Corbin Motors Merlin

[RKing]

Elio is the first 3 wheeler I have had any interest in. I had no idea there were so many attempts to put them into production! The Can Am looked interesting to me but the price was a major turn off for the motorcycle that wasn't a motorcycle. Thanks for posting these, I like learning about things ! And the Merlin looks nice, needed more powertrain development ,I guess.

 

[Jelio]

The Merlin body style in the first picture would make a nice luxury model for say year three. Turbo, leather and high end stereo.

 

[Music Man]

Corbin Motors had a three wheel car called the Merlin. It was really neat looking, IMO. It is a shame nothing came of it. Three Wheelers.

[Broken External Image]
conceptcarz.

Neat looking vehicle! Kinda takes me back in time to my years of youth and the hours spent riding the "bumper cars" at the amusement park.

Very colorful!

But I still want my ELIO!!

 

[EZ]

Grinnallcars.com
Mark Grinnall
Scorpion III (BLUE)

only as a KIT !

will cost about $20,000. total

BMW engine (not included) you must buy from a wrecked bike

EXTREMELY reliable, EXTREMELY fast and FUN !
BUT …no cover, no a/c

been made for 15 years
about 25 in USA

 

[Music Man]

Grinnallcars.com
Mark Grinnall
Scorpion III (BLUE)

only as a KIT !

will cost about $20,000. total

BMW engine (not included) you must buy from a wrecked bike

EXTREMELY reliable, EXTREMELY fast and FUN !
BUT …no cover, no a/c

been made for 15 years
about 25 in USA

At that price, I'm not at all surprised that there are only about 25 on the roads in America.

Don't think they will be a threat to the Elio. Do you?

 

[EZ]

cars like the Scorpion are made

ONE AT A TIME …

in an old farm in central UK, areas are dedicated to cutting eat piece of steel tubing by hand

each fiberglass is layer-up one at a time

wire harness is created using a template made on a sheet of plywood

engines have to be sourced from wrecked bikes

15 years and about 300 produced ??

but the ENGINES are good for 100,000 miles or more …totally reliable ! and you know there will always be parts if something should break !

latest interview this week now calling it the FOURTH QUARTER IF 2015

stand bye …

 

[wheaters]

Let's hope something cheap and more efficient doesn't turn up in the mean time. I have a solar powered car charger fitted to my garage wall...... No plans for an EV yet, but a year is a long time in engineering.

Seriously, though, I don't see me driving to and from work in an EV. Nissan are trying hard to sell their "Leaf" here in UK, but as I pointed out to their sales lady at a car show, it would run out of power every day, ten miles from my home.

 

[AriLea]

Elio is the first 3 wheeler I have had any interest in. I had no idea there were so many attempts to put them into production! The Can Am looked interesting to me but the price was a major turn off for the motorcycle that wasn't a motorcycle. Thanks for posting these, I like learning about things ! And the Merlin looks nice, needed more powertrain development ,I guess.

You should see my library of three wheeler Production, Prototype and Concepts. I find the 'why' for these things to be very informative. Ultimately the 'why' is what destines many of them to success or failure. And then there is the 'how' and the 'when'. Only if the Why, How and What are right does funding have a chance to succeed.

The 'why' of 'because they need it' is at jugger heads against 'because we want profit', in these vehicles because the type of 'product purpose' involved invokes that struggle.

So in a nutshell, the items above are primarily why there is so little success in three wheelers. There are some however.
I argue that 700 Freeways and nn number of Messerschmitts and Issettas are success stories. These are usually framed as failures.
Yes the companies making these deserve critical examination, but the products were viable and popular.

Elio has the best Why-How-When I've ever seen. Well, maybe the Messerschmitt in it's time was a near equal.

 

[BigWarpGuy]

Corbon Motors also had other vehicles that never got anywhere.

 

[zelio]

Corbon Motors also had other vehicles that never got anywhere.

That's actually cute although it doesn't look quite as safe as the Elio. Kinda like a 3 wheeled VW Bug. The door opening also looks a mite small. :-) Z