I remember seeing Harley Hummers around that same time, and that was also the time of the Harley Topper, an automatic scooter about which I know very little. The "in" machines were the Cushman Eagles, and just a few Mustang motorcycles were around. Every so often at some sort of antique show I see an Eagle, and usually find I know as much - or more - about it as its owner. Other scooters I remember were Lambrettas, and the Zundapp Bella, but I know little about either of them. Lambrettas were the favorite ride of the Mods in England.

Predictions are very difficult, especially about the future.

The guys with the Eagles could outrun me on the flat. But I had a paper route on sand roads, and they didn't have a prayer of keeping up with me there. For one thing, I had learned a bit about driving in the sand, and for another they couldn't downshift the Eagles' two-speed crashbox while downshifting was easy on the Cruisaire/Vespa. Those Eagles taught me the art of double-clutching, and I could downshift an Eagle when its owner couldn't. (To be fair, my father told me how to do it, but I don't remember him demonstrating it.)

Predictions are very difficult, especially about the future.

The mustangs were a cut above the cushmans.  The cushman had 10" wheels and the mustang had 12" wheels.  If you had the high compression head on the mustang, you had about 12 HP.  Couple that with either the 3 or 4 speed Burman trans, and it would blow a cushman into the weeds....

The block was cast iron, flat head design with aluminum head. The crank rode on timken tapered roller bearings and had an insert con rod.  There was a piston type of oil pump that pumped oil from the sump into a little trough below the crank where a dipper on the rod would sling the slippery stuff all around.  It had AC electrics--no battery--and a magneto for ignition, a mag for the brake light and another mag for the head/tail light.  Pretty dang simple.

Anybody remember the Pirelli?  It was a single cylinder--but I don't remember the displacement.  I got a ride on a Lambretta once--seemed spiffier than the Vespa...

In early 1963 I was stationed at Keesler AFB, Biloxi, Mississippi. I test-drove a Messerschmitt automobile. It was possessed of three wheels (two in front), fore-and-aft seating, and a two-stroke engine with a progressive four-speed transmission. For Reverse, one shut off the engine, pushed the key in a bit further against a spring detent, and restarted the engine - backwards. Thus, it also had four gears in Reverse. There is an article in Wikipedia.org about this car, the KR200.

Though I have no experience with them, I was told that many Mercury outboards used the reversing engine technique. They were said to have no shifter at all. For Neutral, stop the engine. Start the engine in whichever direction you want to go. I understand they were difficult to maneuver in tight quarters, because they didn't start at idle but at some higher speed.

Some of the very small model airplane engines, such as the ThimbleDrome .020 and .049 engines would run backward. They were often started with the trusty finger-in-the-propeller method, and sometimes they would start backward if they happened to fire at the wrong time (glow plug ignition). It was wise to have a rag on hand to throw into the propeller to stop the engine should this occur. Didn't hurt the engine, but the airplane didn't fly very well.

Four-stroke Diesels will also run backward. Older Mercedes Diesel cars were fitted with some sort of valve in the intake manifold to stop the engine should it occur. It usually happened when someone inadvertently stalled the engine on an upgrade, then rolled backward. The engine inhales air through the exhaust pipe, and blows exhaust out through the air filter.

Predictions are very difficult, especially about the future.

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