Post #235,998
11/25/05 2:49:25 PM
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Peter, you should have gotten one of these instead. 71 kB
[image|http://www.microcar.org/2001/04main.jpg|0|1957 BMW Isetta 300|426|640]
It's a 1957 BMW Isetta 300. One recently shold for $19,425 at the Mecum Fall Classic auction in Illinois, according to the November 28, 2005 issue of Autoweek.
"300 cc, 13-hp one-cylinder engine..."
[link|http://www.bubbledrome.com/mmclassic_05/show_catalog/show_catalog-Images/33.jpg|This is a looker too].
It's a shame that one can't get modern versions of quirky cars like this in the USA.
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #235,999
11/25/05 2:57:32 PM
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second one looks like the gogomobile I saw in Germany
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail ... but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...that was fun!"
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Post #236,001
11/25/05 3:15:10 PM
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It's a Messerschmitt Kabinenroller.
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Post #236,007
11/25/05 4:41:18 PM
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I'd hafta bet...
That there is a very larger untapped market out there for these types of cars. Being Sturdy, well built and very easy on gas...
I wonder if any carmaker has really thought about it.
I know the "Mini" is in huge demand here in Michigan right now, and has been for quite sometime.
-- [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg], [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ iwetheyFreedom is not FREE. Yeah, but 10s of Trillions of US Dollars? SELECT * FROM scog WHERE ethics > 0;
0 rows returned.
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Post #236,010
11/25/05 5:04:41 PM
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The Mini's a neat car.
But it's grown up too much. It's too heavy and has too powerful an engine to get the [link|http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/21681.shtml|mileage] you would expect for such a small car.
The technology exists to do much better. Consider the [link|http://www.usa.smart.com/brand/media/stage.html|Smart Car] (a Flash presentation, or this [link|http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/09/pf/autos/smart/|CNN Money] article) and [link|http://cars.ign.com/articles/661/661084p1.html|Mitsubishi i]. Unfortunately, it's probably the case that gas isn't expensive enough for people in the US to seriously consider these things and demand that they be imported.
If the ForTwo were available as a hybrid, I know my wife would want one (she doesn't like diesels). I think we'll just have to wait a while longer.
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #236,012
11/25/05 6:01:52 PM
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OMG! Those look like Crittermobiles!
We have lamented the fact that there are no sensible personal transportation devices available. Mr. C and I joke about "the Mr. Bean car" and how nice it would be to have one of those. Seriously...he works about 3 or 4 main intersections away from the house. Too far to walk, too chancy to ride a bicycle and NO WAY will I let him on a motorcycle (I think he feels the same way.)
As such, those cute little one/two seaters would be the perfect solution for his transportation needs. One would think that in aMErica, personal vehicles would be the rage, along with the personal digital assistant, the i-pod, cellphones, etc.
Perhaps we-uns who live near each other should bet the ranch and open up our own import dealership. Whaddya say? I'll be we'd make a fortune!
Piece o' pie in the sky,
Amy
"It's never too late to be who you might have been." ~ George Eliot
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Post #236,028
11/25/05 6:36:03 PM
11/25/05 6:36:43 PM
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Get a Segway?
Personally what you describe sounds like walking distance to me. I don't know how long your blocks are, what is it, a mile? That's just 15 minutes and walking is good for your health!
Cheers,
Ben
I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)
Edited by ben_tilly
Nov. 25, 2005, 06:36:43 PM EST
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Post #236,031
11/25/05 6:40:09 PM
11/25/05 6:42:21 PM
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Encapsulated personal transportation device.
Let me clarify...Segways are a load of crap. Where are you supposed to put your stuff? There needs to be a place for groceries or your laptop and other sundries.
Or a kid if you have to pick one up from school for barfing in the lunchroom.
Segway...only good for showing off at Epcot Center.
Phooey,
Amy
Walking...not an option: would take about 45 mins to an hour and couldn't carry all his schtuff.
"It's never too late to be who you might have been." ~ George Eliot
Edited by imqwerky
Nov. 25, 2005, 06:42:21 PM EST
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Post #236,034
11/25/05 6:53:49 PM
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You need one of these. 17kB .img
[image|http://sites.buythisdesign.com/tng/acatalog/6547211_lg.gif|0|Radio Flyer Wagon|195|200]
I had one in grad school. I'd go grocery shopping with it once a month and did so for about a year, IIRC. It was roughly a mile each way.
Ah, [link|http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Humor/SNL/DeliciousDish1.htm|good times]....
If you don't have sidewalks, it's a bit of a bother though. It wasn't much fun in the snow either.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who is just pointing out that there are many ways to skin that cat since it looks like the [link|http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/23/BAGHPFSUTP1.DTL|Smart car isn't going to be here anytime soon].)
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Post #236,037
11/25/05 8:46:37 PM
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Good times LOL
Somehow, I just can't see the Critterman humping it to work every day tugging on a Radio Flyer.
He'd get really Schweddy Balls! ROFL!
Peace,
Amy
"It's never too late to be who you might have been." ~ George Eliot
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Post #236,035
11/25/05 7:55:04 PM
8/21/07 12:39:05 PM
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Someone has been trying to import them
but it has been a long struggle - the manufacturer in particular isn't keen on it, preferring to try to market some micro-suv here in 2006.
The miserable saga is laid out here: [link|http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/|http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/]
"Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" --Mark Twain
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." --Albert Einstein
"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses." --George W. Bush
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Post #236,038
11/25/05 8:47:13 PM
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Chrysler suxx0rz!
"It's never too late to be who you might have been." ~ George Eliot
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Post #236,044
11/25/05 10:22:29 PM
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Vespa?
It's not quite a "motor cycle", more like a "motor scooter". At least 65 mpg guaranteed.
[link|http://www.vespausa.com|Vespa Scooter]
Glen
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Post #236,045
11/25/05 10:58:49 PM
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My Lambretta LD-125 was the most practical transport ever -
Around town Nothing could beat it for convenience (park on sideawalk - even in SF; too cute to ticket. Then..) It was simply Fun, even on the most mundane errand. It was also a piece of Art, prolly still in a few museums: precisely the reason I could 'steal' my first real motorcycle - when its owner saw me on mine, then stopped to swap..
Infinite mpg, (but you had to mix a capful of oil == 2-stroke).
And while I don't recommend it as 'practical' - I rode mine from SF --> Pasadena via Hwy 1 once. (OK so 45ish mph cruise -- but All That seascape, fresh air; why hurry?)
At $4+ pergallon, and with the hideous % of US credit card debt and now Net Average Savings in the [-] column: they Will come back; we may be dumb, but not all are stupid.
Alas, motorcycles have the better physics going for them, especially the relationship of Your CG to that of the whole package; the tiny wheels VS road objects etc. ie cycles are Safer at speed and stopping on a variety of surfaces.
(Then follows the minute and endless discussion of what any of that means.. once one has dealt with what a one Wants ;-)
Besides, there are today a range of 'scooters'; some motorcycle-like in their decent handling, fully capable of cruising two-up in the 70s, with the 5000# dinosaurs driven by the perpetually distracted - all about. But these ain't cheap. (Methinks the cute Vespas are also overpriced, all things considered.)
Ah well, I had my fun before it was necessary to deal with a nation of actual or wannabe Tank-drivers, inured to what they crush when reaching for that cel-fone or TV channel changer, while quieting the chattering ADD kiddies.
moi
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Post #236,052
11/25/05 11:14:15 PM
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personally I wish the states would try a real conservative
idea. On non interstates or limited roadways a vehicle must have brakes, lights, a signalling method and may not leave parts strewn during ordinary operations. Then let the market decide, while some will drive monster trucks, getting 1 gallon per mile others (myself) will drive stripped shells with oddball methods of propulsion. All vehicles must be licensed but a licensing authority cannot deny a license unless the vehicle appears to be stolen.
thanx,
bill
"the reason people don't buy conspiracy theories is that they think conspiracy means everyone is on the same program. Thats not how it works. Everybody has a different program. They just all want the same guy dead. Socrates was a gadfly, but I bet he took time out to screw somebodies wife" Gus Vitelli
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 49 years. meep
questions, help? [link|mailto:pappas@catholic.org|email pappas at catholic.org]
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Post #236,058
11/25/05 11:58:20 PM
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I'd agree with the tack
but I believe that Muricans are solidy into the blame-game and its corollary - cradle --> grave Security (look how silently they caved to the Trotskyites' attacks on fundamental rights of US citizenship?)
So the first tyke impaled on a dune-buggy's ornamental spear == $$$ as an Example, etc.
It would be reversed PDQ, is my take.
Only in Mad Max flics - Muricans so love to take their 'liberty' vicariously; it's so much Safer that fantasy way, y'know?
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Post #236,074
11/26/05 10:47:40 AM
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ICLRPD (new thread)
Created as new thread #236073 titled [link|/forums/render/content/show?contentid=236073|ICLRPD]
jb4
shrub●bish (Am., from shrub + rubbish, after the derisive name for America's 43 president; 2003) n. 1. a form of nonsensical political doubletalk wherein the speaker attempts to defend the indefensible by lying, obfuscation, or otherwise misstating the facts; GIBBERISH. 2. any of a collection of utterances from America's putative 43rd president. cf. BULLSHIT
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