"Jim Spanfeller" (awesomeaustinv)
02/20/2020 at 10:28 • Filed to: Quirks and Features, holy mary mother of..., Holden
3
15|
"Jim Spanfeller" (awesomeaustinv)
02/20/2020 at 10:28 • Filed to: Quirks and Features, holy mary mother of..., Holden | 3
| 15 |
Apparently, this car is a 1915 Holden. No, not that Holden, this one comes from Texas and was built by C. Clarence Holden. And it’s one of the strangest cars I think I’ve ever seen. It’s a three-wheeler, but it’s unlike any other three-wheeled car I’ve seen . It looks like a similar wheel layout to a motorcycle with a sidecar, with two wheels inline on one side and a third wheel in between on the other side. An asymetrical wheel layout. And it looks like the passenger sits in front of the driver, but slightly off to the side to make room for the steering column! This would maybe make sense if it was just a car-like body on a motorcycle with a sidecar, but it’s not; that doesn’t look like motorcycle suspension and with the body offset like that ... This thing is just bizarre. Why would someone build it that way!? I have to think it would’ve been easier to make a three-wheeler one of the normal ways, and this thing must just have the absolute wonkiest handling... Why is this car? I can’t even with this car.
WilliamsSW
> Jim Spanfeller
02/20/2020 at 10:38 |
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Ok - so which wheel is dri ven? I assume it’s only 1.
Also- “handling”- this car probably never exceeded 35 mph or so, I would guess, and spent most of its life under 15?
jimz
> Jim Spanfeller
02/20/2020 at 10:40 |
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That thing would probably make a Reliant Robin look like the model of stability.
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Jim Spanfeller
> WilliamsSW
02/20/2020 at 10:51 |
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Even at 15-35, I feel like it would handle weird. I have no idea which wheel is driven; this thing is weird enough that I could see either the rear or middle wheel (or both, who knows?) being driven...
BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
> jimz
02/20/2020 at 11:07 |
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Actually, probably more stable than a trike layout, but less stable than a reverse-trike layout.
Think of it like a canoe with an outrigger, and some of the weight shifted toward that side of the canoe.
The motorcycle-sidecar analogy is probably apt, except that this isn’t an add-on to a motorcycle.
Nom De Plume
> Jim Spanfeller
02/20/2020 at 11:11 |
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I’d like to suggest in the politest and most sensitive way. A slight weight discrepancy between driver and passenger was almost certainly the defining characteristic of this vehicle’s design stage.
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BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
> WilliamsSW
02/20/2020 at 11:15 |
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Likely the rear wheel is driven directly. The front wheel is steered, and the off-side middle wheel is akin to an outrigger to bear weight... with that weight being shifted to the right of the tandem wheel track, to load the outrigger.
Going too fast around a left hand turn would cause some keeling over if the right side isn’t weighted.
But it does not require a differential, or a complex dual-steering assembly, it allows entry to the seats from the left side between the wheels.
As a modest-speed runabout, and knowing to take left-hand turns slowly (which in town, taking a left hand turn usually is preceded by coming to a complete stop to check for traffic), it probably isn’t too bad.
A Reliant Robin, conversely, has to take both left and right turns slowly, and has two different pitch axes between the front and either rear tire.
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WilliamsSW
> BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
02/20/2020 at 11:45 |
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Yeah, logically I would think the rear most wheel is the driven one.
I think it’s right hand turns that would be dicey though?
MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
> Jim Spanfeller
02/20/2020 at 11:58 |
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I’m going to give you the reply you were hoping for when you posted this today:
That’s one weird fucking car man.
Just Jeepin'
> Jim Spanfeller
02/20/2020 at 12:33 |
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It isn’t a real car until Torch drives it. Maybe someone can reproduce it.
Jonee
> Jim Spanfeller
02/20/2020 at 13:14 |
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PartyPooper2012
> Jim Spanfeller
02/20/2020 at 13:35 |
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Hundred years from now, some transportation enthusiast gonna come across a picture like this and say - I can’t even car this car. Why would they make a car with cinder block wheels
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Jim Spanfeller
> Jonee
02/20/2020 at 16:50 |
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I know you know what that is. What is that and why? I can’t decide if it’s more or less confusing than the picture I found...
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Jonee
> Jim Spanfeller
02/21/2020 at 00:17 |
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That’s a Scott Sociable. Why does it look like that? That’s a question people asked at the time and I don’t know if there was ever an acceptable answer except that 3 wheels are cheaper than 4.
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Jim Spanfeller
> Jonee
02/21/2020 at 00:30 |
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Huh. That’s just wild....
pip bip - choose Corrour
> Jim Spanfeller
02/21/2020 at 07:50 |
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never found a pic of it before, cheers for that!