Description
Ner-a-Car 1924 285 cc two stroke frame # 3795 engine# 4834
During WW1 American Carl Neracher designed a motorcycle that should be clean, easy to operate, stable, comfortable and reliable.
He came up with an unusual machine that was constructed more like a car than like a motorcycle; it had no frame but a chassis made of beams, 221 cc two stroke engine, friction drive and hub-centre steering. This rather unique means of transport was aptly named the Ner-a-Car.
Nearacher had some trouble to find investors and manufacturers for his machine.
|In 1919 he signed an agreement with the British Sheffield Simplex firm to produce the Neracar for England and its Colonies, excepting Canada.
Production started in 1921.
Having found financial support in the USA as well, the Ner-a-Car Corporation started production in Syracuse, N.Y. in 1922.
In November 1922 Cannonball Baker rode a Neracar from New York to Los Angeles, a distance of 5420 kilometres.
He averaged 30 Km/h and used 2.7 litres of petrol per 100 kilometres.
In less than 8 days he spent 179 hours in the saddle…
In 1923 the model B with larger front mudguard and 285 cc engine was brought out in England.
The friction drive effectively gives 5 speeds and the low saddle height of about 70 cm combined with its relatively low weight of less than 90 kg makes the Ner-a-Car a pleasant machine to control.
It takes some detail knowledge to distinguish USA models from British made machines; easy “at first sight” items are that American models had the front coil springs under an angle, while British were mounted vertically and that American models were standard electrically equipped with double headlights. In all some 16,500 Neracars were built, 10,000 in the USA and 6,500 by Sheffield Simplex at Kingston Upon Thames.
The machine we present here is a well-restored British-made specimen, fitted with CAV electric lighting.