quattro Digest, Vol 46, Issue 48

[Steve Sears]

Louis-Alain,
Hey, that is one cool project!
The Auto Union pedal car appears to be somewhat of a recumbent - and here 
are some good links to some useful pages:
http://www.smallcarplans.com/
http://www.ihpva.org/Builders/
http://www.wisil.recumbents.com/wisil/whatsup.htm
There's a HPVBuilders group on Yahoo.
The best part about building a bicycle-based system is that there are tons 
of bikes out there to get parts from - look to a local thrift store like 
Value Village, Talize or even a recycling centre associated with the local 
city transfer station - people are always throwing out bikes.
The AU pedalcar brakes look like cable operated disc brakes that you can get 
for cheap on eBay.
As for the body, you could mock it up with plywood, clay and bondo and then 
pop a fiberglass shell off of that.
Cheers!
Steve
----- Original Message ----- 
> Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 10:38:53 -0400
> From: "Louis-Alain Richard" <larichard at plguide.com>
> Subject: Home-made Sport Quattro pedal-car project
> To: <urq at audifans.com>, <quattro at audifans.com>
> Message-ID: <002f01c7e65c$7ee0a620$7ca1f260$@com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Ok then, since these lists are so quiet, here is a little
> challenge for you, Audi-related of course.
>
> Since my 2-year old girl is born, I wanted to create her a
> pedal-car, or at least a soapbox, just because. Because I
> always wanted one, because she would look cool in it,
> because winter is long in Montreal, because I love to play
> with my tools, because...
>
> Now, being an Audi guy, my goal is to create her a 1:4 or
> 1:5 Sport Quattro, using this paper model as a model (duh
> !): the red '85 Quattro S1 on this page
> http://www.darringer.com/carta/index.html. My own 1983
> Quattro will also be involved as a 1:1 model. These cars are
> so square, it will look the part even if made from plywood.
>
> Now, I have a friend with enough tools and talent to help me
> cut the thin plywood/cardboard/plastic sheets to scale. I
> just don't know which material to choose ? Any ideas ?
>
> That will be the easy part.
>
>
> Now, being an Audi, it must be technologically advanced. I
> can forget the Quattro drivetrain, she won't drive much in
> winter, but it must have freewheeling pedals, normal
> steering, and a kind of brake. A bit like the 9700 Euros
> Auto-Union pedal car. (look at page 112-113 of this Audi PDF
> for a better look at the pedals/brakes here
> http://preview.tinyurl.com/34slka).
>
>
> My first idea was to buy this 80 $CDN lawn cart
> (http://preview.tinyurl.com/2r85pj) and modify the length,
> the rear axle. The frame is there, the steering knuckles are
> there, even the wheels are about the right size. Obviously,
> my miniSQ will sport Ronals or Fuchs lookalikes...
>
> Or, easier would be to buy this 80 $CDN kid cart
> (http://preview.tinyurl.com/32kfyd) and add the SQ body, but
> all the fun of creating the mechanicals of a mini-SQ from my
> hands would be lost...
>
> What do you think ? Any constructive ideas to help me ?
>
> I have a few months in front of me, lil'Estelle just
> discovered recently how to pedal by herself...
>
> Louis-Alain
> Wanna be car designer