Hello from the UK and my project
 

Hi Guys,

I'm a noobie on here from the UK, so Hello!

My current (first, last and only car) ride is a 1960 Plymouth Belvedere, right hand drive for the UK. This car is my pride and joy, I love it to bits. She gets about 25mpg with her Slant 6 engine, which isn't great but isn't bad for a big ol Yank Tank. She's a rolling restoration and to be honest I don't rely on a car, so the poor mileage doesn't effect me too much. I am interested in the odd little tips and tricks to improve fuel economy with her though.

I do have another project though, where economy is a much greater objective - my economy hot rod.

In the UK, building your own vehicle means getting through a whole bunch of rules and regulations and you get slapped with the yearly road tax at the end of it. One of the ways around this is to build a motorcycle, which is allowed to have three wheels. Road tax is about a third and the build regs cost about a quarter as much.

To comply with this, the vehicle has to weigh in at under 450kg unladen and have no more than three wheels. My concept is for a long, low, open-wheel reverse trike with the looks of a cut-down 32 ford up front, and the single driving rear wheel hidden under the boat-tail rear end. The whole lot would be propelled by a 1.0l-1.3l Suzuki engine driven through a Samurai five-speed. I think some subtle aeromods combined with the naturally tiny frontal area and low weight should give me the feel of a hot rod with the economic performance of a modern hatch back. In five posts time I'll hopfully be able to show you a sketch.

Look forward to spending some time here!

All the best,
Conor

Sounds like a neat project with good potential! :thumbup:

welcome to EM!

have you got any pictures of your plymouth?

Regards

Hi guys,

It'll be a few more posts before I can post a link.

If you leave out the http:// part and post the rest of the link, we can copy-paste ;)

Now I'm sure I tried that earlier and had no success . . .

. . . so I'll have to fins another way around it . . .

By getting my post count to the minimum level.

Just like that.

Here she is:

Slant Six Forum, :: View topic - Lucille the 60 Plymouth


I've got a few upgrades to put on: electronic ignition (with a recurved distributor) and a new carb that I can hopfully tune a little better for economy.

Maybe a few aeromods as well that shouldn't take away from the styling - if I can get hold of some rear wheel fender skirts (OEM Stainless ones would be nice) and maybe fabricate an aluminium belly pan that should aid things a little. Not exactly a 'clean' machine to start with though!

Beautiful car! I started off on Mopars and had a /6.

Here's a link to what Hot Rod Magazine did back in the '50s at Bonneville with a Savoy.

1957 Plymouth Savoy Side View Photo 6