Monday, November 13, 2017

Driving "the worst car in the world"


Jalopnik's Jason Torchinsky drove a 1951 Hoffman three-wheeler.  It didn't go well.





You can read more about his (mis)adventures with the Hoffman here.  I'm glad vehicles have improved since those days!




Peter

7 comments:

Old 1811 said...

The video, the article, and the the Wikipedia entry all omit a pertinent fact: Which Germany? The powerplant seems Trabant-like, but both Germanys were so poor after the war . . .
Now I want to drive one. Does that make me a bad person?

Anonymous said...

I would reckon that it is an East German effort - by 1951, West Germany had recovered economically so would not have attempted anything like this.

Unless it was their revenge on the world for losing two world wars in succession ...

Phil B

Jerry said...

I attended the Woodward Dream Cruise during the Ford Centennial. I remember stepping to the edge of Woodward Avenue and the first car I laid eyes on was a Trabant heading South on Woodward Avenue in a cloud of blue smoke.

TheOtherSean said...

It looks like the love child of a Volkswagen and Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion car.

TheOtherSean said...

PhilB: It was a West German effort. I found a bunch of details at https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2012/11/16/little-hoffman-bug-that-sank-an-empire.

Quartermaster said...

There are worse cars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQh56geU0X8

Try the Reliant Robin. Jeremy Clarkson Demos the beast.

Will said...

Rear wheel steer!!! Holy Cr... What that thing replicates is a tail-dragger aircraft. As long as you don't go faster than a warehouse forklift, it should be tolerable. Sort of. Sheesh.

Aluminum bodywork. I'll bet Hoffman worked in the aircraft industry during the war.