Oppopinions needed.

"Jim Spanfeller" (awesomeaustinv) 01/05/2020 at 17:13 • Filed to: None

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A while ago I was bored and started daydreaming about buying a cheap car, removing the body from the frame, and then remounting it facing backwards so the car would appear to be driving backwards everywhere I drive it. (or if it’s a unibody car, do a bit of extra fabrication to just mount the drivetrain, suspension, etc, in the other end of the vehicle) So now I’m wondering what the best car for the job would be. It would have to have really good rear visibility in order for it to have adequate forward visibility once the body is mounted backwards.  F or most cars that isn’t necessary, so there don’t seem to be very many cars out there with thin enough rear pillars. Then again, how thick can you get away with the pillars being before the blind spots become too significant? New cars seem to have some pretty thick pillars up front, so maybe an older car with slightly thicker pillars in the rear would actually be fine? The first car that I’ve found that looks like it might have thin enough rear pillars is the 1986 Nissan Stanza, but that’s probably a unibody, which would complicate the process.

But what cars do you think would be good for this purpose? I want to know what cars you think have the most unnecessarily good rear visibility!

CB > Jim Spanfeller 01/05/2020 at 17:16

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Probably a Ford LTD or something like that would be good. Maybe a Crown Vic if you wanted something more modern.

Jim Spanfeller > CB 01/05/2020 at 17:22

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Hmm. I dunno about that. They would definitely be relatively easier to mount backwards on the c hassis since they’re body on frame, but the rear pillars on the coupes and sedans are pretty thick, so they’d be hard to see out of. Some of the wagons might work, though...

CB > Jim Spanfeller 01/05/2020 at 17:26

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How about a Vanagon or whatever?

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Jim Spanfeller 01/05/2020 at 17:42

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Red Green already did it! And he used a Grand Marquis (he didn’t actually do it)

Jim Spanfeller > CB 01/05/2020 at 17:49

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The Vanagon has some louvers behind the rear windows that might complicate things, but maybe an older Volkswagen bus could work...

Cash Rewards > Jim Spanfeller 01/05/2020 at 18:25

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Speedycop did something similar: he mounted it upside down

cberg > Jim Spanfeller 01/05/2020 at 18:44

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If you find a 4wd Stanza, send it to me as my new daily to go with my Volvo.

glemon > Jim Spanfeller 01/05/2020 at 19:38

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I would go something boxy and similar front and rear like this guy did with his (Lada?)

Maybe a BMW 2002 or Corvair, the Corvair would be fun because you could put the motor where it belongs, in the front, which would now be the rear.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Jim Spanfeller 01/05/2020 at 19:56

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Wrangler. Or FJ45 .

Actually a bloke in Oz many moons ago built his off road racing rig off an FJ45 shortie. However, pulled the body off and turned it around so as to have the engine in the rear which apparently gave him better weight balance. Naturally, both the steering and transmission required 'some' modification but (from memory) it was reasonably successful in its class...

Jim Spanfeller > glemon 01/07/2020 at 10:02

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The Corvair would also be good because the rear pillars don’t look much thicker than the pillars of a new car, so with the body reversed, visibility would probably be decent. The only downside I can think of is that the Corvair is a weird-enough looking car that people might just assume that that’s the direction the body normally faces.