How many wheels does the car have? Most have only four. More often it is six. All other options are extremely rare, at least in the mass market segment. Nevertheless, there are some very interesting pieces of equipment that successfully ride on much fewer or much more wheels. Let's talk about them.
1. One-wheeled vehicle
Inventor Charles F. Taylor, who lived from 1916 to 1997, believed that any design should be simple. That is why he devoted almost his entire life to creating a car with one single wheel. He was even able to create several working prototypes and patent them in 1964. To planting, (or not) Taylor's ideas never caught on.
2. Gjirocar
Today, the gyrocar (a car on two wheels) is perceived by most people as something from the realm of science fiction. In fact, this is not the case. A working prototype of such a vehicle was created back in 1914 by Petr Petrovich Shilovsky. The car was balanced on two wheels due to the gyroscopic effect.
3. Cars with delta chassis
For some time after the Second World War, such cars were popular in several countries of Western Europe. They had very weak motors and were downright unreliable. But there were mere pennies, which made them incredibly popular in the difficult post-war years. Even now, on some roads of the world, you can find these kids.
4. Cars with "reverse" chassis delta
Unlike the previous family of cars with an unusual position and number of wheels, cars with a "reverse" chassis delta are now gaining popularity. The number of custom samples is growing from year to year. Suffice it to recall the luxurious three-wheel drive Morgan 3-Wheeler.
5. Diamond shaped cars
Only at first glance, diamond-shaped cars are something not very useful, reliable and of high quality. In fact, they have many advantages. In any case, in comparison with cars on deltoid chassis (there would be someone to compare with).
6. Five-wheeled vehicles
In fact, most of these cars in the 20th century still rode on four wheels. However, at the time of parking, as well as performing some other difficult maneuvers, a retractable fifth wheel could come to the driver's aid. The idea was not bad, but the implementation of the fifth wheel mechanism turned out to be too expensive and unreliable.
7. Six-wheeled vehicles
In this case, we are not talking about trucks or buses on three axles at all. We are talking about cars with a twin pair in the front. In theory, such a scheme significantly outperforms all existing ones at the moment. The problem is that no one has succeeded in adequately implementing such a machine.
Interested in automotive? Do you want to be in the middle of everything? Then consider more 7 useful functions for a car that will not be superfluous in the arsenal of every driverwho strives to make his car better.