Mine comes from my other automotive passion which is Messerschmitt Bubble cars. And quite obviously that was used to corrupt the expression "Holy Sh*t". I know I should have dreamt up a more appropriate Sig for this forum but I cant remember different names for different internet logins. Keep life simple if I can. For those of you who dont know what they are here is a Messerschmitt
Before I bought my first M3, I raced Mazda's- a turbo RX7 and an AWD 323 turbo. In my automotive history, I've owned five Mazda's. Hence the name.
Mine is simple: MMM = Manuel (first name) + Madrid (home town) + M3 (chariot) It obviously also stands for M3.
I must be really bored. Here is one part of this wonderful forum that I have never been to! blinky - an old nickname, because I am an Optometrist. I look after people's eyes bm - obvious. I did start my car madness with MG's, but fortunately saw the error of my ways pretty early on !!!
My sig is fairly obvious, a nickname I have had for years Those Messerschmitts, are they yours? (sorry very old post I know!) A friend of mine has one, I brought it back to his place from about 1500kms away (in the back of a van, I didn't drive it that far!) It is the "Sport Evolution" KR200 I think.(it has the "big" engine for those who don't know) I do like quirky things too, and some of my purchases have raised the odd eyebrow from friends, who give you that sort of "what the hell did you buy that for" look Conrad
Hi Conrad, The one on the left was mine, I rebuilt it when I was 16/17 and it was my first car although I have sold it now. The one on the right is my fathers which he has had since I was 4, I remember going and collecting that in the back of a van too. I have 2 others now, one of which is part way through restoration. All the KR200's have basically the same engine, a 191cc sachs two stroke, however they do heve different roofs, Clear Dome, Cabriolet, Roadster and Sport (flyscreen). There is a 4 wheel version, Tg500 or Tiger, which has a 500cc twin two stroke which is a rarer car. it looks very similar apart from the 2 wheels at the back. Does your mate still have his Schmitt? Any Pics? Not that many made it all the way to your part of the world. 1500Kms isn't that far I have done more than that on trips to Germany in mine before. Rob
Hi Rob, very interesting (to me anyway, apologies for going OT to others!) Looks slightly easier to restore than your average M3! My mate still has his, it is a Cabriolet in white. It is in good original condition, and I don't think it has been restored. Not sure if he has ever had it running, I must ask. Is it true that reverse gear is selected by making the engine run backwards? I will take a few pics next time I am out there and post them up.Not sure if there are any others in NZ. I have seen pics of the Tiger on the internet, looks like a little rocket, although I prefer the "quirkiness" of the 3 wheeler Conrad
You are correct, you start the engine backwards for reverese as the engine is basically a Scooter/Motorbike engine so has no reverse gear. Technically because every thing is running through the same drivetrain you have 4 reverse gears (the same ones you use to go forward). Easier to restore yes, but prices for cars and spares are heading the same way as the M3 these days! Cars are expensive hobbies Rob
I guess a 2 stroke will run backwards quite happily won't it? No camshafts or distributor etc. to worry about. 4 speeds in reverse- yeehaa! What is a good Schmitt worth these days? My friend paid NZ$20K (about £10K) for his 6 or 7 years ago. Although not really a good market for them here to compare prices! Conrad
A 2 stroke will run backward depnding on the position of the ports for the inlet, exhaust, etc.... the other reason the Schmitt engine can do this is because it has a dynastart instead of a starter motor and altenator. I does not run as efficiently in reverse (not that it is that good going forward ) but is more than sufficent to reverse the car. £10K sounds like a good deal, depending on the condition if it is a good original unrestored car and was road worthy it would probably be worth high teens in europe. Maybe more to the right person depnding on exact model and age etc. Personally I like unrestored ones as they have a bit more character, and a rare to see these days. A good restored car is probably worth high teens to low twentys. in my opinion the details have to be correct for that money. There are a lot of people who try to sell cars for that money, that look nice but are just not original/correct in the details. Roadsters and Sports are worth more if thay were that way from new. If you want a Tg500 your almost talking DTM M3 money, A good restored one of those with all the mecanicals sorted is £80-100K as an asking price these days. Rob
Hi Rob, a couple of pics I took of my mates KR200 the other day. It is fairly original I think, and in need of a little work. But it does drive okay I am told. I have been meaning to take it up the road for a squirt It is possibly the only Schmitt in NZ. Note personalised number plate! cheers Conrad
Hi Conrad, Thanks for the pics, the car looks great. A very solid, straight example. If I was to get a bit Messerschmitt Geek then there are a couple of things that arent "factory" but after 60 years who cares, it is just quite cool that it has survived all the way out there and has been able to be kept on the road. I like the old messerschmitt owners club (UK club) in the window. It looks like someone has made an expansion chamber style exhaust fo it in the past, I wonder how well that works better than the standard one. I have seen a few people try over the years and have considered trying myself but I never got round to doing the calculations. If your friend evere needs any help or advice, point him my way. I dont know everything but I do know the people who do. Rob
spdracrm3 mine i came up with due to my favorite cartoon as a young boy (long time ago) being SpeedRacer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_Racer and combine that with my favorite car The M3 (which a want to race someday), shorten " speed racer" to spdracr and M3
Hi Rob, well it seems you were right, a Tiger 500 just sold for US$322K at auction, which I think is MORE than DTM M3 money! There were dozens of others which all sold at this auction, next best was US$115K. http://www.sportscardigest.com/rm-auctions-weiner-microcar-museum-auction-results/ Conrad
