You Can Be #1

[Ekh]

Corvair, VW Bug, Porsch, and I think one of the old Fiats were rear engine, rear wheel drive. Like you said, not sure how you would do that in a tadpole, but there are some front engine, rear wheel drive. Morgan and Slingshot comes to mind.

Fiat 850 -- we owned one, until the floor boards rusted through. Also the Renault R-8 and R-10 (owned those two -- terrific in snow). Once owned a front-mid engine car, a Marcos 1600, made in England. Engine sat behind the front wheels and a tunnel for the tranny divided the two front seats. Unbelievably tight handling, and you could not roll the thing -- it's COG was somewhere below the road!

 

[Ekh]

Whatever that yellow thing is called, it is WRONG.

 

[WilliamH]

Whatever that yellow thing is called, it is WRONG.

Looks like something that could be used in a post-apocalyptic Mad Max type movie. Except most of their props were a lot better.

 

[AriLea]

Looks like something that could be used in a post-apocalyptic Mad Max type movie. Except most of their props were a lot better.

There have been a lot of people disparate to give the reverse trike a go. That was never an attraction for me. So many of that formula exists now, it really didn't accomplish anything toward improving the technology. But then again he has his trike and I don't. (well I did have my 'Taddy' for a while)

Now doing it where you can afford to do it in your own garage, well he deserves credit for that. Cool, but ahhh . . yawn.

 

[Mike W]

The screaming; would that be you screaming? Or the car (and I use the term loosely when talking about a 2CV)

Yes.

 

[Coss]

Fiat 850 -- we owned one, until the floor boards rusted through. Also the Renault R-8 and R-10 (owned those two -- terrific in snow). Once owned a front-mid engine car, a Marcos 1600, made in England. Engine sat behind the front wheels and a tunnel for the tranny divided the two front seats. Unbelievably tight handling, and you could not roll the thing -- it's COG was somewhere below the road!

I remember both of those very well; I worked in a Foreign Car repair shop in the early 70's and used to get those in all the time; especially the Fiat's.
Have to say it was so easy to pull the motor, 4 bolts, and the 1 engine mount bolt to it and the rear panel of the car would come off , the whole motor was right there in front of you. Worked on a ton of those. The R8 was almost scary to drive; it barely had enough power to get out of its own way.
And just to stir your memory banks, I found a video of one

 

[AriLea]

Corvair, VW Bug, Porsch, and I think one of the old Fiats were rear engine, rear wheel drive. Like you said, not sure how you would do that in a tadpole, but there are some front engine, rear wheel drive. Morgan and Slingshot comes to mind.

Oh lordy, did the common mistake of mixing up my terms sometimes rear-drive when I meant rear-engine, but you understood.

You can't do this with too heavy of an engine and still keep the driver behind the front wheels, but what I did was put the engine behind the driver and drive the front wheels with belts. In this case I moved the driver up only just a little. Love to try that someday, but I already got too many projects limited by my available time and money. :-)

 

[Smitty901]

P1 ELIO ? In yellow

 

[Ekh]

Oh lordy, did the common mistake of mixing up my terms sometimes rear-drive when I meant rear-engine, but you understood.

You can't do this with too heavy of an engine and still keep the driver behind the front wheels, but what I did was put the engine behind the driver and drive the front wheels with belts. In this case I moved the driver up only just a little. Love to try that someday, but I already got too many projects limited by my available time and money.

I almost forgot -- my MR2 turbo was rear mid-engine, rear wheel drive. Excellent car.

 

[AriLea]

I almost forgot -- my MR2 turbo was rear mid-engine, rear wheel drive. Excellent car.

Just to be clear, my comments regarding mid-engine is in the context of 2F1R trikes. :-)