I was on my walk, again, and thinking, again, about alternative layouts. I remembered a Bucket from “back in the day” that had the engine actually in the body, but Google Image Search can’t seem to find it. It did find this earlier car.
That did much the same thing but wasn’t a street car.
So what I was thinking was move the body back so the engine was about the place the upper black line is in this picture.
And have the sticky-outy thing on the right sticking out of the body.
And I know the “sticky-outy” thing is the final drive housing.
Doing this won’t change anything except where the driver goes and how he (I) fit.
You know you have a tiny car when you can mock it up in the living room and not have to move any furniture around. The back of the chair in the pictures is right where the radiator will be on the car. I saw the chance to get a visual reference in place and I took that chance. The gas tank will go about where the box is in the bottom view and the rear view.
Now obviously part of the back of the body will need to get cut away to clear the engine and transmission if I don’t change the wheelbase. Now if I wanted to be really sneaky I could shorten the wheelbase from the 100″ of a stock model T and move the entire engine and transaxle inside the body and just have the axle sticking through the side like on some tubs.
And hide everything inside the body. Nothing of the engine would be visible except the exhaust tips. And this configuration has precedent in the original Thunderbolt Grease Slapper.
Move the body back until the back of the rear tire is even with the back of the body with a fake convertible top and just keep the same space in front of the original firewall. Or I could get really sneaky and keep adding that distance in front of the body while moving the engine and transaxle forward until the rear tires are even with the back of the body and keep the original 100″ wheelbase, and put a smooth hatch over the driver’s compartment so that when it’s parked you can’t tell where the engine is.
And looking at the original TGS had me wondering where Tom kept his legs when he was driving, because they obviously aren’t in the car with him. He would have to be an above-the-knee amputee to fit in the car, or drive with his feet sticking through the firewall next to the engine. Ah, well it’s only a cartoon, a fifty year old cartoon at that. They had their own logic and physics .
Also getting back to the car I’m building, if I shorten the wheelbase that moves the balance more neutral to make the handling better. Another reason to move the engine forward.
And I need to get ready for my walk.
Witch on a Bicycle 