttle was opened and correction was needed on the large wheel.
I was sent a lovely photograph about a month ago of Billy cornering, kicking up the dirt, clearly on opposite lock (especially on the very good original picture -I have had to make it smaller) but when one looks closer at the picture there is a riding "mechanic" with one buttock on the small platform beside the driver and hanging on for dear life to the fuel tank!
I will hopefully attach a couple of pictures of the cockpit and the old photograph.
Bob



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 06/19/13 05:06AM by steamcarbob.

Any volunteer passengers for Whistling Billy as yet?

While on the resent Cotswold tour a Japanese lady came up to me and asked:-

What makes your car go?
I answered Steam.
She then asked, What fuel you use to make steam?
I answered, Kerosene.
She looked blank.
So I said, Paraffin.
She still looked blank.
So I pointed to one of the brass side lamps and said, Lamp oil.
She then smiled and said, Ha so, lamp oil…….how much oil you put in lamp to make car go?.....................

Don