The cars had water-cooled four cylinder engines, two seats in tandem displacement and an underslung body. Some Twombly cars still survive. (Caution: Twombly cyclecars have nothing in common with Twombly (1910-1911) cars!)
Cyclecars were small, inexpensive automobiles that resembled a cross between a car and a motorcycle.
The cyclecar craze of the mid-1910s was an attempt to democratize the automobile by making cars that were smaller, less expensive, and more economical to maintain and operate than standard touring cars and runabouts.
The cyclecar's advocates claimed that it was better suited to muddy or rutted roads because of its light weight and narrow profile; the wheels actually fit between the ruts made by full-sized automobiles.
Cyclecars were small, generally inexpensive cars manufactured mainly between 1910 and 1923.
The rise of cyclecars was a direct result of taxation for the registration on cars, because taxation was based on displacement of the engine and weight of the car.
The answer of Henry Ford to cyclecars was simple: he introduced a scaled down Model T to keep the price of new Model T cars closer to the price of cyclecars.
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