Post 7: A Fabulous Find!

   I just ran across this image, and just have to share it. Sometimes, I feel "Restorators" and "Collectors" should leave things alone and admire them just for what they are:

Post 6: Going with the Bugatti Look?

     Having started this project years ago as "The Budget Bugatti Project", it only seems appropriate that my design for the 3 wheeler take its inspiration from the Bugatti rather than from the Morgan. The trademark Bugatti pointed tail is perfect to house the single rear wheel, and the mock up done with the Bugatti 51 body looks great. The only problem is the narrowness of the body, and I want a two seater, so I will do another mockup starting from the not quite so elongated 35. We only need leg room under the hood anyway, since the engine will be up front:

    An idea to remember is to stagger the seats to give the driver extra elbow room  and the passenger extra shoulder room, like in the 1912 Isotta Frashini, which is also on my list of favorite RACERS:

or the big Bentley:

   In the course of surfing old cars sites, I ran across the 1923 Miller, which I did not know, and which probably comes closest to the look I am after, because of it's solid aluminum wheel covers, except that it is a one seater:

   But the back of my 3 wheeler is going to be high enough so that the rear wheel has sufficient space above it for the suspension to work.
    Just for comparison sake, here are the blue prints for the 1926 Morgan 3 Wheeler:

and for the Bugatti 35:

  Two very different looking beasts indeed. My goal will be to inject some of the "CLASS" of the Bugatti into the Morgan design, with a mixed flavor of Miller, Isotta Fraschini and Sunbeam thrown in for good measure

Post 5: What Kind of Front End?

    This is actually the single most important decision, and I have not made up my mind yet. I need to think about it at length, because handling of the car will depend on it greatly.
   The original Budget Bugatti Project kept a "period" front end with old fashion leaf springs and friction shock absorbers, for the sake of realism and simplicity. It has it's charm, and would be easier to build. The chassis has just two rails, and we could probably use Hot Rod parts:

   BUT since McPherson came up with his strut, and especially since the development of the Double Wishbone Suspension which allowed control of camber, we know we can do a lot better, and have built in adjustments to tune the handling of the car to boot.
   I was at the Barber Track the other day, and shot a bunch of pictures of all kinds of variations on the double wish bone concept, with external and internal spring. Looking for something we can actually build with tubing and a welder. 
   The simple Colin Chapman Lotus design can't be beat:

I remember a friend working on his Lotus 7 back in my engineering school mechanic shop  in 1965, and it was already exactly the same basic design :

   But a more elaborate tubing frame has to be built to attach the struts, which also provides more rigidity. The original Chapman chassis seems a good place to start:

The back would have to be totally modified for the single rear wheel, but the front could actually remain pretty close, just adding re-enforcements to attach the V Twin.

POST 4: A Three Wheel Black Bugatti 51 Mockup

  I started in Photoshop with the picture of the black 51 beauty, replaced the four Bugatti spoke wheels with 3 FatBoy wheels, moved the radiator back a bit, reshaped the rear end a little, added my Victory 1500cc V Twin, modified the exhaust pipes, and got this:

   I think it looks pretty nice.
   If I scale things to the 18" rim diameter, that makes the whole car 10 ft long and the cockpit only about 24" wide, may be a little snug to take a passenger along. I need to have the side bulge out a little more...

Post 3: The Engine, Gear Box and Drive

  I have pretty much already decided to use the Victory 1500cc V Twin that powered my own Vegas. It is a beautifully streamlined engine that doesn't look like any other V-Twin.
   It is fuel injected, which makes it extremely reliable, and it has a lot of torque. I wish I had not sold my bike for a pitance. But it's done, and I can find a used engine for around $1500 (including the gear box of course, which unlike Harley type engines, is built in):

    I like the idea of using the motorcycle gear box instead of mating a Mazda or other car gearbox to a basic engine. I have grown to really like the kick shifting on my Mini Cooper Automatic/Manual gearbox, and want o do the same on the 3 wheeler, having both a kick shift pedal and a kick shift stick. I might get rid of the clutch pedal entirely, and rely on a handle on the shift lever as some bikes have:

The shaft coming out of th Victory gearbox is going to be off centered, but hat is fine since I am planning to use a C Joint and a drive shaft to the rear wheel, with a Yamaha V Star 1100 drive:

Post 2: Sudden Brainstorming

     I have been too busy so far thinking much about the 3 wheeler much, but I started brainstorming today. The first element I definitely want to keep from the Budget Bugatti Project is the Harley Fat Boy rim, which I love, and already have:

   I already have cut one side out to fit the steering pins and the brake disks:

   The second thing I want to keep is a Bugatti look, with a pointed rear end, and a thin long body shape like the Bugatti 51:

    I like the Morgan 3 wheeler well enough, but I dislike the rounded Morgan "FAT ASS":

    Other cars I REALLY LIKE and want to look at for inspiration rather than the Morgan are the 1909 Blitzer Benz, an amazingly modern design for 1909, that except for the chain drive looks like something out of the 20's or 30's:

the 1923 Alfa Romeo Targa Florio:

the 1921 Sunbeam:

The 1921 French Ballot:

 and the 1914 Ford Model T Speedster: