When you think of New Zealand, what comes to mind? Unparalleled natural beauty? Lord of the Rings? Flight of the Conchords? Burt Munro? John Britten? Well, you just might want to add Paton Machines to your list.
Taking a motorbike engine and using it to power a three-wheeler? You've probably seen it before. But have you ever seen an Ibishu Pigeon?
Based on the Reliant Rialto (close trucklet cousin of the much more infamous Reliant Robin), you'll find it in a vehicle simulator game called BeamNG.drive. And now, thanks to Paton, a handbuilt version powered by a 50cc Honda Gyro tilting trike's innards is out in the world.
What's the bodywork made out of, you might ask? If it bears more than a passing resemblance to an oil drum, there's an excellent reason: That's exactly what it is.
Little details resolve into sharp relief as you watch this video of its first test drive. Yes, that's a giant ratchet strap in the cabin, and it's apparently currently being used to hold the doors closed. Right now, the doors don't have any kind of latches to do that on their own.
The little trucklet bed at first might appear to hold more than you'd reasonably expect, but one really impressive (maybe worrying?) feature is that it appears to be held on with just three little bolts.
We see this in the video, along with exactly how lightweight both the bed by itself and the entire vehicle as a unit, because Paton hauls it somewhere safe to do the test drive. Once it's there, because the larger fuel tank isn't installed yet, he has to pop off the little truck bed in order to access the teeny, tiny fuel tank that sits next to the 50cc two-stroke Honda Gyro engine.
Seriously, you've probably seen larger coolant bottles. Or Big Gulp reusable thermal cups, even. The really big ones.
On the one hand, you might wonder about using a 50cc engine for a mini-truck; but on the other, this thing clearly weighs next to nothing. Would an actual Honda Gyro actually weigh more? Maybe; maybe not, but if nothing else, you need to see what an acrobatic feat it is to fit in the cab of this teeny, tiny truck in order to take it out.
One other thing you might want to know: Unlike the Honda Gyro, the cab of this little Pigeon does not appear to tilt. To be completely honest, given its current construction, I don't know how much structural integrity it would retain if it did.
It's incredibly adorable, and it goes better than you might expect. Gasp, shake your head, smile, feel all the feels as you watch this creation come to life in the video.
