Steve's micro car collection. ( a journey down the eco car rabbit hole)
 

After the GGP, I decided to take a short detour on my way home and see Steve George's micro car collection. Was it ever worth it! I finally got to see my favorite autocycle in person: the Bede Pulse Lightstar#9! It's a lot bigger than I thought it would be, about 15 feet long. Two seater tandem. This one even came from the factory with automatic airbrake spoilers. I was told they didn't help much. The wheel pods were really streamlined, though it left much of the wheel still exposed.
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...7/GEDC0499.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...7/GEDC0498.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...7/GEDC0546.jpg

This is an HMV Freeway. Unfortunately he hit a deer head on and had to redo the body (it performed admirably in the accident). The bottom lip spoiler is from a surfboard. He drives it long distances and gets about 100mpg or better. There are three fuel tanks in it holding about 15 gallons combined. I think I recall him saying he could drive to Florida nonstop!
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...7/GEDC0542.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...7/GEDC0527.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...7/GEDC0552.jpg

(note: some vehicle names and facts might need to be checked as I did not take notes.)

Here's a small selection of his cars. Lets see if I can remember what they're called. The Pink one is a BMW Isetta. The Blue one is a BUBU, a very rare Japenese micro car. Red is a 1974 Zagato. And White is the Heinkel that did 128mpg at the 2012 GGP.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...7/GEDC0503.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...7/GEDC0505.jpg

I sat in the BUBU, and I can really see how awesome little microcars are. It's really nice to sit in, the view is great, and it's a really cozy and personal vehicle. The car is so light he actually lifted the front end off the ground. (take that, tipping Smart cars) Steve reached under the dash blew the horn. YIKES! It has a MASSIVE truck horn fed from a scuba tank! What a bark, I need to do the same to the cutesy horn on my car.
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...7/GEDC0511.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...7/GEDC0529.jpg

The Zagato is an electric car about the same size as a City Car. It has a steel battery tray on the bottom for a Lead Acid pack. He got this car practically for free. Really paid for itself just from the lead acid pack scrap value. The car wasn't "running," but when he got it home, he hooked up a few batteries and it ran fine. It speaks for the reliability of electric cars!
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...7/GEDC0531.jpg

The Heinkel that got 128mpg in 2012. Beautiful car, the bubble like glass all around is nice. The rear wheel of this trike actually has two wheels. The guy who designed the car also designed the double tire format of aircraft wheels. So it practically has an aviation tire setup as a rear end. He said the car will go up to highway speed and runs stable as those speeds.
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...7/GEDC0506.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...7/GEDC0516.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...7/GEDC0522.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...n/GEDC0520.jpg

The one thing I regret I didn't get a picture of was these really early low rolling resistance tires. The last made, 155 wide, I forget the diameter. the tires have about 60k miles on really aggressive rock hard tread, but they look practically brand new without wear! Maybe a side effect of the light weight car that once wore them?

Whoa! Now THAT's a eco-fleet, I am totally jealous! Is that an Electravan off to the side being worked on?

This on the left? I don't recall. That one is getting ready for a geo metro engine transplant. He has another example that's really rusted up. The driver seat is on top of the wheel well. It has 13 or 14 inch tires around old school drum brakes I think. I'm afraid I didn't fully gather the significance of the van.
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...n/GEDC0526.jpg

They're Subaru 360 vans.

If there is a motoring heaven up there, there's a corner reserved for that garage. Cool beans!

That Isetta is from the earlier model. Later ones restyled by BMW had bigger windows.