My brother in law found this in North Dakota a couple of weeks ago. Anyone know anything about it? (Sorry for the big images - I will resize them when I get home)
Looks as if someone was playing around with a plane fusalage on a car frame. Maybe for some sort of lake streamliner? Maybe.
It is whats left of an Ercoupe. Looks like a 415C from the shape of the rear window. Not flathead powered, common engines used were A-65 A-75 or aC-85 all manufactured by Continental. I have flown a bunch of them and found them to be fun little airplanes dispite not having rudder pedals. Fred Wieck designed he later designed the Piper PA-28. It will not aerodynamicly stall when rigged right.
Images resized. I realize that the airplanes weren't flathead powered. However if you look closely someone appears to have tried to make a hotrod or a racer out of the fuselage of an old ERCO. Just wondering if anyone recognizes it or knows anything about it. I found it just outside of Grand Forks ND.
That is cool. there's a guy in Orlando that's made a car/van thing out of an airplane fuselage but it doesn't look like it'll ever be finished.
yes , that is the remains of an Ercoupe..it would be interesting to finish , it would be a real head turner i have 139 hours logged in an Alon Aircoupe.....the successor to the Ercoupe with rudder pedals
Whoa! I remember one of my older relatives talkin' to me about something like this. When he was a boy he could remember some of the older kids in the neigborhood grafting the back of an airplane to a model A roadster and razing hell all over town in it. Pretty Insane-o. Johnny Edit: Holy Crap I just remembered that the family is from N Or S Dakota. Hmm wonder if they are one in the same.
To paraphrase someone else speaking about the F-111, there is not enough thrust in all of Christendom to make a racer out of an Ercoupe.
That line regarding the F-111's unsuitability for being a fighter aircraft, and especially a Naval fighter aircraft was uttered by Vice Admiral Tom Connolly, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Air Warfare in 1968 before a US Senate subcommittee. His quote regarding the F-111B was, "There is not enough thrust in all of Christendom to make a carrier fighter out of this aircraft.” He had the cover of Admiral Tom Moorer. This was a good thing, because earlier the secretary of the Navy said the F-111B was suitable as a fighter. This set the stage for the F-14 Tomcat to win approval as the Navy's premier carrier-based fighter.
Sorry for the digression. Using an Ercoupe airframe for a car body would have been, and still is, a silly waste.
AH, but remember it was the P-38 off WWII that inspired the tail fins of many of the early 50's cars. Grafting an airplane part to make a car out of it? What about the drop tanks that are turned into Bonny cars???
But when the F111 got going, it was mighty fast! Be nice to outrun most of your garden variety surface to air missiles!!
Hi, Hellraiser, Airplanes sure have inspired car design, and airplane parts have been artfully used in cars - tanks as car bodies most notably and successfully. I'm just saying that using an Ercoupe fuselage as car body wouldn't work aesthetically for me. I can't imagine how it could be done without looking a lot less graceful and of a piece that the aircft alone is. That was the 'silly' part. As for that 'waste' part, I also feel that the best purpose for an Ercoupe fuselage is getting it back in the air. Now Ercoupes aren't all that rare or valuable, so it's not the same as if someone wanted to make a roadster out of a P-51 or a motorhome out of a B-29. A belly tank used as a car body most likely won't ever be converted back to being used as a belly tank. Not sure if any warbird owners are out there searching for belly tanks and can't find them, because of all the hot rodders hoarding them. I love belly tank racers - it's an excellent reuse. . Heck, if someone wants to try to make a car out of an Ercoupe, I'll be interested to see the results.
Hey does any one have a picture a an Ercoupe as an airplane all in one piece as it originally looked?
so how did it fly without rudder pedals? how'd they resolve that? it's a neat idea and an interesting find if a bit aesthetically nauseating!
I believe it had the earliest version of "ARI", that is ,aileron rudder interconnect. When all is rigged right,and you make a control input,the rudder moves the proper amount for the bank angle that you input. Clever,those North Americans.
HMMMMM..... Allison engines in Miss Budwiser..later Rolls Royce, Ranger engines in some sprint cars of the late 40's and early 50's. Flathead powered A/C but they were heavy, and really didn't work out. I want to say Funk, but Funk also had an early Model A engine before going to air cooled engines. Then there is the Pietenpole, with a Model T engine or some with the Model A. Of course there was the Henderson motorcycle engine used in a Heath A/C. Many of the old timers used to use the carb off those old A/C engines, modify them to run on their roundy rounds. What else? There was that picture floating around the internet of some one putting a radial engine in his motorcycle. And what about "Bomber" seats. Cowling latches used for hood latches. I can't rember where I saw it now, I've seen so many pictures these last few days, but I think is was on the east coast somewhere, where they grafted a whole Ford 8N front radiator and hood to their roadster, that looked neat. So as far as being creative with an Ercoupe, I think a V8-60 in some how some way, and made road worthy would be that cat's ass. But to look right, IMO, a person would need about 13" wires wheels in the front and 14's in the rear. Cut off the wing center section, and just use the fuselege section, place on some rails, add horn, lights and turn signals and have at it.....DARE TO BE DIFFERENT!!!!! HellRaiser
I just retired from that racket, I don't even care if I look up to see what kind of plane it is any more...... unless I hear that it's a round motor. I prefer to fly down the highway now in the HellRaiser!!!!! HellRaiser
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