Three Wheeled Cars

Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Three Wheeled Car

2009-05-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

Here's an awesome site with TONS of pics of the Dymaxion car: http://www.washedashore.com/projects/dymax/pictures.html

What's a Wildfire Three Wheeled Car ,you ask?

2009-01-30T19:51:00.000-08:00

What's a Wildfire Three Wheeled Car, you ask? It's a Street Legal, Liquid Cooled 4-Stroke 650cc Gas Powered 3 Wheeled Vehicle that has popped-up recently in multiple eBay auctions from a Steubenville, Ohio seller called "Wildfire". (Insert Michael Martin Murphey song here) The best part about this car is that it gets 70MPG and that it is Classified, Titled & Registered as a Motorcycle.

The Wildfire is selling in the $7000 range, and even though a couple dealers have been putting them out at auction on eBay, but their reserve almost never gets met. If you are truly interested in one just take the Buy it Now option. Make sure that the seller is an authorized dealer.

Updated: Just the other night I saw my first Wildfire live at a local grocery store just south of High Point NC. I would have loved to stop and talk with the owner, but I was in a hurry to get Charlotte to see StarTrek in Omnimax. BTW, while the movie is great, the Omnimax experience wasn't worth it.

I hope to catch the Wildfire again when I have time to chat.

Wildfire Three Wheeled Car Videos

2009-01-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

The Wildfire is a Brand New 4 passenger Street legal car/motorcycle Available with an internal combustion engine or as a Total Electric NEV (neighborhood electric vehicle). Be the 1st to own one of these! Here's a link to Wildfire Three Wheeled Cars for Sale

Brand New Total Electric 4 passenger NEV (neighborhood electric vehicle) Street legal in all 50 states. This is a 6 battery 72 Volt version. Be the 1st to own one of these!

A cool video of a folding (yes, folding) three wheeled car!

2009-01-23T14:38:00.000-08:00

The disctiption of this video states:
This is a film clip of two females assembling, unfolding a three (3) wheel electric car. The car can be fashioned as either a convertible with side doors or as a front entrance car with full cover for the passenger compartment. The car can be folded up for storage. Presumable it is an all electric drive vehicle for ease of maintenance and to eliminate the the issue of cranking the start motor of the combustion engine of the day. Anyone know more about this vehicle, please send me a message or comment with what you know.

Another electric car similar to this has 4 wheels, is all electric, with a front entrance door. Jay Leno has one. It is called the Baker Electric.

Here's why you want to take those corners slow in you new Wildfire Three Wheeled Car

2009-01-03T14:47:00.000-08:00

This a race using the UK built "Robin" three wheeled car. This is why I prefer a Tadpole design.

Robert Q. Riley. We should just call him Mr. Three Wheeler

2008-03-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

One of the first three wheeled cars I can recall reading about was one of Robert Q. Riley's cars. Every couple years Mechanics Illustrated wold publish another home-made car, and most often than not the car was designed and built by Mr. Riley.

Because he has so many designs under his belt I will be making separate entries for each. His web site features plans which are for sale if you'd like to build one of his cars, and there are also a ton of great free downloads there too!

One last thing; If you can find it on eBay you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of his book Alternative cars in the 21st Century (Click link for eBay search)

Free Downloads from Robert Q. Riley.

1984's Badsey Bullet Three Wheeled Car

2008-03-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

This is one of the cars that started my love affair with three wheeled cars.
The Badsey Bullet was on the cover of one of the popular "mechanics" magazines in 1984 and it really captured my imagination.

Patent Art Print for the Badsey Bullet Three Wheeled Car

VW GX3 Vortex Three Wheeled Car

2008-03-22T21:17:00.000-07:00

The latest word on the web is that VW has decided that it would be too risky to sell this car in the USA, given the suit-happy nature of our population. Sad, but I think they have our number.

Watch a video of the VW GX3 Vortex Three Wheeled Car in action.

Here's a link to more infor on the VW GX3 Vortex.

Vortex Three Wheeled Car

2008-03-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

The Vortex is a three wheeled car which is built from plans. That's right; there is no kit, just plans.

Here's a great photo of the late Arvil "Shep" Shepherd's Scorpion (A highly-modified Vortex) and Dan Lenox's Vortex. These are two of the three known Vortex cars which have been completed from the plans.

Here's a link to Dan's FANTASTIC Vortex build-blog, which documents every step of the build process.

Here's a link to Shep's Scorpion Build Pages. This will likely be taken down soon, so check it out while you can.

Here's a link to the Vortex Three Wheeled Car Plans.

ZAP-X Three Wheeled Car

2008-03-22T20:56:00.001-07:00

The ZAP-X was designed by Lotus Engineering. If this car ever comes to market it will likely be built in China; which is where Zap has their other scooters and ATVs made.

More info on the ZAP-X, including a place to place a $5000 deposit.

1996 Peugeot Asphalte Almost Three Wheeled Car

2008-03-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

Though it actually has four wheels, the Peugeot Asphalte has it's two rear wheels pinched tightly together in a three wheel-like tadpole configuration. Seeing that it was an orphaned concept car, I suppose it doesn't really matter.

More info on the 1996 Peugeot Asphalte

2005 Peugeot 20Cup Three Wheeled Car

2008-03-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

The 20Cup features a front-mounted air intake, with air evacuated laterally ahead of the front wheels. On the lower body sides, profiles serve as an aerodynamic diffuser to promote maximum bearing on the front axle. The engine is the result of cooperation between the PSA Peugeot Citroen and BMW Group. The turbo-charged 4-cylinder gas engine with direct injection has sixteen valves and two overhead camshafts. The version shown develops a maximum power of 170 bhp and a maximum torque of 325 lb-ft.

More info on the 2005 20Cup

FuelVapor Technolgies Ale Three Wheeled Car

2008-03-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

The Alé is a new three wheeled car that a Canadian designer is preparing to put into production. The Prototype gets over 90 mph and with a new patent-pending fuel-stretching technology they promise to blow the roof off that number. They will be competing in the upcoming Automotive X-Prize. I love the way this car looks from the front and side, but what happened to the rear? Unfortunalty this is all to common on three wheeled cars. Take a look at the Tri-Magnum and the Scarob for example. Perhaps this will be addressed before it goes into full production in 2012.

FuelVapor Technolgies Ale

A Great video featuring the FuelVapor Ale

Wikipedia Three Wheeled Car article

2008-02-23T19:52:00.000-08:00

Wikipedia has a simple page dedicated to the Three Wheeler. It has links to a dozen or so cars, most of which are of the Delta design. (Single wheel in the front) I think of most of these as a "Chopper", and tend to prefer the "Tadpole" design with two front wheels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_wheeled_car

2008-01-26T21:24:00.000-08:00

link