If you’re the sort of person that savors the feeling of telling someone how much horsepower your car has and then seeing that wonderful look of amazement and disbelief, then boy are you in luck. See, there’s two ways to do that: either spend an absurd amount of money for something with 700+ horsepower, or drop a measly $500 on this Isuzu Amigo with an astounding 6.5 HP. I promise people will give you similar gasps of shock when you reveal that number. Maybe in a slightly different way, but still: $500!
Yes, you can be the proud owner of a 1992 to 1994 (it’s not specified in the ad) Isuzu Amigo, but if you’ve always hesitated about buying an Amigo because the 96 HP 2.3-liter four or the 120 HP 2.6-liter four just seemed like too much uncontrollable piston-slapping madness for you, this could be just the thing you’ve been searching for.
In this Amigo, those engines have been swapped with a 212cc little go-kart motor from Predator Engines, making a ravenous 6.5 HP. This engine is only about $125, making it close to 50 cents per cubic centimeter, which seems like a reasonable deal.
The little OHV engine is mounted to the existing transmission via some custom angle iron work, a custom adapter plate with a sprocket and chain drive. It looks like it also retains its pull-starter, and since it lacks an alternator or generator, the seller notes that a small solar panel is included to keep the battery topped off.
For some reason, even though the engine is air-cooled, it looks like the radiator is still installed?
We’ve seen these kinds of lawnmower-engines-into-cars kind of things before, but somehow I never get tired of them.
This Amigo is a perfect shade of ‘90s teal with graphics that look like they slid off a Solo cup, and as such would be a hit at any Radwood meet-up, provided it wasn’t up too steep a hill.
Or, maybe that wouldn’t be an issue, as here’s what the seller has to say about it:
This is a 212cc 6.5 hp Isuzu amigo 2wd 5 speed has clear title. But i would try to drive it on the road. It will run 20 mph but loves 10 mph in will pull about any hill in lower gears fine will spin the tires if you hook to a tree. Has a 4.10 rear gear. And 5 speed manual trans. Its very fun and the kids love to drive it. Battery is charged by a small solar panal (sic) when it sits. It has a removable hard top.
I do love the idea that you can make a normal car into something fun for kids by just slapping in a really low-output motor. Why not, right? How much trouble can you really get in at 20 MPH? I mean, provided you keep it off real roads, I suppose.
I bet you could lighten this thing enough to hit 25 or even 30 MPH, if you really wanted to. If you’re someone, like many of us, without the requisite self-control to stop from getting speeding tickets, maybe this little underpowered marvel is just right.
You can drive flat-out, all day every day, and probably not break any speed limits unless you were crossing through a funeral procession circling an elementary school.
Oh, this is being sold in Keokuk, Iowa, which means I can talk about one of my favoirite Civil War Ironclads, the USS Keokuk:
The Keokuk was odd, a sort of simplified USS Monitor design, but instead of a complex, steam-powered rotating turret, the Keokuk had a pair of stationary turret-like hexagonal little towers, each with three gun ports, and the 11-inch Dahlgren gun inside would rotate to fire out of one of the three ports.
While one of the earliest all-iron warships, she had fairly thin composite armor, and during the First Battle of Charleston harbor the Keokuk took extremely concentrated fire from Fort Sumpter.
Hit over 90 times, the well-riddled Keokuk was able to withdraw and anchor, largely thanks to her pilot, Robert Smalls, who became famous as the former slave to commandeered a Confederate ship and sailed it with many other slaves to freedom in the Union, an act that helped convince Abraham Lincoln to allow black soldiers in the Union Army.
The Keokuk sank soon afterwards, but it’s a fascinating, weird ship design, and I’ll take any flimsy pretext to bring it up.
Like an Amigo with a go-kart engine.
(Thanks for the tip, John V!)