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
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