Hm. If we weren’t really paying attention, we might have overlooked this ad for the Badsey Bullet prototype, due to the C5 Corvette photo mistakenly uploaded in place of any photo of the Bullet itself. We checked the website for McCormick’s Palm Springs auction next weekend and confirmed that the Bullet will indeed cross the block there. The auction description is rather brief:
This custom 3 Wheeler was built in the early 80′s by inventor and racer Bill Badsey, only eight were made , this is the original prototype that was driven by Mario Andretti on the Indy raceway at a top speed of 165 mph.
Fortunately, Badsey.com has a little more on the Bullet:
The Badsey Bullet was first created in the early 1980′s by Bill Badsey in California. The Production Bullet was powered by a Yamaha Venture 1200cc water-cooled V4. motorcycle engine that gave a top speed of 150 mph and a 0-60 time of under 5 seconds. This one is Bill’s actual prototype and is powered by an 82 Suzuki GS 1100 GLZ. Power was provided to the rear wheel by means of a shaft drive and the vehicle also featured inboard coil spring dampers. The body of the Badsey Bullet was made from fiberglass and was unique in that the vehicle had separate cockpits for the passenger and the driver with the engine sitting in between them. Only 8 vehicles have known to be sold in the USA and South Africa.
As you will see below, there are two stick shift in the car, giving it 20 forward gears and 5 reverse gears. The one towards the center is a 4 speed auto trans with reverse and the stick closest to the driver is a 5 speed for the motorcycle engine so you have 4 sets of 5 gears in forward. I am not sure if this is the case in the production vehicles but this was the prototype so it may be special. I believe that this vehicle is more powerful and faster all around that the limited production models that made it into the market.
See more cars for sale on Hemmings.com.