Note: This description is long, but this is not necessarialy a highly
complex, multi-part question! Most of it is narrative description and
instructions for answering to help the researchers.
I saw a weird vehicle today. Want to know what it is!
Executive Summary: This question pertains to the identification of an
unusual vehicle that, when viewed from the back, has two larger tires
and two tiny wheels that extend from protruding arms out the back,
which appear to balance the vehicle when stopped.
It was an unusual sight. Today, when I was driving from my dorm room
to the downtown video shop to return a DVD, I saw this very unusual
vehicle in front of me. I don?t know the name of this vehicle, so I
will call it a Thingy for clarification. Unfortunately, I had just
removed my camera I usually carry in the car, and I have never taken
an art class, so right now there are no pictures. However, I am
extremely talented in writing, so I?ll have to give you a thousand
words instead of one picture. As always, you can ask for
clarifications whenever you wish.
I will give my description as a flowing narrative, and include every
detail, no matter how small or apparently irrelevant, because any
little bit of information may be helpful.
I live in Denver, Colorado, and it is Tuesday, August 8, 2006 at about
10:45-11:30pm. I was driving down Colorado Boulevard Southbound and
got to 29th Avenue (near Barrett Elementary School) at this time.
Suddenly, I noticed the Thingy right in front of me. The Thingy was
very low to the ground, had two tires in the back, sort of like the
two tires at the back of a motorized tricycle. The chassis seemed to
go up no more than 3-4 feet off the ground (estimate may be somewhat
inaccurate, as I was driving when I saw it), and it had the usual
taillights and turn signal lights. I first saw the Thingy behind a
truck, and it looked like it was simply a trailer hitched to the back
of the truck. The Thingy was a road-legal vehicle, and had a license
plate on it.
At first the truck and the Thingy were both in the middle lane. But at
about 27th avenue, the Thingy got in the left lane, and the truck
stayed where it was. This was when I realized the Thingy was not a
trailer, but was a separate, independent vehicle. It looked like it
was indeed a motorized tricycle, perhaps a small one, unlike the big
huge touring ones you see. However, upon closer inspection, I could
not locate the handlebars sticking up in front, nor could I even see
the driver at all. This was unusual that I could se no sign of the
driver from the back: even on the biggest, bulkiest motorcycles, you
can still see part of the driver and handlebars when viewed from the
back, but on the Thingy, I could not. It looked like the vehicle only
had two large tirelike wheels. Perhaps there were additional wheels in
the front, but the chassis from the back hid it. I never at all got to
see the front or the side of the vehicle, unfortunately, because me
and the Thingy were both going the speed limit, and I don?t speed just
for the lookie-loos.
I was riding alongside in my red Pontiac Grand Prix in the middle
lane, while the Thingy was going in the left lane. During the course
of my observations, I noticed some interesting details. First, I
noticed that the Thingy appeared to be purple, or either a dark blue.
Second, I noticed that it appeared to be very unusual, exotic, or
possibly a show vehicle, but I dare not call it a show car since I am
pretty sure it is not a typical automobile. Third, it had an
interesting driving dynamic. There were two very tiny protruding arms
that appeared to have wheels on them sticking out from behind the
Thingy, located between the tires. Whenever the Thingy was moving,
these protruding arms with tiny wheels would be lifted up off the
ground. Whenever the Thingy was stopped, these arms and their tiny
wheels would drop down towards the ground. They appear to balance the
vehicle since it appeared to only have two huge tires.
I kept going down Colorado Blvd, when the Thingy turned left at Colfax
Avenue, but I needed to take a right on Colfax Avenue. This is when my
observation of the Thingy ended.
So, here is the $65,000 question (name of game show only; you are not
being paid this much!): What is the Thingy called, and what does it
look like?
I want to know what the Thingy is officially called. I want to know
its name, and to have pictures of examples of them. The name should be
accurate enough for somebody in that field of vehicles to understand
what I man. The pictures you provide should give a broad overview of
the vehicle, showing as many variations and views as possible. My
theory is once the name is found, it will be easy to produce good
pictures from the Web.
Understood, in the world of vehicles, there are huge differences
between them, and when it comes to the exotic and rare, it can be hard
to identify exactly from a verbal description. alike. Therefore, it is
possible you will not find a picture that looks exactly like what I
described, but it should represent what ?breed? of vehicle it is.
Since what I said above is a little abstract, let me clarify. For
example, let?s say that said in my description ?I saw a shiny, red,
unusual car go from 0 to 60 in 7 seconds, and that the car was low to
the ground.? Saying it was a minivan or a semi-trailer would obviously
be out of the question: it is quite manifest that these types of
vehicles cannot perform this type of speed in such as short time, and
these vehicles are pretty high off the ground. But with such a limited
amount of description, and the lack of actual photos, you may not be
able to tell if it was a Ferrari, Corvette, Porsche, or Lamborghini.
However, it turns out that a picture of any of these cars would answer
the question. The color red is just the paint job, so a picture of a
Blue car is okay: paint jobs don?t define the car. Each of these four
cars are indeed unusual, and they all can reasonably be expected to go
from 0 to 60 in about 7 seconds. A person answering this question
might include pictures of one or more of these cars (the more the
better), and include a stat sheet from a Web Site detailing the size
and performance characteristics. So even though the researcher cannot
tell exactly what it was, he could say it was an exotic sports car,
and give pictures to illustrate it. Use this example as a guide, and
add in your own judgment, asking me any questions you may need.
I know that identifying an unusual object is extremely difficult
without a picture, but I am willing to work with you to produce any
additional detailed description, or to make sketches to illustrate my
points. Please remember, that I am no artist, nor have a photographic
memory: therefore, any drawings I produce will be not be perfect, but
can still be helpful.
There is also the possibility that the Thingy may just be strangely
modded or customized version of a commonplace vehicle. For instance,
the Thingy may simply be a strange-looking motorcycle that was highly
customized by its owner. If this is the case, you would provide
pictures of similarly customized motorcycles, and write a detailed
narrative how various features of your motorcycle pictures support
various elements of my observation.
So, I know this was long, but please give it a go! I like the odd and
unusual, and would like to know that this is. I will not down-rate you
or shortchange you just because you cannot give me a picture that is
exactly like what is in my brain. I know that this will pretty much
not happen. To show my credibility, I?ve been an eBayer for 3 years
with a feedback history of 235 at 100% positive. Therefore, I am not
going to cheat anyone out of any hard work they deserve. If my price
seems high/low, please let me know and I may be able to adjust it if
reasonably necessary.
Thanks for your time, and I hope to have your business! Note: since
this may be a hard question, but I am passionate about it, you may
have longer than 24 hours if needed. |
