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
2001 M Coupe
2025 Audi S6 Avant
Ducati S4R
Hughes 500D (on skids) with a pre-paid instructor.
I love the workaround for the helicopter. 🙂
Morgan 3-wheeler, Austin mini, and a Reliant Robin.
Ten Goodyear blimps.
And a very large bicycle pump……
Further research has revealed that the newest blimps actually have two wheels–one under the gondola and one closer to the tail–so I will either accept ten of the older-style unicycle blimps or (reluctantly) merely five of the newer ones.
An Aptera, a Can-Am Spyder, a Polaris Slingshot, and a mono-wheel skateboard!
So I can have as many tanks, hovercrafts, and aircraft carriers as I want? Who needs wheels?
Yes, but you can only have a total of ten wheels aboard the aircraft carrier while it’s in your garage. I don’t make the rules.
I guess I’ll take a couple Taylor-Dunns and one of those sketchy Chinese hoverboards to help me get around.
A single tank would likely put you over.
If dually wheels don’t count (they should) then tank wheels shouldn’t either. I’m converting all my vehicles to tracks. Catch me in the fleet of Ford GTs on tank treads.
Dually wheels do count (1x per tire). From the article:
Oof. Yes, it does say that. Oops ????
I understood that dual rear wheels count as four, which would mean that they do count.
TY. I need to read slower.
I took the “dually rears count as four” to mean each wheel did count. So a semi tractor for an 18 wheeler would eat up all ten, and you’d be stuck without a trailer.
Tank wheels are still wheels. I’m not sure many tanks have less than 10 weeks (At an absolute minimum they have four).
I would argue that tank wheels don’t count, as they do jot touch the ground. There are lots of wheels inside a vehicle that work toward propelling it that don’t touch the ground, and therefore don’t count, i.e. pulleys in the engine bay.
*Puts on Pedantic Poster hat*
I actually looked that up before I commented. If tank wheels were referred to as “bogeys”, “idlers”, “pulleys”, etc, then I’d agree: they don’t count.
However, the tracks are driven by “drive sprockets”, the vehicle is supported by “road wheels”, track tension is maintained by the “idler wheel”, and the upper portion of the track when not touching the ground is supported by “return rollers”.
Based off the fact “road wheels” and “idler wheels” are mentioned, I’d say at least those count, since the vehicle wouldn’t be able to move without them and they’re called wheels.
Pulleys in an engine bay are “pulleys” not “wheels”. You don’t refer to it as a “crank wheel”. Steering wheels again are not required to support the vehicle or make it move, so those shouldn’t count either, despite having the name “wheel”.
What about steering wheels?
I mentioned those in my post above. Steering wheels are not required to support the vehicle or make it move, therefore they don’t count.
Porsche 911 with MT
Toyota Land Cruiser 80 Series
Specialized Levo
Ten unicycles, each one powered by a 572 cubic-inch classic Hemi.
one 1974 Kenworth W-925 in the custom Movin’ On livery.
Per the rules, you got 4 wheels left, Hoss.
That’s enough for a black/gold 1977 Pontiac TransAm!
These two 2011 BMWs plus my 1985 Chas Roberts Road bicycle:
https://flic.kr/p/2jSmmaH
https://photos.app.goo.gl/TU7d8v6QAy4MuY6k9
Bought the wagon and the bicycle brand-new. Well the frame was new (and it cost $500 in 1985), the components were a mix that only a broke high school student could come up with. But the only things on that aren’t original to 1985 are the brakes, saddle, and the cables and tires. It had wackadoodle Shimano 600AX centerpull aero brakes that have pads made out of pure unobtanium at this point. So replaced with Campagnolo when I put her back on the road last year after 30 years of slumber.
I guess I would have to keep my other bicycle, a 1995 Bianchi Ocelot mountain bike, in the shed. Bought that one new too.
I’m not going with crazy expensive or exotic vehicles because for the most part, I just don’t care about unobtainium cars.
1964 Buick Riviera
2023 Chevy Colorado
2024 Harley Davison Sportster S
Seeing as how I already own 2 of these 3 vehicles, I’m mostly happy with what I got.
“this magical garage will fit an unlimited number of vehicles with zero wheels.”
Like several other commenters, I intend to game the system. I would get thousands of car dollies that can lift vehicles by the undercarriage and store the wheels off site.
If I am abiding by the rules of the game like a chump, I would go with an F350 Tremor (with the high output diesel), an air-cooled VW Beetle (with a 1900 cc engine [preferably fuel injected], added air conditioning, and a four wheel disc brake conversion), and a CVO Harley-Davidson Road Glide. These are better versions of vehicles I already have, so the genie wouldn’t have to work too hard.
I would also add an ICON A5 (with the wheels retracted to land on water; I think the genie would accept this as unwheeled) and a yacht (I don’t know enough about boats to choose one, but I’m sure I can find one I like).
Dollies have wheels. Unless you’re, like, rack storing the wheel-less cars like a warehouse. Then you just need one forklift.
“Dollies have wheels.”
D’oh! Somehow that didn’t occur to me.
New plan – metal pallets, an outdoor vehicle lift to place wheelless vehicles on said pallets, and an airplane tug.
You could put each car on an air pallet (basically a pallet-sized hovercraft). No wheels there and effectively the same practice as a dolly. There’s lots of styles that can easily carry cars/trucks/etc.
Single cab 4WD Ram 3500 Dually with the 392/8 speed combo, and probably a brand new MK8 GTI, since those come with actual buttons now IIRC? If not, a 7.5.
Evora S, a complete soup to nuts restoration of my 80 series (with key upgrades/mods), and a KLX300 to go on the back.
Since it’s magical I’ll say a Slate truck/SUV, custom Livewire with better rear seat/fender and forward controls, and I guess a RAV4 Prime. That covers most scenarios and some fun.
Kenworth W900. All ten tires in one.
Ugh, you beat me to it.
So I’ll say “Peterbilt”.
Rules say you still have 4 more wheels, duallys count as a single wheel.
Oh shit, well then I’m going all in. Growing out the stash and getting a 77 Trans Am to complete the cosplay.
An M3 half track (that’s only two wheels!!), a square body stepside pickup, and a couple motorcycles. I like my Magna, but I’d probably get something newer but similar, and maybe an adventure bike.
A Gordon Murray T50 and a Mercedes G63 6×6.
Oh and Jeff Bezos’ yacht, just for fun.
Which one?
If I have to actually afford the upkeep, use, insurance, etc? This is not going to be “cool” list, but it’s realistic.
My 2019 BMW i3S, my low miles mint 2013 Ridgeline RTL, and I would add a BMW 1250GS
i think a bmw R75 would be a perfect addition to my already 8-wheel garage (e30, e70d)
if i was going to go nuts thought: a rolls royce phantom for daily/school dropoff duty, an i8 for nice weather, and… an r75…
Does a project car that’s always up on jack stands count as 2 or 4? Just asking. 🙂
I like your thinking. If a car is on jack stands and the wheels are not touching the ground, they don’t count!! I mean they are just accessories at that time as they are not doing that wheel thing of letting the car move around.
A pavement Sprint Car and a Tyrrell P34. Not a motorcycle guy and since I don’t want to waste two wheels……
So, what if we have 28 wheels stacked in our current garage? Can I add more if I remove the worn out tires?
A Boeing 787 has 10 wheels, so if I’m magically getting a garage (and land) large enough to fit a 787, I think I’m pretty well set.
Assuming the 787 has all of the certifications and paperwork of a brand-new aircraft, I’d just sell that for a cool $250M or so and buy any car fleet I like.
10 wheels? Hmm. Lancia Stratos HF Stradale (4), F-350 King Ranch (diesel) Dually (6). I seriously thought about going with the single rear axle on a F-250, but then I would get an Indian, and kill myself on the motorcycyle, so that’s just a bad idea,
Jeep Wrangler rubicon X, Saab sonnet Mk1 or Mk2, Honda trial 125, and a nice kevlar solo canoe. That is 10 and works for me.