# Anybody ID This Ancient 3-Wheeled Car? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 13, 2007, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414 "2007-08-13T09:59:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/21 "2007-08-14T07:41:27Z")
[QUOTE=if6was9] About the axle, could be a rear engine, front wheel drive car. Kind of standard in reverse… [/QUOTE] Not completely rear-engine. There doesn’t seem to be enough room for an engine and the wheel. Must have been a mid-engine. That thing has to be totally custom. Johnny Cash’s _One Piece At A Time_. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/22 "2007-08-14T08:57:12Z")
**Rick** , it’s a known fact that the British and the Italians are both capable of building gorgeous cars, they just seem to lack the ability to make them run well, for some reason. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/23 "2007-08-14T18:30:54Z")
Some observations: The speedometer has 50 at the top. Would that make it miles rather than kilometers? On that odd front bumper end, there’s a lot of wear. Maybe it’s a step. The tubing loop behind the front seat(s) has bracket for holding something, perhaps a wooden panel. The rear body panel also has a row of fasteners, for ??? The lumpish thing in the middle seems to mean either it dropped down over the rear wheel, or this is an early Oscar Mayer Weinermobile. 😉 So, what was in the middle? The steering wheel hub has the broken stubs of a horn ring. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/24 "2007-08-14T22:44:17Z")
This is incredible! I’ve only ever heard of these things from my father-in-law who grew up near the manufacturing plant in Palmerton, PA. He had some really cool photos of them in fully operational condition–even when they were in current production they were a curiosity. As you can guess from the pictures, the driver sat to the very front under a removable canvas & glass canopy. The entire midsection was devoted to a monstrous 16-cylinder fuel injected engine capable of delivering over 800 hp to the front wheels. The midsection also looks like it’s missing something, and it is. The 48 foot delta wing and engine canopy. Yes, this is what’s left of a 1938 delta-wing treadmill-fighter aircraft. If you’ve never heard of them it’s because they never really took off. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/25 "2007-08-15T09:22:13Z")
:: pummels **Inigo Montoya** with a “dollar bill grill” Buick:: Now, on one of the boards I go to, someone said that they knew someone who had an Italian vehicle (make unknown) built shortly after WWII that resembled it. That help anyone? ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/26 "2007-08-15T09:44:03Z")
Spending too much time in the lab, I thought the thread title read, “Antibody ID this…” and I thought, “Ooh, ooh! I KNOW this!” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/27 "2007-08-15T10:05:37Z")
Do you have a better picture of the badge on the bonnet? That might at least get us started. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/28 "2007-08-15T10:23:48Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Do you have a better picture of the badge on the bonnet? That might at least get us started. [/QUOTE] Sadly, no. I’m not even sure _where_ the pics were taken, I’m trying to find out, in hopes that maybe someone here is nearby and can take better pics. If it’s a custom job, I’m wondering if they didn’t take the _rear_ of a vehicle and use that as the _front_ of this one, as the front end sort of slopes like the rear of old vans/delivery wagons. **if6was9** , good point about the axle. That’s what Bucky did with his Dymaxion. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/29 "2007-08-15T11:28:44Z")
Okay, according to [this](http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=200438), it looks like the car’s located somewhere around Muskogee, Oklahoma. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/30 "2007-08-15T14:34:52Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Okay, according to [this](http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=200438), it looks like the car’s located somewhere around Muskogee, Oklahoma. [/QUOTE] Linky no loady. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/31 "2007-08-15T18:29:39Z")
Linky loady loverly for me. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/32 "2007-08-15T18:56:03Z")
Linky loady now. some guy got it about page 6. It’s a Henway. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/33 "2007-08-15T19:29:11Z")
I bet you like sending guys out for a bucket of propwash. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/34 "2007-08-15T20:04:26Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] Linky loady now. some guy got it about page 6. It’s a Henway. [/QUOTE] What’s a Henway? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/35 "2007-08-15T20:08:10Z")
[QUOTE=Inigo Montoya] What’s a Henway? [/QUOTE] About 2.5 pounds. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414/36 "2007-08-15T21:38:55Z")
Walked right into that one, Inigo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-id-this-ancient-3-wheeled-car/415414.md?page=1)