Random Picture Thread

On a trip back from Rend Lake, my Shepard did that and I spotted her in the side mirror. I laughed so hard I almost crashed. My daughter, who was sleeping, chewed me out thoroughly for being an idiot. Of course, she didn't see what I saw and didn't understand...

 

https://localmotors.com/arpa-e/litecar-challenge/entries/



Lots of cools cars and technology on that webpage.

 

It's funny... I had an 88 Chevy Sprint Metro (Suzuki Swift)... an '88 that was 1800 lbs soaking wet, carried 2 adults and 2 kids comfortably and got 50 or more to a gallon highway. You can't find something like that anymore... even the "smart" car is heavier than that. I got T-boned in a 91 Geo Metro and only got bounced around a bit. The car was totaled but I was unhurt, so pretty safe too.

 

Those little Suzuki's were marvellous cars,. I had the Suzuki vitaro 1.6 petrol(gas); great off road performance with selectable 4wheel drive and DIFF LOCKS as standard. Could go up a mountain and had great clearance, cruised at 80mph, and did about 30mpg all day long at any speed.
Never broke down over 15 year period; my son crashed at slow speed: wasn't worth repairing unfortunately.

Not bad for a 1993 4 wheel drive!

 

I have an '88 Suzuki Samurai sitting in my back yard. I used it to deliver pizza in for a couple of years, however... the heater just couldn't keep up during the winter, even with a new top. Right now my son has eyes on it to fix it up. Apparently one of his buddies bought a donor Chevy Tracker (Suzuki SideKick), so he says he is going to swap out the 1.3 in the Samurai for the 1.6, and change over a bunch of other parts from the Tracker to the Samurai. The motor is a direct swap, as it most of the suspension. Actually I think if I had a couple of hundred bucks to burn and an ounce of ambition I could get it running... but I am not willing to use up either on that right now.

Samurai:



Tracker/SideKick:

 

Be a decent little car to restore and tote around for those with a boat big enough to carry one. A big step up from either an regular ATV or golf cart while being far from pretentious (and a whole lot less expensive than an amphibious ATV).

 

I think the secret of the Suzuki was its lightness; from memory it tipped the scale at about one ton or less.

Weight is a bad thing on a 4 wheel drive, makes you sink into soft ground and bog down.

 

Maybe this could be made amphibious as well......!

 

Right, here a Ford F350 towed out of trouble by a Suzuki Grand Vitara . . .

I've seen a Suzuki Vitara on a lake in Holland a few years ago, I'll try to track it down on the internet.

 

Here she is, it's a Suzuki Vitara on a RoRo cat with her own ramps, so still to be used as car as well, and on land the cat is towable by the car . . . .

I don't know if the cat has her own set of wheels, which would make the modus operandi, land vs water, reversible en route without the need to collect a trailer first.



The cat is powered by the rear wheels of the car and steered by the wheel in the car, I don't know how the car steering is linked to the cat.

~ ~ ~ Link 1 --> Google translation ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Link 2 --> Google translation ~ ~ ~







~ ~ ~ video 1 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ video 2 ~ ~ ~

 

thats a great idea especially for people that live on an island. this idea has been discussed on the forum before with one person that builds folding barges claiming
It as his invention. . Did you see how it drives angilique. I would love to know how it transfers the power from car to thrust.

 

This concept works really well with a light car of under 1ton; the pontoons are small, light and easy to tow.

....put 2 ton car or camper van on there and everything doubles in size and complexity.


I've seen a car towing a trailer that converts into a boat; the hitch bar hinges up and the o/b fits inside the triangular frame; works as a dual purpose trailer/boat. Went very well too on the water.

I've tried to find this on the net: anyone got a link?

 

From this pic I get... rollers connected to the thrust mechanism driven by the back wheels and the front wheels are in slots that presumably pivot, connected to the steering foil(s) vial linkages. It pretty much has to be designed specifically for the vehicle as it needs to match both wheel base length and width very closely.

 

Maybe the front wheel mount could be made to slide fore and aft to fit different wheelbase lengths. Wide rollers would allow for different vehicle tracks like a dyno.