RUMCars Forum
General Category => Unusual Microcar Discussion => Topic started by: Big Al on March 07, 2010, 09:51:39 AM
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Have you seen this modern Messerschmitt clone from Sweden called the Smite? You can look at the manufacturers website at www.vehiconomics.com, though it is short on real information. It would appear the petrol version is using Piaggo power. Alledgedly it is somewhere around Euros 5500. So on the face of it interesting and perhaps more so than a TriTech? Sorry no downloads or tech stuff, do not know how to do it, so you might have to Google.
Is this the small microcar I heard rumoured to be coming into the ccountry by various sources on some kind of Government funded scam, sorry, scheme?
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Interesting project! But in my opinion the body is to big and the wheels to small, the car lost all it´s charme.
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I have seen this before...but have struggled to find a picture of an actual car! Its definately better looking than some of the concept pics of an isetta i have seen!
Came across this though....
(http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs373.snc3/23917_317761848514_77317523514_3512670_1742455_s.jpg)
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I asked on January 21 if they had anything but a computer generated image and was told they were currently assembling 2 vehicle and photos would be available soon.
Until I see something besides a CGI of a Messerschmitt I have to assume this is some sort of presentation that exists to get funding for a project.
It could also be a college student's design project.
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There has been quite a bit of press about it recently although very little concrete. According to this Swedish article, the project will be showcased at an energy-fair in Älvsjö this month.
There's a nice little you-tube video at the bottom
http://www.vibilagare.se/zino.aspx?articleID=14736 (http://www.vibilagare.se/zino.aspx?articleID=14736)
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According to that same news page, they're hoping the petrol engine version will sell for around £4.5K with an electric version about £2K more
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A CGI film, hmmm. Much as like the idea, and of course the styling, I feel that most people today expect a much higher standard of safety and comfort than in the 50s and 60s. If the Smite meets these requirements it may be a lot heavier and less fun & nippy than a KR, in which case engine and brakes have to be enlarged, which uses up more space.
Obviously it will appeal to any who like the KR styling, but will it actually sell to "normal" punters?
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Looks like they’re following in the footsteps of so many 50’s micro manufacturers, all press and no product. :o
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Jim's comment that it might be a student project is also interesting. Last year a student in Australia posted a CGI of a "new" drum design, asking how it would work; he had been inspired by a photo in a popular drum book. Before I saw it several people had already commented that it looked very much like my "Spacer" drums, and would sound very like them too. I told him that his image looked fantastic, but there was no way it could be made as a one-piece cast metal structure without having an incredibly complicated Precision Investment Casting die made, which would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. Likewise for making it in carbon fibre or such like. Mine is made of t least 30 structural components all bolted together. It is SO easy to "design" a product in CGI, but to make it real is FAR more difficult.
Even top engineering companies put too much faith in computer design: in the video 21st Century Jet, Boeing and General Electric designed the 777 and one of its engine supplies on computers, and intended for going straight to certification without flight testing. One engineer insisted on testing, and because cameras were there he was eventually allowed to have his way. A 777 engine was duly fitted to a 767 and flight tested, with only a test crew and instruments on board. The pilot banked slightly after take, resulting in an explosive compressor stall in the new engine. The plane landed safely and all were OK, but the reason for engine failure: when the plane banked the engine casing leaned downhill slighlty, so the turbine hit it and disintegrated. The engineers had forgotten to add Gravity to the design parameters, gravity being quite an important consideration for aeroplanes and anyone beneath them!
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Looks like they’re following in the footsteps of so many 50’s micro manufacturers, all press and no product. :o
excellent point!
now I am extremely interested in the SMITE!
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Looks like they’re following in the footsteps of so many 50’s micro manufacturers, all press and no product. :o
excellent point!
now I am extremely interested in the SMITE!
Me too! And probably anyone with a good interest in micros, but whether there will be more than a specialist/kit car market is unlikely, IMO.
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Yes a distinct lack of any physical or real detail to evaluate if this project has any kind of merit or just a case of nicking other peoples ideas. I went off it when I got to the bullshit page of linked technologies alledgedly incorparated into the design. I am not interested in buying stuff that covers someones mission statement. Does it do the function for which it is being offered to do effciently and effectively? If more time was spent on this basic requirement rather than bullshit we might get somewhere and compete with Asia.
I also worry about the brand name Smite. God used to do a lot of that because people were naughty in His site. Is this actually a low tech Christian fundermentalist road based cruise suicide missile? The opposite in fact of Fizzy Cyphus' increasing collection of sub 50cc armoured cars, death of IC haters by mass snail attack. Behind you Bob, they are at Swinford Bridge already! Damn anyone got a 5ps for the toll? There is always a catch to armogeddon there.
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...and God shall smite them in their beds, yea, and a thousand abominations will arise from the deep and wander abroad. And yea, there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and the rest of the day will be cloudy with sunny spells.
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Interesting quote Marcus, albeit something of a hi-bred, we have a snippet from the Gospels , something that sounds like it could have come from the Revelation but doesn't and the final part is pure Michael Fish circa 1987 on the eve of the great storm! :D :D
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There was a comedian years ago (Tony Hancock? Bernard Miles?) who did an "Apocalyptic Weather Forecast" similar to that, I just could not remember it properly, so made my own version to suit!
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Ahh, Now you come to mention it I have a vague recollection of that myself. It wasnt Marty Feldmen?
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Ah, that could be the one!
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Max Wall? I would go with Marty Feldmen, if I knew which way he was going.