This Unholy Merger Of MG And Kawasaki Is Three Wheels Of Glorious Madness

I’m not sure if such people still exist, but anyone still laboring under the illusion that human beings are somehow rational, despite all of the massive amounts of evidence to the contrary, if those people do in fact exist, then I think I may have just the thing to dissuade them from that illusion once and for all. That thing is an ad, an ad for a car for sale, well, sort of a car, more of a car and a motorcycle fused in something that one can imagine was like a sci-fi teleporter accident.

The ad is a bit deceptive in its headline, which just reads “2008 Kawasaki vulcan” and then the picture shows what, upon first glance, appears to be a 1976 MG Midget. But there’s couple things not quite right in the picture. Subtle things.

Here, take a look:

I suppose the first thing that may catch your eye is whatever is going on in that rear wheelarch. The basic black-and-silvery-gray colors are what you expect, but that’s not a wheel and tire there. What is that? And is there a motorcycle parked behind the car? Best to flip through those photos and get some answers, right?

Oh my. What hath god wrought?

So, what are we looking at here, exactly? Here’s how the seller describes it:

“this is a 76 miget with a kawasaki vulcan 1500 for power,to much to list a friend of mine and myself did all the fab work,it runs and drives and was on the road,registered as a vulcan.needs some tlc to finish up. the hard part is done,, 3000 obo..clear title”

When he says that a Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 is used for power, I think he may be underselling it a touch. That Kawasaki motorcycle seems to be handling the whole rear suspension needs, as the rear axle seems to be gone, replaced by the back half of the motorcycle. That explains the new residents of the rear wheelarches, those motorcycle saddlebags. Honestly, that’s a pretty inspired idea.

Looking at the one picture with the trunk open, you can see just how much Kawasaki is in this thing:

It looks pretty much like the whole motorcycle, minus the front fork and any seats and cladding and other bits, was shoved into the back of this MG. I don’t say this to denigrate anything – this seems like an awful lot of work and I think the result is quite clean and well-sorted – but it’s still nice and bonkers.

The MG started life with an inline-four 1500cc engine, and the replacement engine from the Kawasaki is the same displacement, just with half the clinders, and now in a V-formation. The Kawasaki engine makes about 64 hp and 84 lb-feet of torque, a nice step up from the MG’s original 56 hp/73 lb-feet, but not too crazy an upgrade.

That’s the thing about this conversion: it seems like it should be an absolutely terrifying deathtrap, but I’m not so sure it would be! I mean, the handling has to be pretty dramatically changed – the car is effectively mid-engined now, and that lone rear wheel outboard of the whole body must take some getting used to, but I bet this thing is kind of a blast to drive around.

I really like this thing! It’s such an unexpected and mildly unhinged project, but I think the end result seems quite appealing. It’s not really an engine swap, it’s more of a strange melding of these two machines. And I can’t help but think about the reactions one would get if this was, say, your daily driver. Like, you could tell everyone you drive “a hybrid” and then they’d come out and see this thing and maybe issue a small unintended jet of urine into their pants from shock while you could just say “what? It is a hybrid! A hybrid of roadster and motorcycle! Now change those pants and hop in!” and then off you’d bolt, laying rubber from that one lone rear wheel, tearing off into the sunset.

What inspired this? A blown motor on the MG, a wrecked front end on the Vulcan? Maybe. A potent yet enlightening drug cocktail? That’s a possibility, too.

The possibilities this car has for altering how people perceive you are just massive. No matter who you are, when you take someone out to your car and they see you get into this, whatever preconceived ideas they may have held about you will require significant revision, and I think that’s pretty fun.

Also, you could have a pretty good-sized frunk in this thing! I wonder if the builder made a little tub to fit in there yet, or if that will be up to the buyer. Worth doing, regardless.

I reached out to the seller for some more background, and if I hear back, I’ll be sure to update this. Because it’s IMPORTANT.

UPDATE: The builder got back to me!

Right after this published, I got this message from Rick, the builder of this wonderful machine:

“Aways wanted a Campagna T-Rex, didnt have $50,000. So we built this out of a 1974 MG Midget and 2008 kawasaki 1500 cc Vulcan..had to do a bunch of fab work to make it happen..the car was hyd[raulic] clutch also the bike so we made that happen used the e-brake lever for the shifter, married all the electronics bike to car. Put a gas tank under the hood, Corvette air shocks on the bike rear end… drive it like a car gas brake clutch all on the floor..fun winter project. Drove it a couple summers to bike nights n such..had my fun time to let it go.. thanks for the interest…rick”

This makes sense now! If you want a Capagna T-Rex (I drove one of those once, they’re bonkers) and don’t have the cash, this feels like a pretty good solution. And, I think it’s significantly cooler than a T-Rex, too. The e-brake lever as the shifter? Brilliant!

The Worst Renault Twingo Is For Sale In America For Just $2,000 And It’s Almost A Great Deal

There’s A One-Of-A-Kind Driveable Rocket Car For Sale

This Bus Filled With Random Computers And A Faraday Cage As A Shower Might Be The Craziest RV I’ve Seen