This is a three-wheeled car based on a Rutan Long-EZ aircraft fuselage. It’s 100% street-legal, built on a custom chassis with a VW Beetle drivetrain. It has tandem seating for two, and the owner notes that it’s actually quite quick given the low weight and the uprated 1,915cc engine.
The Rutan Long-EZ was an influential swept wing homebuilt aircraft featuring a canard layout with wingtip rudders. Hundreds of them were built by amateur homebuilders, and many remain in the air to this day.
The car you see here is a three-wheeler that was made by the seller after he bought a wrecked Rutan Long-EZ which had been written off in a transport accident.
The Long-EZ is known for its extreme endurance ability thanks in large part to its efficient aerodynamics. The aircraft still holds the distance record for an aircraft weighing less than 1000 kgs (2,204 lbs) at 4,800 miles (7,700 kilometers), this was set all the way back in late 1979.
The designer of the Rutan Long-EZ, Burt Rutan, is one of the most influential aerospace engineers in modern history. He designed the Rutan Voyager which became the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling in 1986.
Later, he would design the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer which set the record for the fastest nonstop non-refueled circumnavigation flight in 2006, with a total elapsed time of 67 hours, covering 25,766 miles or 41,466 kms.
Perhaps Burt’s most famous design is the SpaceShipOne sub-orbital spaceplane which in 2004 became the first privately funded spacecraft to enter the space – doing it twice in a two week period and winning the Ansari X-Prize in the process.
The Rutan Long-EZ Car Shown Here
The car you see here is a three-wheeler that was made by the seller after he bought a wrecked Rutan Long-EZ which had been written off in a transport accident. The aircraft sat for many years in a wrecker’s yard before he found it, and his initial plan had been to built it into an eye-catching sign for his business.
The car features an unusual hub-center steering system, with a steering wheel in the cockpit controlling the front wheel.
After tinkering with it he changed his mind, and decided to build it into a custom car. He tidied up and repainted the fuselage, built a custom chassis for it, and added a VW Beetle flat-four and transaxle to power it.
The vehicle is now licensed as a 1971 Custom VW. The VW engine has been upgraded significantly and now displaced 1,915cc, and given the light weight of the car, it’s said to be surprisingly quick. We’ve added the seller’s description below in full, with a link to the FB Marketplace listing for those who might want to add it to their collection.
Full Listing Description
The following was written by the seller, it has not been edited in anyway by us and as usual, you should verify everything independently.
Selling just a typical, run-of-the-mill, Long-EZ airplane turned into a 3 wheel car/trike that you see running up and down the road everyday! Pretty common mundane stuff. Everyone I know has an airplane trike, right? Well, now you can too!
If you want to stand out in the sea of cars and motorcycles look no further, this one’s for you! Who wants to pull into a gas station just to get gas? In this ride, a simple trip to the local gas station can result in endless questions, compliments, and photo opportunities with families—especially the kids! They love this real-life hot-wheels!
Behold, this glorious Long-EZ experimental aircraft that used to fly up and down the Mississippi River at 200 mph. A transport crash thrashed this aircraft, and truck pulling it, in Wildwood, GA. The fuselage sat in a tow yard for years, until I purchased it.
Here you can see the rear-mounted VW Beetle engine, it’s been built with a slew of uprated parts and is now significantly more powerful than it was when new.
After pondering what to do with the pile of scrap fiberglass, the idea of using it for a business sign came to mind. I planned to bury the plane nose down and paint my airbrush studio name on the wings. Then, inevitably, I sat in it once and then I knew that this would make a cool car!
The low altitude trike concept was born! Talk about attention! Talk about a rolling billboard for any business! This is some of the best spent advertising money around! Park it in front of your business to draw in the curious brake-neckers! Slap on your company name and use it for a tax write off!
This trike is powered by a built 1915cc aircooled VW motor. Fully custom everything—from chassis to exhaust. It’s really a just “have to see in person.”
A few questions I normally get:
Is it fast? Yes, it’s fast! It’s light-weight with a rowdy motor!
How long is it? It’s 15 feet long.
How does it turn? Turns great! Turning radius is tight.
It’s a 2 seater. Yes, it’s street legal. It is tagged as a 71 custom VW.
It’s an absolute blast to hit a car show in, or park in your showroom/mancave! Does it have A/C? No, the wings are swamp coolers. Add ice and you get cooler air.
Would I drive it daily? Probably not. It’s like an old school chopper – all thrills, no frills!
Inside you’ll find seating for two in a tandem configuration, with the driver sitting in the forward seat.
Does it get attention? More than you want! Multiple awards including The Chattanooga Charlie Award from the World of Wheels, Chattanooga, Tn.
Visit the original listing on Facebook Marketplace here.
Images courtesy of Gary Stroud
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.