Steve Cole's Re'Cycle
"What happens when you leave a bunch of parts around a heated garage in a cold winter" - Steve Cole
Built from parts of 15 different vehicles - see below for the list and description
The Re'Cycle makes an appearance at Big Walker
The Proud Parent
The cockpit. The white edging is a zipper. An enclosure (and heaters!) make The Recycle a year round vehicle.
The Re'Cycle was built by Steve Cole.
Photos Above by Richard Cobb
Photos Below by Steve Cole
The Winter Top
The Summer Top
(stowed behind seat for quick installation in case of rain)
Engine Compartment
Here
is Steve's description and parts
list:
"My story and I'm sticking to it. Gotta give credit where credit is due. The main engineer was God. I talked to him he showed me what to do and Re' is rolling proof that prayer works.
I have a disorder that has come down through the generations in my family called packious ratus aka "pack rat". Coming from a long line of pack rats and having a lot of friends with the same disorder, parts were everywhere. Keep in mind that very very few new parts were bought, except for engine rebuild parts, bearings, tires, etc. I think the only new parts purchased were the tach and one headlight bulb.
Parts from the front:
Forks and wheel - zx 1000 Kawasaki $80. eBay and looked the part too. fairing - Harley flx? very crashed. Picked up from a friends trash pile and he still charged me $75. guess it's a good thing he was a friend.
Headlight - Freightliner cab over road tractor
Headlight door - 59 Ford Rick at Ricky Lee's Body Shop
Windshield - sheet of lexan
windshield fan - old school bus
windshield defrost heater on right - one of the marts - lasted about a week.
Handlebar, switches, and gauges - Suzuki Harley Yamaha Kawasaki
am / fm / cd - from the wife Christmas present
Radio console - from Jerry Elkins off his old harley
Air compressor to keep the front forks pumped up - Dennis
Console on left at gear shift, also from Jerry out of an old jeep.
Front seat - little brother Dennis Nissan pu
Back seat - Dodge van small seat in back of van picked up for $10 at the same time I picked up the front end.
Body Triumph Spitfire 74 and 76 - Donnie Mullins the guy I started flying with in his Grumman. Their were 2 bodies and were dug out of the weeds and were in terrible shape. Note on the body. I extended the quarter panels on the sides 7 1/2 " on each side to cover the wide tires on rear.
Tail lights - had picked them up years ago and they were lying in the garage.
Rear wheels - Ford - Nick Lester former student and an all around nice guy.
Rear bumper - eBay - Had to widen to fit the body.
Wheel opening and marker lights Suburu Brat - another trip to my junk pile.
Rear luggage rack - Ford Escort
The best for last, What makes it go. 1973 VW super beetle - Hassle Smith owned this car put 200,000 plus miles on it and sold it to me for almost nothing in 1990. The engine started out a very worn out stock 1600. I built the engine with the help of Jeff Hodges (a friend for the last 30 years and teaches the Auto mechanics shop next door).
87mm piston and cylinders
new everything except crank
light weight fly wheel
new distributor
carb kit
etc.
Well there you have it. Took 6 months part time to get it road worthy, and 14 months to get a title. Should have only taken 3 weeks but that is another story. I'm still upset with the DMV.
Re' or Re'cycle is an on going experiment. I'm adding to it as time goes by. Re' was designed to fit me and Sam (my loving wife).
I have 2 tops for Re. The summer top is folded up behind the rear seat. If you see the rain coming you can be off the road top up and back on the road in less that 5 min.
The winter top stays on from around November till it gets warm in the spring. I have the heaters hooked up and have been out in 3 degree weather and snow, no problem good and warm.
Believe it or not snow is not as big a problem as you might think. You have to take the curves a little slower and it does good up to 6" then it really doesn't steer all that great."
"My story and I'm sticking to it. Gotta give credit where credit is due. The main engineer was God. I talked to him he showed me what to do and Re' is rolling proof that prayer works.
I have a disorder that has come down through the generations in my family called packious ratus aka "pack rat". Coming from a long line of pack rats and having a lot of friends with the same disorder, parts were everywhere. Keep in mind that very very few new parts were bought, except for engine rebuild parts, bearings, tires, etc. I think the only new parts purchased were the tach and one headlight bulb.
Parts from the front:
Forks and wheel - zx 1000 Kawasaki $80. eBay and looked the part too. fairing - Harley flx? very crashed. Picked up from a friends trash pile and he still charged me $75. guess it's a good thing he was a friend.
Headlight - Freightliner cab over road tractor
Headlight door - 59 Ford Rick at Ricky Lee's Body Shop
Windshield - sheet of lexan
windshield fan - old school bus
windshield defrost heater on right - one of the marts - lasted about a week.
Handlebar, switches, and gauges - Suzuki Harley Yamaha Kawasaki
am / fm / cd - from the wife Christmas present
Radio console - from Jerry Elkins off his old harley
Air compressor to keep the front forks pumped up - Dennis
Console on left at gear shift, also from Jerry out of an old jeep.
Front seat - little brother Dennis Nissan pu
Back seat - Dodge van small seat in back of van picked up for $10 at the same time I picked up the front end.
Body Triumph Spitfire 74 and 76 - Donnie Mullins the guy I started flying with in his Grumman. Their were 2 bodies and were dug out of the weeds and were in terrible shape. Note on the body. I extended the quarter panels on the sides 7 1/2 " on each side to cover the wide tires on rear.
Tail lights - had picked them up years ago and they were lying in the garage.
Rear wheels - Ford - Nick Lester former student and an all around nice guy.
Rear bumper - eBay - Had to widen to fit the body.
Wheel opening and marker lights Suburu Brat - another trip to my junk pile.
Rear luggage rack - Ford Escort
The best for last, What makes it go. 1973 VW super beetle - Hassle Smith owned this car put 200,000 plus miles on it and sold it to me for almost nothing in 1990. The engine started out a very worn out stock 1600. I built the engine with the help of Jeff Hodges (a friend for the last 30 years and teaches the Auto mechanics shop next door).
87mm piston and cylinders
new everything except crank
light weight fly wheel
new distributor
carb kit
etc.
Well there you have it. Took 6 months part time to get it road worthy, and 14 months to get a title. Should have only taken 3 weeks but that is another story. I'm still upset with the DMV.
Re' or Re'cycle is an on going experiment. I'm adding to it as time goes by. Re' was designed to fit me and Sam (my loving wife).
I have 2 tops for Re. The summer top is folded up behind the rear seat. If you see the rain coming you can be off the road top up and back on the road in less that 5 min.
The winter top stays on from around November till it gets warm in the spring. I have the heaters hooked up and have been out in 3 degree weather and snow, no problem good and warm.
Believe it or not snow is not as big a problem as you might think. You have to take the curves a little slower and it does good up to 6" then it really doesn't steer all that great."