When is a motorcycle not a motorcycle? Gyron 1.

Gryron 1

In 1967 car stylist Alex Tremulis (Tucker Torpedo) and multiple gyro patent holder Thomas O. Summers (ceo of Gyro transport systems) created the Gyron 1 " gyrocar ". Powered by a 80 HP Mini Cooper-S motor with gyro stabilization provided by a 180 pound "brute force" gyro to keep the car upright and balanced at all times. Under full throttle Gyron 1 could do 0-60 in a wheezy 15.5 seconds-but to be fair the idea at the time was to create a Gyro/motorcycle hybrid rather than a road missile. Steering was by the same principle of regular a motorcycle and controlled by means of aircraft cables and an automatic "black box" witch "did the thinking" for the driver.

The aluminum body was hand formed by L.A. coachbuilders Troutman and Barnes to Tremulis's concept drawings, and resembled many of the American coupes of the period-but only much, much narrower. The Gyron1 also used the Mini's transmission, witch then turned several belts to put he power to the single rear wheel. The innovative car, bike, er-whatever-used the typical concealed and retractable "landing wheels" that we now see on modern enclosed motorcycles, like the Peraves Ecomobile.

Sadly the unique concept was just that, and has now since been long forgotten-With the exception of us and Stephen Cobbs Gyro Car Blog.

(see also Dalniks)

Click on the image to see the full size article from Motor-Trend 1967