With everyone pumping oil out of the Gulf of Mexico except for America, it would seem like the environmental wackos are getting their wish. Many Americans are finding it more and more difficult to pay for the high price of gasoline forced upon us by a government caused lack of oil supply. What we may soon be forced to drive is something similar to a vehicle I saw in a museum like the one at the MICROCAR Museum in Madison GA. It was the early 1970's and I a soldier stationed in Manheim Germany when I first saw what could be the future of America's transportation. It was a funny looking three wheeled vehicle produced by the Messerschmitt Company.
Wilhelm Messerschmitt started his aircraft company in 1923, but by the 1950 he was producing three wheeled economy vehicles. His company produced these because during WWII it was putting out thousands of fighter planes like the famous famous BF-109 plane for the Nazi war machine. The company's involvement in producing war equipment for the Nazi's would be the reason the newly installed Democratic government disallowed them from making aircraft after the war. So to stay in business, Wilhelm decided his company would instead produce sewing machines, pre-fab houses, and automobile parts. Then in the mid 1950's the company started producing an economical three wheeled automobile. produced and eventually automobiles.
The car that the Messerschmitt Company is mostly remembered for is the Messerschmitt KR-200 three-wheeler, which had a distinctive bubble canopy. The vehicle was designed by the famous aircraft engineer Fritz Fend, and it was manufactured at Messerschmitt's Aircraft Factory. This fuel efficient vehicle was powered by an air-cooled 199cc 1-cylinder, 2-stroke that developed 10 bhp at 5250 RPM. From February 1955 to December 1966, there were a total of 16,000 Messerschmitt KR-200's produced.
These
three-wheeled vehicles retailed for around 2,500 DM's which made the
KR-200 a considerable success when you consider
the way Europe was still the economically struggling from the ravages
of the war. Eventually the demand for basic economical transportation in Germany and other European nations began to
diminish with the economic recovery that took place in the 1960's. When sales drastically dropped, the company was forced to cease production of their economical three-wheeling
KR-200. Soon it became nothing more than a collectors item or museum exhibit.
44 years later the commuters of the world are again struggling economically as they try to get the biggest bang for their buck. Along with the current financial struggles, we in America are also stuck with a political regime that has bought into the Great Global Warming Swindle hook line and sinker. With the Obama regime and his anti capitalist Democrat friends in congress refusal to allow for proper oil drilling, in areas like ANWR where we know it exists, is just adding to the fuel shortage and higher prices at the pumps. So like it or not, American commuters are being forced to buy more unsafe, yet economically sound vehicles, or go broke driving around to do their business.
Which brings me to the new Volkswagen Spartan. A vehicle that was designed to get the the maximum amount of mileage from a liter of gasoline. The Spartan could very well be the prototype for the type of vehicle the American commuters will be driving in the future. For a low price tag of $600, the Chinese people will be able to purchase a Spartan. This little car is no toy, and it's ready to be released in China sometime this summer. When Volkswagen introduced the Spartan, they revealed that the $600 car can get up to 258 mpg. It would seem that Ford, Chrysler and Government Motors may be chasing VW on this one.
Now before
you get too excited, I would forget about taking your
girlfriend on a date, or even doing any extensive grocery shopping
with the Spartan. That's because this car room for a driver but no passengers. It's my guess that many environmental
wackos, who have been trying to get us all to car pool for the last
40 years, will be a bit upset however. That's because this vehicle will guarantee one vehicle for every human on the road.
It was introduced to at the Volkswagen stockholders meeting in the summer of 2009 as the most economical car in the world. The company informed the shareholders, that their initial
objective was to prove they could produce a vehicle which uses
only 1 liter of fuel to travel 100 kilometers.
In order to reach their targeted mileage, the designers needed a trimmed down anemic style that offered no bells and no whistles. So what you get is a body that is 3.47 meters long and just 1.25 meters wide, and a little over a meter high. The prototype was made completely of carbon fiber and is not painted to save weight. So like Henry Fords Model T, you can have any color you want as long as that color is black. This one man machine is not electrical though, because it actually has a one cylinder diesel power plant that is positioned ahead of the rear axle. Combined with an automatic shift that is controlled by a knob in the interior, the driver will no doubt feel as if he is driving a go cart at the state fair. 
In roll-over and impact tests, this tin can on wheels supposedly matches the protection you get from the GT racing car. So they claim that the meager looking interior will not put it's lone occupant at risk of bodily harm. Personally, I'll withhold my judgment on their safety claims for a few years until it actually has a track record on the road of reality.
For those of you interested in the tale of the tape, this campy little motorized vehicle will get you speeding down the freeway at a top speed of 62 to 74.6 miles per hour. However, considering you will be getting 258 miles to a gallon, the 1.7 gallon capacity gas tank will get you 404 miles down the road before you need to refuel. This little death trap is even more economical then an electric hybrid. A fact that will make the anti fossil fuel crowd a bit upset.
So, how would you like to be driving down the freeway in this covered lawnmower on steroids? I only ask because I'm convinced that the current regime may soon order it's newly acquired auto manufacturer, "Government Motors", to start producing similar covered mopeds for his servants, the American comrades. I also expect Obama to tell his energy czar to advise his subjects that we should buy these death traps or be prepared to pay higher taxes for violating his new carbon-dioxide emissions standards. After all, a government that would force a person to buy health insurance will not think twice about forcing it's citizens to purchase vehicles they do not want.
I may lay the blame for our current economic malaise at the feet of the leftist in congress, but the fact still remains that the average American's bank account is getting smaller and smaller by the day. Like Americans did in the 1930's and the 1970's, we too must find ways to stretch the dollar. So while we may live in different times then the Europeans did in the 1950's, when the KR-200 was first introduced, the need for such an
economically efficient vehicle has become a priority for the auto manufacturers of the world. If this vehicle can help some make
ends meet and still allow for a semblance of freedom they have grown to enjoy,
then maybe it's not such a bad idea, for now.
I would like to remind my fellow Americans that, we may be forced to pinch penny's and cut back on certain luxuries right now, but come November we will have a chance to stop the Obama regime by throwing out his the fascists friends in congress. Then, in 2012 we will be given another chance to reverse everything they have done which has put us in the position where we are forced to even consider purchasing a death trap like the Volkswagen Spartan.
About Me: I am a born again Christian who enjoys talking religion and politics. I have always believed that it is the Christian's obligation to understand the workings of our government as well as they do the precepts of God. Jesus tells us to be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves". (Mark 10:16) So it is with this understanding that I approach life. I was born in the Midwest, and while I may have grown up in Northern Minnesota, I have earned my degree in knowledge and understanding from the many regions of America and Europe that I have either lived in or visited as an adult.
Well well Mr OV, it seems like the short hiatus you took has done you good. This article has really big the mark on what the left has in store for us.
They have been trying to get Americans to move into the big cities for years. If they could force us into these tin cans, then we would be forced to live close to where our jobs are located. Also we would be forced to live within a short walk of the stores to shop, because we would not be able to carry our purchases in the vehicle with us.
Ok, maybe I stretch it a bit, but we do know them and they do not like us being free enough to make our own decisions in life. Think about it, we can no longer buy a standard toilet. No longer will you be able to buy filament light bulbs.
Buy a new tv and someday soon buy a new radio so the old airwaves can be sold to cellphone companies and used for cities to issue parking ticket fines via wireless.
You can’t just set your thermostat at whatever temp YOU want and you can’t just drive anywhere you want in your SUV. Our Fearless Leader said so in the 2008 campaign.
This is not the country many of our ancestors fought and died for anymore. It is quickly becoming the country they fought against.
I do worry that the Fascist in power could very well order Americans to buy this if he gets re-elected in 2012. Then again the precedent has long been established about the government orderiung the people to do things they find objectionable.
The fact that there are unnecessarily ridiculous low speed limits in places that they are not needed, or the fact that US citizens can't buy European diesels or small cars (because they don't have US-style supersized bumpers) means that citizens have gone along with government interference for far too long that has in effect set the precedence for control.
That would also be the reason why the new fuel economy standards aren't exactly a paradigm shift so much as it is a logical extension to a long-existing status trend.
But I don't think Americans will put up with Kabinenrollers. That's just alarmist hysteria, underestimating the American public. If they really try to pull that crap we might yet see a Bob Barr presidency. If there's really a trend towards smaller cars in the coming years, it's because of competition for resources from China, India, and other growing economies and the resulting higher prices of of those resources.
There is a natural limit to how small a car can get, due to it's usefulness. A Smart economical vehicle like this is a great solution for 5-10% of the population which really is a big market that should be catered to, but it's rather useless for 80% of the rest.
The very fact that we can even envision such things happening should be enough to understand the worry those of us have about such moronic vehicles even being produced.
Sorry, with all due respect, this is ludicrous. The market needs the lunatic fringe. That goes for the VW "Ein Liter Auto" (as it is called in German) as well as for the 250mph Bugatti Veyron built by the same company. In order for the market to evolve, you need to try wacky ideas. Worrying about such extremes is tantamount to a distrust of capitalism / a market economy and rather as sign of statist paleo-conservatism.
I do not suggest you are such an extremist, because I know you from your writing, but you do tend to excite the fringes a bit. I guess it's what you do to attract readers. Anyway, good article and thanks for the trip down memory lane with the information on the Messerschmitt company and it's classic KR200 the wheeler.
I think that is why I am drawn to your style of writing, you always seem to blend a history lesson into your articles if you can. Congrats on your own Blog with the ER, I look forward to you again contributing to the content of the world wide web.
$600.00 my *****!!
nothing made of carbon fiber is going to go for that cheap. I don’t think you have a clue of what your talking about. it has a back seat and it is a very impressive vehicle.
“more economical than an electric hybrid?”...wow, you obviously have no clue what a hybrid is.
Production and price of the Volkswagen 1-litre car
Welcome back OV, or I guess I should say Chuck. This blog is pretty plane compared to the other three you have. Are you going to keep posting on them, or will you eventually shut them down?
I still read PS, but since they took offense with the freeper comments I stopped commenting. OK, I guess they actually took offense with you posting our comments because we could not get through. Anyway, all that is just water under the bridge now.
I just have one question about your article, or a statement.
"They will allow us to actually still drive cars of our own in the future"?..... LOL
Tell Tina I said hi, I really like reading her comments. Quite often I enjoy reading her debating the liberals like Libby, K, Quentin, and others more than the articles themselves. Even though I have never met her, she sounds lot like my best friend named Carla back in Ca, well from her writings anyway. Some day I will have to tell Mr. Nancy to stop by Chico on our way to Redding to see our son Bob. Unfortunately he only stops for gas or when I threaten to pee in the car.
Anyway, welcome back OV. I guess I will always refer to you as OV. Hope you don't mind.
Thanks Nancy. I'll pass on the kind comment about Tina of PS when I get a chance. Now that I am not writing for PS I am not in contact with her as often as I was before. I owe a lot to both Jack and Tina for giving me a chance to test my writing skills, so I hold no grudge nor do I have any animosity for what was more of a result from the software problem than it was how they felt towards the Freepers. Both Jack and Tina appreciated the comments and traffic from FreeRepublic, so please do not hold a grudge towards them.
As for my name, feel free to keep refering to me as One Vike (OV), after all it is still my Freeper name.
And I agree that maybe I should have written, "If we are still allowed to drive, we will probably be forced into the new VW death traps.
Thanks again and I look forward to you joining me in my new endeavor here at the ChicoER Gate.
Fred, I really would like to know what happened to you. I heard rumors at FreeRepublic that you had died. Then one day you popped up with a comment at PS. So what gives guy? I know you had offered that you were in an auto accident, but you never gave anymore information.
Do you still have my private email? Well it's actually not a secret since began offering it to anyone who desired private prayer and consultation. So drop me a line and I promise to keep things closer to the vest between you and me.
As for your comment, I agree that we have been slipping on this slide to Gomorrah for a long time. However, maybe this November we can turn things around a bit. I read someplace (I get confused at times where I read things) that this in the beltway pundit thought we may actually win almost 100 seats in the House of Representatives. Can you imagine if we did, and then translate that kind of House victory to the US Senate. Man we could be looking at a veto proof congress next year.
Well thanks for the recognition of my new blog. Seriously, email me and we can chat to see whats up. Also, I also offer you the chance to write an article anytime you want. Just let me know and it's a done deal. You know that I have extended the same offer to a few other Freeper's like Tom Hawks and opthers right?
Thanks Geronimo.
Yes I must admit that I do tend to push the envelope to attract both sides of the political extreme. That being said, I have read a few things that you have written as comments that could be categorized in the same vein as my writings.
Any way I do like to tie historical facts into my writing because those who forget thye past have a habit noT repeating it. Thus we see the world we live in dominated by many humans who have never been properly schooled in the facts of history, and we are all suffering for it.
And that brings me to you assertion that some of my points are ludicrous. Well look at where we are at and you will see that those in charge are dead set on destroying the country with any meens possible. So, I suggest to you that time will tell if I am extreme in my assertions or not.
Thanks for joining in and looking out for my articles.
You obvosly dont understand that the world is dieing. We need to fix it before we are all walking to work. I think this is a great way to start reducing the carbon waste we are putting in the air. As far as our great president forcing Americans to drive these, what would be wrong with that? Nothing pisses me off more thyen to see abunch of idiots driving around in a huge SUV that just kills people and pollutes the enviroment. Chico will be a much better place when everyone wakes up and realises that having a gas guzzling piece of crap is not needed.
I am truly stunned by your obvious high intelligence and learned education Will. I can find no way to debate you on the level you have obviously been trained by our superb public educational system.
I have no choice but to leave your comment stand as is for the many who are not at your level of education to just sit back and admire.
I will offer you a few words of advice however. That advice would be this, "I suggest you go to The Uncomfortable Truth, because it is there you will find an individual who can actually converse at your level of intelligence. His name is Quentin Colgan and he would like to be a candidate for the office of President in 2012. Please do not let his hat scare you away however. It seems that he kept the hat from when he was a young boy in school. You see he was forced to sit in the corner of the classroom on a stool with that hat on to show the rest of the class what a dunce he was.
I would also advise you to find a good English grammar book, and a decent dictionary to learn how to properly spell, before you visit his site. If you don't then he might not be able to understand what it is you are trying to say, but then again he is as uneducated as you are so he might.
If they let the free market decide, I have no problem with it. Frankly, I could see a use for it, say for new families where money is tight. Instead of two car payments, let Mom have the Suburban Assault Vehicle to schlep the kids while Dad commutes in the Elfmobile.
Now when they attempt to force said situation against the families desire it would be time for the father to break out the family shotgun to force the G-Man away from his family.
Anyway that is the advice from this father of 6.
The Leftist’s goal is to get Americans out of their cars and onto buses, bicycles, and/or on foot just like China, North Korea, Cuba, and other places where the utopian model is being followed to a greater or lesser degree.
Think about it, what oppressed people from other contries looked to for a “taste” of what America’s freedoms had to offer (commerically owned businesses, music that was not regulated or promoted by government, iconic trademarks, freedom of movement in personal vehicles, food that was pleasurable...) are being tossed on the scrapheap of history.
None of these things are the “founding blocks” of this nation but to someone behind the Iron Curtain or even in post-Fascist Italy, a pair of Levis and a rock and roll record were tangible “subversive” items and a way of “escape” even if only for a moment in one’s mind.
In America today, the dominant establishment of seems to be trying to overthrow every element of American society that other nations used to think of when they’d think of “American culture”...
Rock and roll has been replaced by nudisco autotune songstresses and rap thugga thugga thugga.
Hamburgers are “the devil” now.
Lucky Strike is a death stick.
Car culture is “killing the planet” so no more classic steel or even drive-ins or cruising or roadtrips.
Hollywood no longer trumpets Americanism, instead it shirks its collective shoulders and shrugs “eh, America isn’t so great” to the winking eye of foreign audiences.
So it really shouldn't surprise anyone that we on the right can imagine the government eventually forcing us into vehicles like this one.
That is exactly my sentiments also. If someone desires to buy any of these small deathtraps they should be allowed, after I am a capitalist who believes all people should buy what they want to buy.
My reservations comes when a Fascists regime like the one in power now begins ordering Americans to buy them. We will be told that the damage done to the environment that is causing the health care of Americans to deteriorate. Thus the government cannot afford for us to keep driving vehicles that are in essence driving up the cost of government mandated health care.
The very fact that we can even envision such things happening should be enough to understand the worry those of us have about such moronic vehicles even being produced.
I agree Tom, we have been on this train a long time, and I really cannot see the train station from where we are at, so things are bound to just get worse as time goes.
Maybe we will slow things down this November, but then we are still dealing with humans who have shown throughout history that once they get power, many will do almost anything they can to stay in power. And the longer they hold that power, the more inclined they are to control everything they can.
Sweet Jesus come quickly.
$600.00 my *****!! nothing made of carbon fiber is going to go for that cheap. I don’t think you have a clue of what your talking about. it has a back seat and it is a very impressive vehicle. “more economical than an electric hybrid?”...wow, you obviously have no clue what a hybrid is
I guess you will have to take that up with VW, because I just wrote what they claimed to be fact. So if you think you are more intelligent about the matter of costs and what they spent then I would advise that you should write a letter and send it to them.
That Messerschmitt is currently one hell of a collector’s item, especially in the condition pictured. There are some serious owner clubs for them.
Yes you are right. In my research for the article I found out that even in America their are clubs set up where Messerschmitt collectors get together for shows and all. Quite an interesting vehicle when you think about it. I must admit it looks real sharp.
I wouldn't mind owning one. My only problem is the left is attempting to nshove this stuff down our throats.
Hey Nancy, thanks for the kind words, your support is really appreciated! I have no doubt that were we neighbors we'd become very good friends!
Question: "Is This The Car of Your Future?"
Response: Cars are not in the future for average folks. The only people in the future able to afford cars will be those who have government jobs with taxpayer supported gasoline credit cards.
P.S.
Mr Wolk I think that your new Blog is going to go virul.
So I officially welcome you back to the world of opinionated blogging OV.
CAPTCHA---- enhance smirnoff (love that vodka)
Like you, I would be surprised if we are allowed to drive our own cars in the future.
Check your facts... the Spartan is a two seater. I just love it when knowitalls rant about things which they have no actual knowledge.