As much as I love it, I can't help but see this marque sales pitch: The all new Deathtrap! I wonder if ear plugs are included at no extra charge.

Yeah, suck on that Detroit.... all you have to do is build cars with no bumpers, no crash protection, no safety features, no air conditioning plus unable to navigate through those Michigan winter snows and you too can build 125mpg cars! Why didn't they think of that before.... oh yeah.....

OMG. Seriously. Yah it's efficient but damn, come on. Just get a motorcycle with an aero kit. Nothing against the guy who built it, thats cool, props, but as for a mass produced car, shut up and eat some beef.

It's a motorcycle, a motorcycle that gets 125mph! It has a lot more protection than a motorcycle and you can sit down. Everyone dies, this might actually make you live a bit.

Wow...can't wait to carpool or take the neighborhood kids to soccer in one of these. Oh silly me, it's not a high occupancy vehicle!

This explains why Detroit is going under! This was done by a Ford Engineer? The technology is nothing new anybody with a couple of hours of internet reading and a motorcycle engine can build this go-kart. There is no imagination, no creativity shown in this, and that is why NO ONE has bid on the crap. Bubba the high school drop out builds this from a chicken coop and I'm impressed, but a FORD ENGINEER? Shame! Really, put some thought into it. Like Gerry says at least make it take on a Michigan winter. This piece of gosa had no place on this site!

WTF? Why does so many have to be so mean all the time? Why is it so many thnk they have better answers than the person they are ripping on? Maybe this guy did this to have FUN! It was a HOBBY! Maybe a few of you should find a HOBBY!

Well, wish4cal is correct in that there is nothing amazing going on here with technology. We've had 50+ mpg cars for over 50 years, small displacement and small weight. Everyone is up on SUV mpg and astounded by a mundane common sense application, and it makes me sad. I really expect the person putting out articles on the SciFi website to be able to put a little SCIENCE into their fiction.

On the otherhand, it is obvious from wish4cal's commentary that he's never so much as made a birdhouse from popsicle sticks. That trike is clean, and well done, and likely consumed ~500 man hours *if* the builder wa experienced and knew how to fabricate everything correctly the first time out. I really can't stand armchair warriors, experts at things they've never done.

What is it about someone showing us a 2 seat enclosed 125 mpg motorcycle? Why the emotional response? Could it be that the folks driving the gas guzzling fatass SUV's are a little sensitive about anything they perceive as a threat to their wasteful lifestyles?

Keratos,

I believe the emotion is not directed toward the person who built the trike but the fact that dvyc thinks that an aero package on a bike is what domestic automakers need to be producing to be viable. While this vehicle is interesting, it is not a mass producible solution, as witnesses by the fact that vehicles like this have been produced in the past but have not succeeded to garner any sustainability as a commercial product. If the market wants larger vehicles that sacrifice efficiency for utility then that is exactly what a progressive and tuned in manufacturer will offer. It is the public's right to purchase what they want, period. Free market in a free society means people can waste or conserve whatever they want. If supply for items such as petroleum actually drive the cost of fuel up (not in a fabricated ruse mind you) then the consumers will react accordingly. At this point in time though, fuel is still cheap and families need cargo room. It is what it is. Figure out how to transport the same amount of cargo at 125mpg and set the price around a well equipped comparable model and then people will take notice. Until then, sorry we will waste what we think we can afford to waste.

@karpet

"Free market in a free society means people can waste or conserve whatever they want."

No. "wasting and conserving whatever you want" is passing costs on to future generations.

We need laws (like banning CFCs, Leaded-Petrol etc) to protect the people that you're externalising costs onto from people who think "waste" is a freedom of speech issue.

Just because something has not been commercially sustainable in the past doesn't automatically mean it won't be in future. America is a minority now remember.

Personally though, I would go for a side by side seating version like http://www.aptera.com/ - and although it would destroy the drag-efficiency, I'd make them convertable.

Until a government forces either the sale of, manufacture of, or make un-lawful the choice to purchase at will any item, consumers can do whatever they wish with their personally hard earned monetary resources. Such laws would be tyrannical and directly against the fundamentals of a democratic free society. So, consumers can waste and or conserve whatever they want, and that is the key "want". If you want to engage in conservation then freedom allows that, if you want to disregard warnings of global catastrophe that may or may not be fabricated and purchase something that may not be the most efficient way of personal transport then you can do that as well.

Free speech has nothing to do with it, at all. Well, I do "talk" with my money.

Laws that remove personal freedoms lead to revolution. My money is on those that cling to their religion and guns to win that one.

If you, you personally, want to "save the Earth" get your ass in the garage/lab and make something that fills the existing niche/need/want that drive consumers to buy less efficient vehicles. A bicycle with a faring won't cut it, we are talking space for 5 adults (used to be 6 but bench seats are out of fashion), 50 cubic feet of cargo space, capability to reach 70mph in 800 feet, range of 250 miles and under, oh lets say 25,000 USD. Then you will be on to something. I don't care what MPG it gets, that is your job, but it needs to sell.

I am loosing my train of thought watching Discovery channel so suffice it to say, laws are draconian, if you don't like the cars people are buying, make a better one. Other then that, shut your sewer.

Oh, I would love an Ariel Atom but I could only use it 4 months out of the year and there is not room for a baby seat. Keep trying.

Oh, oh, in my professional opinion, proper electric storage batteries will be developed that allow fully electric vehicles to be feasible in the next 5-10 years. So this argument is moot. After that, go talk to the utility companies.

@Nick Taylor

Stand by for comment. (if comment above, disregard)

show me the rode ,
yet bmw hade one
by request made an they prices whent
up the more you talk the faster
you go as you think worse
some no can wrench they own
worse then that few will ride
a thing yet it sold
some need make for sale
an make for the sale make money
, an bwm can best if 1982 if 200,000.00
when excanged , on mpg
when hp an fule an
how heavy worse,
that is smaller an dose more less for less
pass a tractor trailer
an note washington dc towns neer
best when cady work show
yet the rules they no even have peraides.
perasale

Sorry Nick ... Karpet has the valid argument here, not you.

I speak as a Texan with a full sized truck ... it'll be a cold day in hades before you pry our fingers from our trucks.

We buy trucks here because we need them, and WE USE THEM.

I don't know any of my rancher buddies that haul their cattle/horses, etc with a Toyota Prius and sure as shoot nothing like this motorcycle.

And I pray that no one like you ever comes into a position of power to implement such draconian legislation. Because the day that happens this land of the FREE will have died.

For those that want big trucks and use them, hey, go for it. I however, want a small car that gets great gas mileage. The cars the companies are putting out now get crappy gas mileage, even the hybrids. I used to have a car that got 60+ mpg. It was small, but I liked it. but I can't buy a car like that now. I don't have the time, money, or engineering knowledge to build a car from scratch. So what do I do? I can't go out and buy one, can't talk with my money, because the cars aren't available. Those of you dissing this sort of car, try for once thinking a little broader than your own specific needs. We need more of this sort of thing, not less.

@karpet :

You've been duped into putting consumers before citizens - ignoring the costs that are being passed on to other people. People who don't have a choice.

Banning CFCs was not tyrannical, it was common sense. Banning asbestos as a building material, banning leaded paint in children's toys etc etc etc etc.

People who think they have a "right" to pollute are wilfully or otherwise, ignorant of the costs that they're passing on to others. Taxation without representation. Now that is tyranny.

Oh - and try not to confuse spending with democracy - because under that formula, only people with money matter.

@TexAg : You've missed the point. I'm not talking about utility, I'm talking about waste.

I love this blog and post on blog is very cool and luxury

Really this is very cool product and blog amazing and extra ordinary

@Nick Taylor

Ok, I get it, you are a socialist, am I right? In your world there is no use for money and big brother provides everything, including choice. Let me ask you a question, who gets to decide who needs a big vehicle and who is just wasting resources? Should people need to apply for a utility permit at the DMV and then get their cargo needs assesed by the department of transportation? If the need for cargo capacity changes. like a family of four has all kids go off to college, does their vehicle get reposed so they can drive something more efficent? Who makes that call? By your logic, humanity as a whole should be euthenized just to save the planet because no matter what, we are going to make a detrimental impact. At 12 mpg or 45 mpg we are polluting. For the socialists out there that want to be apart of change, Europe is calling, all nanny stated up for you. For everyone else, keep an eye on your congressmen and senators, don't let this happen to you.

And like I said, this is moot, the tech in vehicles will eliminate fossil fuels within the decade. Still, we need to protect the petrol heads and our Detroit iron.

I've wanted to build one of these for years (No welder)! Needs side and front crash protection (thicker framing and crumple zones outside, airbags). Throw in a few amenities (soundproofing, carpet, nicer seats), and you could probably sell quite a few, marketed as a commuter car.
Note bad for a prototype.

If you and I can buy upgrades and get 10 to 30 miles better gas and way more horsepower how come they cant do this factory. Why cant they make the best vehicle they possible can. the answers may seem obvious,,,, but I challenge them to think outside the box

Very nice work.I have built three airplanes and I can appreciate the effort. This vehichle is a very positive step in the right direction.

So, uh..I'm an engineer. If I make some cookies, does that make the fact that I made the cookies "shameful" because I could have made an electric car instead? OF COURSE NOT!

Then what is wrong with a Ford engineer making an awesome vehicle on his spare time just because "he could've made something better?" Seriously?? He can do whatever he wants. This is his SPARE TIME.

A 125mpg motorcycle made on anyone's spare time is simply awesome and pretty much praiseworthy in almost any case.

Oh, and just for controversy's sake: Chevy should have been gone a looong time ago. They've been cheaping out on just about vehicle they've built for a while now by making them well below par in the refinement department (driving refinement as well as vehicle refinement in general--especially compared to what the rest of the world's brands were offering). The cars were outdated when they came out new. Looks like it finally caught up with them. I'm surprised that it took so long.

Hopefully the negative impact created on the economy due largely to these facts will pass soon and people will be able to get back to "normal" again.