LuLu
| LuLu Cyclecar | |
|---|---|
 1914 Lulu Cyclecar from Cycle & Automobile Trade Journal | |
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Kearns Motor Truck Company |
| Also called | Kearns-Kar |
| Production | 1914–1915 |
| Assembly | Beavertown, Pennsylvania |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Cyclecar |
| Body style | roadster |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | Farmers |
| Power output | 12-hp |
| Transmission | 3-speed selective |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 96-inch |
| Width | 44-inch |
| Chronology | |
| Successor | Kearns Trio |
The LuLu cyclecar was produced by the Kearns Motor Truck Company in Beavertown, Snyder County, Pennsylvania from 1914 to 1915.[1]
History
[edit]The company was founded by Charles Maxwell Kearns in 1903.[2] Kearns was the son of a buggy maker and had a gift for invention but little more than a grade school education. He began by first mounting an engine on a buggy and progressed to more elaborate designs and heavy trucks.[2]
The LuLu automobile was manufactured at 25 vehicles per week in 1914. Billed as "more than a cyclecar", it had a four-cylinder monobloc engine and three-speed gearing. It sold for $450, (equivalent to $13,688 in 2023).[1]
Kearns Automobiles
[edit]The first logo for the "Kearns Kar Kompany" frames the words in the outline of the grille of a 1907 high wheeler runabout. The logo for the company boasted the car as being "Valveless, Gearless, and Clutchless". The engine for the first vehicles was an air-cooled 3-cylinder "porcupine head" two cycle engine. The vehicle's transmission was a friction drive, consisting of a flat spinning flywheel mounted on the engine which was set at right angles to a rubber lined steel drive wheel which slid from side to side on a drive shaft mounted in parallel to the rear axle. Sprockets on the end of the drive shaft relayed power to the rear wheels via a pair of chains, one per wheel..[2]
Cyclecar
[edit]The introduction of the LuLu cyclecar in 1914 marked a change in engineering for the vehicle. The two cycle engine was discarded in favor of the more reliable 4-stroke engine and a clutch and 3-speed transmission replaced the friction drive. World War I caused the company to cease production. However, after the Great War, the company resumed production but shifted to making trucks, including fire trucks.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Kimes, Beverly Rae; Clark Jr., Henry Austin (1996). Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 (3rd ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 978-0-87341-428-9.
- ^ a b c Campbell, Jim (2005). Snyder County. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-3740-3. - Page 15