Need help identifying a couple of engines.

[Harold Member]

....These engines precede karting, at least the one with straight flywheel fins does....

Both of these Homelite engines were removed from Karts. The engine with the finned head was raced extensively.

The flat headed engine was buried down on the bottom of a box of miscellaneous parts that accompanied the Kart in the pics below.

[Mark McDonough]

Thats some color Purple Harry!

Did that thing actually race? What sort of wheel base does it have? I'm thinking it probably was a bit sloggish on the turn ins.

Have you chatted w/ anyone that had piloted this brutish beast in competition? I would be very curious to hear how it did handel. Keep that color, I like it!!

Mark

[Harold Member]

The previous owner had cut the frame in half & made a half-fast attempt at stretching the wheelbase by jamming some black iron gas type pipe in the ends. Fortunately he stopped at that point before any more damage had been done.

I believe the plan, was to install this Yamaha 250cc engine onto the Kart. I imagine the Kart was probably faster with the little 2-stroke than it would have been with the 250.

I sold the Kart to re-gain the money spent on the pile of parts. I have since learned that the Kart may have been more special then I had initially thought.

Anyone able to recognize & I.D. the frame?

Thanks.

[Mark McDonough]

Harry, I gotta say, that contraption reminds me of the home built we did about 30 years ago. We had a bunch of bars and some tires. Then we had a beat up old Yamaha 90 in a clapped out frame. I got a guy in town to weld the thing up together and he was just the right kind of guy too- he'd build choppers, Trikes, Crazy 3 wheeled cars etc. We came over with this project and he couldnt wait to get the engine in there.

Only thing we forgot about in our haste to get behind the wheel was to put brakes on it. After a few hot laps each the kart met it's fate when I decided to give it the spurs and into a kurb I went. Took out the whole front end.

[Harold Member]

Thats some color Purple Harry!

Did that thing actually race? What sort of wheel base does it have? I'm thinking it probably was a bit sloggish on the turn ins.

Have you chatted w/ anyone that had piloted this brutish beast in competition? I would be very curious to hear how it did handel. Keep that color, I like it!!

Mark

Hey Mark,

Unfortunately I wasn't able to learn any of the history of the machine & it's no longer with me. I sold it to the second guy that called on it. While he was here, we were able to separate the two frame halves from the black pipe. And black pipe it was... complete with threads on each end & a Home Depot price tag on each pipe. I have a feeling that the guy I sold it to, had an idea of what it might truly be. I had made a comment on the design & how I thought it was pretty clean how the rear axle ran through the rear frame tube. He agreed with me & said he'd never seen that before.

I have since learned that design feature was one of the signatures of a well known (and desirable) Kart manufacturer known as Caretta or Karetta.

There were several vines & red chili peppers painted on the frame. There was also a name painted on it. Some of the paint was chipped & the name wasn't completely clear for the reading. It appeared to be Kelly or Kelley Cayenne.

So guys... Did I sell a highly desirable classic?

[ted johnson]

Black pipe, eh? Pretty cool! We had a guy named Ropp down on Florida's Space Coast in the late '50's who built a couple karts of black pipe. He hired an 80 pound hoodlum kid to drive for him. The kid couldn't drive all that well, but he was light, and a lot of the other younguns were afraid of him, as he had a bad reputation for armed violence. No foolin' !
The spindle arrangement and rear axle hookup look sorta Caretta-ish on the purple guy. Offset chassis means early sidewinder. The Homelite with the finned head predates the kart by at least 6-7 years, and the flathead by at least 15 years. Later! TJ

[Mark Brubaker]

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