Whizzer Motorcycles Custom Tandem 1948
There was a motor scooter boom in the US during the 1930s and in 1939 the Breene-Taylor company in Los Angeles, California, which manufactured carburettors and aircraft components, launched a motor drive kit for bicycle application called the Whizzer Model D.
The engine manufactured for the D, E and F Models was seriously flawed and sales of the three models up until 1943 totalled fewer than 6,000.
Following the Second World War when production was freed from military supplies and bicycle manufacturers began producing products designed to be equipped with them, the much-improved Model H motors attracted around 139,000 sales. From 1948, Whizzer also began to supply proprietary motorised bicycles as well as kits with the Model J and these were developed to include a 3hp miniature motorcycle with no pedals, a kick starter and a two-speed ‘Bimatic’ transmission although the Bimatic was discontinued because of problems. Sales steadily declined and the factory closed in 1964. A reproduction Whizzer was manufactured by Nostalgia Cycles from 1993 until 1997.
This 1948 Custom Tandem Whizzer is understood to be a one-off. It was manufactured by Robbins Restorations of Chicago, Illinois, and was purchased for the NZ Classic Motorcycles collection via an auction in Pebble Beach, California, from a private vendor in Scottsdale, Arizona, in August, 2009.