Larkens

In 1949, the brothers Larkens from Bierum the Netherlands built this monoposto with the idea that if there was enough interest to make a series. Unfortunately, there wasn't; so we are left with this one-off special. Henk Larkens, son/nephew of the builders, is pictured below (the kid in the car with the curly hair).

A description of the Larkens is featured in the book "Autodesign in Nederlands" by Jan Lammerse from 1994.

The Larkens has a fair amount of topolino parts (wheels, uprights, front brakes, leaf springs, wishbones, steering wheel, etc.) but also has some things unique to the car, such as the steering rack and rear brakes. The car doesn't appear to have raced officially, but had at least one day at Zandvoort to develop the car.

The car started life with a 500cc aircooled sidevalve DKW engine. This was replaced by a watercooled 2-stroke 500cc DKW unit and the chasis was lengthened by 20cm to accomodate a battery and radiator. This engine remains with the car, although a JAP 4B has recently been fitted, as the brothers originally intended to do.

When they moved on to other projects, the brothers donated the car to a technical school where it helped teach students about automotive design. It eventually made it's way into a field with a 'For Sale' sign on it.

Dick Bronkhorst acquired the car and kept it until Christmas 2016 when it was purchased by the present owner, Mike Doodeman. The car was hidden in a barn and difficult to see, at first. But, once outside, the car was easier to inspect...and found to be almost entirely intact.

Mike is quite happy with the acquisition and hopes to have the Larkens back on track in 2017.

If anyone has any more details or photos of this car, please get in touch.