Well this is most of a Velorex. It’s missing a few pieces, but then again there isn’t much to this oddball which is listed here on eBay and is in Northbrook, Illinois with a BIN of $12,000. For how little there really is to this Czech made trike, this seems like a lot of money.
Here is an example of what an Oskar looks like with the skin on. The seller has the complete skin kit, but you will need to install it.
This in one of the approximately 15,000 Oskars that were built. Frame number 1596 was upgraded to the two-cylinder 350 cc engine with a 12 volt starter. According to the seller, the frame was stripped and repainted along with the fenders and wheels. Recent maintenance and restoration included: new wiring, crankshaft rebuilt and balanced, new bearing, seals, clutch and more.
The mileage according to the owner is 13,238, or is that in kilometers?
The trike still needs to have the outer panels installed and the windshield installed and the recently imported set of “skins” pictured above put on. Are you ready to “skin” a Velorex Oskar?
Motor-on,
Robert
It gets very cold on the north shore of the windy city, how many BTU’s is the heater?
JoeyG…
No way that’s miles–gotta be kilometers. Using even a 140kph speedo is pretty imaginative imo. Looks like a fun project that won’t get overwhelming. No idea what this is worth when finished…..
With an Odometer reading up to 140, then this is definitely in Km.
There are 7 of these motors in a Museum close to me (Bangkok)
This thing is really cool, I love it. Originally driven by Fred Flintovski and Boris Rubbelski to the water buffalo meetings.
I know I will probably ruffle some feathers but if that were mine I’d trans plant the engine/trans, swing arm, and rear wheel out of a first generation gold wing. There would be definate advantages first of which is it would be reliable, and it would be liquid cooled so you could fit in a small heater. The best part would be that it would live up to that 140 kph speedo. The cool factor would go way up and you could actually use it.
Scrap the cage for the canvas top and weld in a complete roll cage then add a more powerful motor with some decent gripping tires and you have the only 3 wheeled street dune buggy.
These are great little 3 wheelers and a group of these did a Route 66 run. http://www.microcar.org/blog/2008/09/velorex-on-historic-route-66/
With all due respect to everyone that wants to install other tires, engines and roll bars, etc…
Like other Microcars these cars have a character that is ruined by these types of mods. You will often end up with something that won’t corner or stop and it would be better to start out with a different platform to begin with.
Exactly. Altering a vehicle with historic significance, which these clearly have, seems to entirely miss the point. Not to mention that giving it more power than it already has would be on the suicidal side of inappropriate. Having seen one of the up close I can safely say that they’re “perfect” just the way they are, which isn’t the apex of automotive engineering, but way up there on the Cars Made from Motorcycle Parts charts.
If these are anything like Ural sidecar bikes for quality then there a piece of crap. Leave it stock but be prepared to have a chase vehicle follow on a road trip, and you’ll want to keep that trip short because your only going to be able to travel at about 45 mph. Or you could just leave it at home and do your road trip in something else.
These were a sucess because they were the cheap transportation people needed. They were produced until 1969 when they switched to a new model, the “Model 435-0”, a 4 wheel car. (which was a commercial failure).
Well Mark S, I don’t know about the quality of Ural sidecars but I can speak to the quality of Jawa Motorcycles and Velorex sidecars because I’ve owned some (and they are absolutely first-rate, akin to something you’d expect to find from Germany in the 60’s or 70’s). Now before you throw stones at their quality, I suggest you first find out what’s the quality control problem with your own spell checker!
Mark S. They are Nothing like a Ural sidecar. The Ural is made in Russia; the Velorex was made in Czechoslovakia, which is an entirely different country with entirely different manufacturing quality and attitudes. The Velorex was made by the same people who produced two of the most reliable 2-stroke bikes in the world: the CZ and the Jawa. CZ were world champions in the international enduro competitions when this little car was made and Jawa was the street version.
Hi Matt when I was I kid I road a Jawa it broke down every time we took it out. know some might say that I didn’t know how to take care of it but that’s not the case. My dad was a mechanic and he and taught my brother and I how to do proper maintenance, and he’d kick our asses if we abused it. One day while riding down a short stretch of highway the dam thing seized up and we got rid of it. I also owned a Ural of which constantly broke down. I’m 55years old now and I have worked as I licensed mechanic for 30 years I’ve worked on lots of different cars. Trucks, bikes, and buses, from all parts of the world, and I can tell you with certianty that Czechoslovakia being an east block communist country that there build quality by comparison to the rest of the developed world is none existent. You want build quality look to Japan and Germany. With a boxer engine in this thing it would be a pleasure to drive and based on the frame design fitting it in would be easy. The early goldwings are only 1000cc and very smooths thats why I suggested it. I have currently built and fitted a side car to a 1977 goldwing and I can tell you that it is a far superior rig. If you’ve ever driven a slow under powered vehicle on a highway with transport trucks wizing by it can be rather terrifying. Thanks for your opinion Matt cheers.
Photo is of my Jawa 350 Twin with a Velorex Sidecar and a PAV-40 trailer. Exactly as it came from Czechoslovakia. A joy to ride and a wonder to look at, a visually stunning piece of art. It never broke down, never failed to start.
Jawas, Urals, and really any of them differ from year to year model to model, and even time to time, sometimes you get one that will never break on you other times you’ll get a piece of crap, same with fords and Chevys, even Hondas can sometimes be found to have a few bad apples. But these vehicles were made to be cheap and easy to repair, yeah sometimes they break down but sometimes they don’t, I unfortunately have never had a jawa no ridden one, but I have had a lot of experience with Urals…some of them…ok a lot of Urals just wasn’t biult well, great frame but sucky engines…but then sometimes I’d find one that you just about couldn’t destroy…. sometimes they just about refused to turn off from abuse… LoL. It all depends on if it’s a diamond, and if it’s been actually taken care of…most people.. especially with Urals abuse the heck out of them LoL
Another view – I wish the various Honda, Yamaha and Norton motorcycles I’ve also owned had been as well made. Well, actually the Hondas were,
the Yamaha not, and the Norton is to be forgiven as it was from England . . .
Wow! What a great combo! I love the early tank style; so much better than the later squared-off thing they went with – probably to make them seem more like the Japanese bikes of the period.