Someone posted it on my Facebook page.
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l111/bigtreebluesea/Econoboxtank_zps7a0b81af.jpg)
Way cool, but I'd modify it a bit. The Iron Cross would have to go, the paint would be deglossed, the headlights blacked out, and I don't need no stinking license plate.
Hmm... now how do you get in... roof...?
Quote from: HERBIE on March 20, 2013, 05:07:01 PM
Hmm... now how do you get in... roof...?
Maybe it opens from the front, like an Isetta (remember those?).
The doors were welded shut so the way in is through the sunroof. I think it could work if they cut the bottom off the doors and made them into either gull wing or lambo style doors.
Source (http://www.autoevolution.com/news/smart-fortwo-turnes-into-mini-tank-27111.html)
>>One technical problem we foresee for the mini tank is steering, which is done by varying the speed of each tack in a normal tank. This requires a special gearbox that probably doesn't exist in the size required by the fortwo. Do we care that it only goes forward and back? No, we don't!<<
I'm sure there's a way to adapt the skid-steer transmission out of a small 6-wheel ATV...
http://www.maxatvs.com/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=build_a_max_MAXII&category=Build
Obviously, this was constructed when resources of the Third Reich had become scarce!
Quote from: Dave W on March 20, 2013, 10:50:17 PM
... like an Isetta (remember those?).
back in the mid sixties, we had about four cars on our road: a Triumph Herald (of Doom), a Ford Popular (in black), a Morris 1000 Traveller, and an Isetta...!
Given that the other three were Brit-produced and therefore, inevitably, failure-prone, the Isetta must then have been the only car driving on British roads, interesting.
Quote from: uwe on March 21, 2013, 05:32:19 PM
Given that the other three were Brit-produced and therefore, inevitably, failure-prone, the Isetta must then have been the only car driving on British roads, interesting.
The Isettas sold in the UK and US were made by BMW. But you probably knew that.
Of course, Vorsprung durch Technik. Not featuring Lucas Electrics helps too.
Quote from: uwe on March 21, 2013, 05:32:19 PM
... and therefore, inevitably, failure-prone, ...
My buddy in Devon still has a green Herald running that his dad bough his mum from new and there are almost certainly more Morris 1000's running than any equivalent BMW from the period... no denying they've had a better run since then... ;)
Quote from: HERBIE on March 21, 2013, 06:32:45 PM
My buddy in Devon still has a green Herald running that his dad bough his mum from new and there are almost certainly more Morris 1000's running than any equivalent BMW from the period... no denying they've had a better run since then... ;)
No surprise that most Isettas are gone. The original ones had one-cylinder two-cycle air cooled engines that were about as powerful as a small lawn tractor.
Hey, we were just recovering from a lost World War when we built those! From the Königstiger tank to the Isetta took a bit of a mindset change, ok? :mrgreen: