Have you ever thought to yourself, “What if I made my own three-wheeler, and I powered it with a 50cc Honda Super Cub single-cylinder engine?” I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that there probably aren’t many of you who have. However, if you’re in that number, then you’ll appreciate what Yoshinobu Mori shows us in this video. 

Mori, who runs the amazing off-road vintage motorbike paradise known as Kameoka Trial Land, loves to wrench, modify, fabricate, and race bikes and other vehicles. He’s both willing and enthusiastic about doing a whole lot of things himself, from coming up with initial designs (cardboard-aided and otherwise) to bending metal tubes and sheets to fit his needs and then welding everything together.  

In this video, we get to see him build his Super Cub-powered three-wheeler piece by piece and bit by bit. The basics are, of course, the two wheels up front and the single wheel in the rear, held together by a frame that also must support the engine. (Sure, it’s a lightweight and tiny little mill, but it still has to tuck in neatly up in front of the cockpit.) 

Once he gets the basics together (including a drive chain so long, it requires roller guides to keep it properly positioned within the chassis), he takes it out for a little test drive. It works well, so he gets the rest of the family in on the action in short order. Everyone is all smiles, because they know what Mori can do. 

After that shakedown, it’s time to put a body on this thing. First, there’s the small matter of the single seat that’s going to go in the cockpit. Then, with the help of some cardboard, it’s time to mock up the metal frame and skin of the body that will go around the three-wheeler to enclose the driver.  

As it all comes together, it’s difficult to not get an impression of a slightly miniaturized Morgan 3-Wheeler. It’s not an exact replica, of course, but the styling influence seems clear. In any case, Mori says the whole thing took about three months to make, and characterizes the end result as “slow but fun.” I mean, what more could you want out of a project like this? 

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