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Hydro Jim, to put it bluntly, it ain't cheap. I will have more in this vehicle than I paid for my Fiesta ($10K), but a significant portion of that cost was profit from other investments, or it would never have happened.
Christ, the machine shop owners dad commented on how it was the only thing they had ever built that really had no detailed plans other than the external shape which was drawn on the steel plate by me with a magic marker! You are more than welcome to copy anything that you wish as far as the vehicle, I have no intentions to patent that and now that it is in the public domain, it couldn't be patented anyway.
Frank, to hear that from you means a lot to me. I tried to find funding through universities as well as the govt, without success. While outside funding would be great, with that same funding comes expectations, deadlines and other pressures that seem to make an already grueling process exponentially more difficult. This way I don't have to meet with people whose money I have spent and live up to their demands, which would transform this to a political process, something I abhorr.
This began a decade ago. I was raised a Presbyterian, a religion that believes in predestination although I am not very religious at all, but I do think there is a power greater than myself involved in this process. I guess I am a combination of bull headed, dogged determination, that some greater power chose for this process because of those character "flaws" if you want to call them that.
This vehicle should be just about as close to a perfect platform for my ideas as I will ever see. In the decade I have spent following my dream, I have always looked for the "game changer" that would make my design obsolete. I haven't seen anything close to that "game changer" but the most impressive of the developments was the VW 1liter in it's original configuration and this follows that design closely with the exception of the materials VW used.
Again thanks everyone. It is greatly appreciated.
regards
Mech
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