Welcome to my webpage.

I am forty eight years old, six feet two tall, and used to be strong and relatively fit. I was very seriously injured in a no-fault motorcycle accident in early 2002. I have made a miraculous recovery but I am now partially disabled, can only work part time and will never be able to ride a motorcycle again.

I've always been practically minded, as a kid taking things to bits to find out how they worked, or fixing broken stuff, but I am now very restricted in what I can do. I can move my fingers and hand at the wrist if my forearm is supported but because I can't move my left arm at all, I can only drive automatic cars with a remote control gizmo for the indicators.

Admit it, affordable cars are rubbish. They're designed by computers to give maximum room, minimum drag, maximum economy, minimum build cost and minimum personality. The result is they all look the same, have the same engine and drive configuration, a sensible number of seats and the manufacturers have to spend millions convincing us that their front wheel drive box is better than everybody else's because sexy women smile at you if you are driving a car whose "personality" reflects your own.

Building a car yourself lets you make one that's not a clone, and you can easily modify it in any way you need. I considered a Caterham (copy of a Lotus Seven) but the gearchange would have been a real problem and don't think I've got the space or equipment to haul car engines around. Using a suitable motorcycle would have solved the gear problem, but repositioning the engine mounts and modifying the drive train would have been beyond my ability. I had always liked the idea of a three wheeler with the single wheel at the back, the configuration would allow the builder to use a motorbike engine with little modification, and I love the look of an air-cooled V-Twin sitting at the front of the body like an old Morgan. (Next time perhaps).

This website is an attempt to tell the story of how I am building a car with the help of my son. I will update it regularly and add bells and whistles like a guestbook and comments. I hope you enjoy it and return to see the progress of the project.

Thank you,

Clive.

The GRINNALL SCORPION is a reverse trike based on a BMW K series motorcycle. The engine, gearbox and final drive of the BMW becomes the back end of a nifty high performance vehicle. It weighs slightly more than the original bike, so should provide similar performance to a large capacity touring motorcycle.

The "tadpole" configuration with the two wheels at the front gives it excellent stability, and having a steering wheel means that you don't need both arms to control it. The gear change is the sequential motorbike one, so somebody with very limited left hand mobility can use it. This is just what I need.

Grinnall construct the majority of the examples they sell, but support those who wish to save the construction fee or those who want the enjoyment of building it themselves.