I have good news, dear reader. A car genie has emerged from your vehicle’s oil pressure warning light. He wants to grant you one wish, but with one caveat. He is willing to give you a brand-new garage and any vehicles that you want to put into it. The catch is that this garage has a magical limit of 10 wheels. You can put anything in this garage so long as the wheel count doesn’t surpass that. How are you going to spend your 10-wheel budget?
For the purpose of this exercise, dually rears are counted as four wheels. Likewise, if your vice is aviation, every landing gear with more than one tire counts as more than one wheel. However, I will add a twist, and it’s that this magical garage will fit an unlimited number of vehicles with zero wheels. So, if your dream is to own a fleet of Sea-Doos that don’t have trailers, congratulations!
I sometimes like to think about what I would do if I were forced to dramatically cut down on my fleet. What if I were allowed to have no more than maybe three vehicles total? What would I do?
I think I would go back to my roots. As much as I love my Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI and as much as I adore my MGF, they would have to go. I would spend eight tires of my 10-tire budget on Smarts.
Specifically, I would keep my very first Smart, my 2012 Smart Fortwo Passion Coupe, and I would keep my second Smart, my 2016 Smart Fortwo Edition #1. These two cars got me through some of the hardest parts of my life and were there for some of the best parts of my life. Yes, I have “better” cars in my fleet, but I don’t think that there’s a better pair of cars that represent who I am as a car enthusiast and person.
That leaves me with two tires, and I would spend them on my 1976 Suzuki RE-5 Rotary. This motorcycle was one of my holy grails, and I finally have it. I’m never letting it go!
Now, it’s time to have some fun with my wildcard. For my vehicle without wheels, I’d choose a Saunders-Roe Princess.
Only one of these was ever built, and it was the largest all-metal flying boat ever constructed. Look, my garage is really big. The Princess is so huge that, come to think of it, the flying boat could have made for a pretty awesome flying home. The failure of the Princess project could be a fun story for another time.
Here’s where I turn things to you. You have a budget of 10 wheels and as many vehicles without wheels as you want. What are you choosing?
Top graphic: Audi
As someone who lives in a condo and only has access to 2 parking spaces and an overcrowded bike room, this is a dream come true for me. Here are my ten wheels:
I recently saw a property for sale near me that had a recently built oversize 3 car garage. Sadly it was double what I could afford to pay (said property also had a pool and a private dock). As long as I am living condo style, my parking will be limited.
[Misreads post] “Aw jeez, I’d have to get rid of 4 wheels?”
OK: BMW i8 roadster, BOTT XC1 (Buell XB12 running gear on a cafe racer frame), Zero FXE (the “Mama Bear just right” model), KTM 350 EXC (under 250# and fast enough for the freeway)
As it happens, I just moved into a house where I have exactly 10 wheels of parking space…on the ground, at least. Since I have 14 wheels of vehicles, I cheated and put in a 4 post lift. On the lower level is my Prius, my truck, and my camper (single axle, so only two wheels). On the lift is the Corvette.
In my previous house I had 10 wheels of parking, albeit not all indoors, which meant one vehicle was always in storage/a barn. So I guess my real answer is that if I’m limited to 10 wheels, I’m moving. 🙂
BMW ix3 Neue Klasse, light interior with the panorama roof, seafoam blue exterior. Don’t judge 🙂
Porsche 911 Turbo with the beautiful Sport Classic interior for the weekends. Oh wait, the genie says any car? Then maybe Singer 930 Turbo.
And I guess any nice motorbike to start learning 🙂
But realistically, as with any of these scenarios, for how many years am I not allowed to sell the cars? I would of course get three insanely expansive vehicles, sell them for tens of millions, then buy a house, invest the rest and buy just the BMW and the Porsche for the spare cash. Sorry, I know, I know.
dully pickup and a miata.
Just for fun. A Can-am Spyder, Polaris Slingshot, Ural Gear-Up and a unicycle.
GMC 3500HD Denali Ultimate Dually and a Tri Axel 5th wheel Camper.
I’d be quite happy with just the garage that can fit my current two cars (and bikes, skis, etc). But with the unlimited vehicles with no wheels, I’d add in a bunch of things like Ferrari 250 GTO’s, Porsche 959/918’s, Duesenbergs, McLaren F1’s, all on blocks with no wheels, so I could then auction them off for millions of dollars, and use that to buy/build whatever house (and more normal vehicles) I wanted, and maintain it all in the future. A (wheelless) helicopter for heli-skiing would be nice as well, if it came with a pilot. Is that cheating?
Well, I’m going to stay honest and deal with the fact that those 10 wheels need to accommodate two drivers. Toyota Sienna AWD Hybrid as the ultimate do anything tool, mildly modified Miata as the toy that can be a daily as needed. The bonus two would be used on a Seven Cycles gravel bike with fender and luggage mounts. The good part is, I have recently made that garage happen.
If I got 10 wheels for just myself. I would likely go Toyota Series 70 pickup with dropside bed and the 1HZ, a 993 Porsche 911 Carrera RS. Also, a de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver. The bike would remain the same.
Just one vehicle for me… a Boeing 787 Dreamliner
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner
It has 10 wheels and it will make my garage/property magically HUUUUUUGE.
Now given I’m not a pilot nor have the money to operate a 787, you may ask… WTF am I gonna do with that 787 in my garage?
And that’s simple… rent it out as an AirBNB.
Plus with it high off the ground and the size of the wings, there will be tons of space underneath or next to it to store other stuff in my garage.
And with the AirBNB money, I can turn around and buy a number of other vehicles… with the only downside being that I’ll have to find elsewhere to store anything with wheels.
I’m not into bikes, but I’d love a Can-am Spyder, so step one would be to haggle for a limit of 11.
Some of you are going to be real sad when your steering wheels have to be changed out for yokes
Perhaps all the steering wheels could be removable, and stored outside the garage as a work around? Just drive whatever car is chosen, with some oversized vice grips on the steering shaft, out of the garage, and then stick the steering wheel on? Could be good for anti-theft.
(1) Panther 6
(1) Morgan Trike
(1) Cislaghi Motoruota Monowheel
Done!
Morgan is the correct 3 wheel answer here
Raptor for the wife and kids and a Boxster Spyder for me. For the last 2 wheels, the best gravel e-bike I can get for the fake money we’re playing with