Four-Links – Harley-Davidson V-4, hidden Porsche prototype, Conover Silver, Austin’s kiddie cars

* Harley-Davidson is known for its v-twin engines, but that doesn’t mean it’s always stuck to that layout. Take, for instance, the 1970 Harley-Davidson V-4 Nova, a developmental project that nearly reached production. The Visual Gratification blog has more of the story. (via)

* Where would you expect to find a Porsche 901? Hidden in a German barn? Filed away in some Porsche warehouse? Or perhaps under your nose the whole time, as was the case with this 901 – chassis number 300005 – that had been so thoroughly disguised as a 1980s 911 that even the owner didn’t know the car’s true origins until he started checking its numbers.

* Most of us by now probably know of Anheuser-Busch’s Bevo Boat, the Prohibition-era promotional vehicle the erstwhile beermaker used, but as David Greenlees at The Old Motor recently revealed, it was actually the design and work of Conover Silver, a New York-area dealer who built several other interesting automobile bodies.

* The Austin J40 child’s pedal car was more than just a promotional gimmick to sell full-size Austins to the children’s parents; rather, as John Straub at Along for the Ride noted a couple years back, they were the result of an employment program in the U.K., and a rather long-lived and productive result at that.

* From kiddie cars to something even smaller: Cafe Roadster this week took a look at the London Scalextrics scene, still hopping after almost 40 years.