Skip to comments.
Cambodia Mechanic builds car for BD340(900 US Dollars)
Gulf Daily ^
| 07/14/03
| Gulf Daily
Posted on 07/13/2003 9:54:15 PM PDT by Pikamax
click here to read article
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-32 next last
1
posted on
07/13/2003 9:54:15 PM PDT
by
Pikamax
To: Pikamax
I think we could somehow manage to build THAT for $900.
2
posted on
07/13/2003 9:55:38 PM PDT
by
7 x 77
To: Pikamax
Good for him. I hope he makes a lot of money.
To: All
4
posted on
07/13/2003 9:58:53 PM PDT
by
Support Free Republic
(Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
To: 7 x 77
In cambodia.???.. remember this guy didn't just walk into pep boys and get his parts. Pretty amazing if you ask me.
To: Pikamax
Awesome work. I hope he becomes a very rich man.
6
posted on
07/13/2003 10:07:37 PM PDT
by
zarf
(fuggetaboutit)
To: Pikamax
The "Angkor-2003" is a dashing two-seater convertible that takes four months to produce at $900 (BD340.2) a unit in Nhean Pholeouk's Phnom Penh garage.
Toyota is shaking in their boots.
7
posted on
07/13/2003 10:08:33 PM PDT
by
SpaceBar
To: Pikamax
I hope he succeeds, good to see initiative is still alive and well.
8
posted on
07/13/2003 10:13:50 PM PDT
by
af_vet_rr
To: Pikamax
I myself would rather have the motorcycle, but you have to hand it to this guy, he built something in his garage that does look like it was made in a factory somewhere.
9
posted on
07/13/2003 10:16:23 PM PDT
by
Husker24
To: 7 x 77
Not at the labor cost in michigan we can't! To the auto workers, $900 is what, a few days pay now? In Arkansas $900 is the avg MONTHLY salary.
It isn't the actual dollar amount made here in Arkansas that is sad as much as it is the HUGE disparity in the wages!
Our cost of living here is much lower in terms of housing costs, food costs are average except that it is TAXED!, energy costs have been socialized to make sure everyone "pays their share" so to Arkansans, the cost is HIGH. Automobiles, are exhorbitant luxury items in this socialist state (sounds like the USSR?)
We need to manufacture that lil car here so we can have the American version of the YUGO! from what used-to-be-called "The Land of Opportunity". (They dropped that slogan years ago!)
10
posted on
07/13/2003 10:16:53 PM PDT
by
steplock
To: Pikamax
Looks like a cross between a Yugo and a Hot Wheels.
11
posted on
07/13/2003 10:17:45 PM PDT
by
petuniasevan
(I paid a genealogist $100 to trace my ancestry - and $500 to suppress the evidence!)
To: Captainpaintball
Wow. This guy put a usable (though bureaucratically-unacceptable in the US) car together with obvious potential for profit for less actual money that I made this computer with. If he can't obtain backing in his rigid country he needs to come here. It's not as if my yard-tending, welfare-depleting neighbors aren't taking up slots actual contributors like this guy could fill. Sarcasm off.
12
posted on
07/13/2003 10:19:48 PM PDT
by
NewRomeTacitus
(Freedom opposes Socialism, Communism & Political Correctness. NoNads go to Democrat line.)
To: Pikamax
ToyoCa
To: 7 x 77
I don't think Ralph would approve.
To: NewRomeTacitus
Exactly. I'd rather see him come here, than the hundreds of thousands of sponges/terrorists/disruptors. And his English is better than many born in this country.
To: Pikamax
I admire his effort and capitalist mindset.
If it would just run on solar power that car looks like a environmentalist wacko's idea of the perfect car.
To: Pikamax
This guy will make good! Just think, if he was here in the U.S. he would be taxed, regulated and unionized and STILL be able to make a er 14,000 dollar car.
Jack
17
posted on
07/13/2003 10:47:21 PM PDT
by
btcusn
To: Pikamax
It's cute--I want one. The guy has made a great homemade car.
18
posted on
07/13/2003 10:49:14 PM PDT
by
beaversmom
(Celebrating May 5th and all days with an American Flag)
To: Pikamax
I am told that in Western countries, if someone builds such a thing, he would get a medal and become rich. If someone built a similar car here it wouldn't pass safety, CAFE and emissions standards thanks to the bustard FEDS!
Because I kinda like these tiny fun cars and give the guy credit for putting the machine together here are some more thoughts.
IMO He didn't manufacture it...he assembled it. While he may have the capability to do fiberglass fenders I doubt he produced the bumper covers by himself. They look like off the shelf parts from some other micro-car. Still quite good work fro where he is.
Cost. He says he made it for 900 bucks. Well heck I bet I could make a moveable vehicle for that amount or less using junkyard parts and cobbling up a few fiberglass panels. But what about the selling price? To make any kind of profit he'd have to MSRP at least at $2700 - $3000 (2.25 markup plus 30% and I think that formula is kinda low these days). So we're talking around $2500 customers price for a 2 seater with a 100cc motorcycle engine. which brings me to....
100cc motorcycle engine. WAY too small...it'll be gone in a few thousand miles in his part of the world...a couple of hundred here at most. My first bike was a new 1969 100cc Ymamha twin 2 stroke. I loved that bike even when I went to bigger rides. The engine did take some amazing abuse, I'll admit. It put out 10-11 bhp and could move Wife-To-Be and I (combined weight around 320lbs!) at a pretty good clip.
I ended up giving the bike to one of my brothers-in-law years later after which he promptly put it into the back of a pick-up truck. The bike flipped over the roof of the truck but the engine and transmission survived. I hung onto the parts for a dozen or so years and the engine still started when I finally got rid of it.
The reason I hung onto the parts was because I had in mind to build something similar to what this guy did...maybe a three wheeler aka the old Morgan.
The plans fell apart after I lived - survived actually - for several years with a Fiat X 1/9 and a Renault R-5 Le Car. After that I pretty much had my fill of tiny cars.
Kudos to the guy though.
FWIW the Fiat I mentioned went to another brother-in-law. On his first and only drive in it he
A) spun it into a neighbors garage door.
B) Missed a shift and blew the engine on a desolate rural road.
C) Along with his passenger consumed a case of brew while waiting to get rescued.
C) Smashed the back fo the Fiat while using a Dodge pick-up with HUGE oak bumper to push it back to the farm. (Much more brew sonsumed along the way)
D) Missed the barn and pushed it into the cesspool back at the farm. It ended it's life sinking in mud behind the barn.
The Le Car ended up traded for an R21 Renault/AMC Medallion - don't ask. It was sold to a couple of young fellows from WVA who thought it made a pretty cool getaway vehicle for a Stop-N-Rob spree thtought the WVA mountains.
It did pretty good too, getting away from the cop cruisers of the twisty mountain roads until it flipped over. The guys got out, flipped it back over and took off again. This happened couple of times before tiny Le Car's heart gave out and the bandits were nabbed.
How do I know this happened? During a very interesting phone conversation with the WVA state cops as I was sitting down to a Thanksgiving dinner. Seems the title was somehow never transferred and I was still the registered owner.
prisoner6
19
posted on
07/13/2003 10:54:49 PM PDT
by
prisoner6
( Right Wing Nuts hold the country together as the loose screws of the left fall out!)
To: 7 x 77
I think we could somehow manage to build THAT for $900 Ha you'd never get it on the street. Just for starters it'd be $900 for the catalytic convertor. :-P
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-32 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson