Today’s Nice Price or No Dice FreeWay is a forward-looking single-seat commuter car from the late 1970s. It had to be forward-looking because these vehicles lack a reverse gear. Let’s see if this one’s price means there’s no going back on its purchase.
Let’s give it up for the Mazda Miata. For more than three decades, the little Japanese roadster has served as the immutable answer to nearly every question when it comes to what to drive. It’s a car that transcends the typical owner stereotypes and is fun for all ages.
Not only that, but it’s affordable too. The 2001 Mazda Miata that arrived on our docket yesterday came in at a mama bear-nice $6,900. Appearing overall to be in very good condition despite having a hefty 180,000 miles on the clock, that Miata proved a winner at that price for most of you, ending up with a solid 78% Nice Price win.
Yesterday’s Miata may have had near-universal appeal and unflappable dynamics, but how about today we look at something that’s on the other end of the spectrum?
It’s OPEC’s fault
In David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert’s DUNE, the bad guy, Vladimir Harkonnen, postulates that “He who controls the spice controls the universe.” A decade earlier, the same could be said about control over the flow of crude oil and global productivity.
Back in the early 1970s, OPEC—the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries—flexed its muscle, turning down the taps and instigating the “Oil Crisis.” This caused prices to rise, shortages to occur, and resulted in the government instituting new short-term rules requiring people to fill up their cars only on certain days of the week, depending on the first number of the license plate. Six short years later, the Iranian Revolution threw another monkey in the wrench, causing further price instabilities and availability issues.
Out of all this malarkey, we saw a massive effort by automakers to downsize their cars and trucks, thereby making them more fuel-efficient. The newfound need for stingy cars, especially for short-hop city driving, resulted in a wave of entrepreneurs entering the automotive market with a slew of tiny commuter cars—and car-adjacent transport—that, for a time, looked like the future.
Take the FreeWay
One such company was High Mileage Vehicles of Barnsville, Minnesota. Founded by mechanical engineer Dave Edmonson in 1979, HMV had a single product: a monoposto three-wheeler powered by a Tecumseh single-cylinder lawnmower engine, driving a constantly variable transmission originally designed for a snowmobile. According to Edmonson, the 12-horsepower FreeWay would average 80 mpg in regular driving and could reach a top speed of 60 mph. Considering the national highway speed limit at the time was a mind-numbingly slow 55 mph, the FreeWay’s name wasn’t totally ironic.
By the time the 1980s started to get into swing in earnest, fuel prices had stabilized and people were less inclined to look like a bug in the effort of simply getting to and from the office. This caused FreeWay sales to dry up. As a result,the company went belly-up in 1982, but quite amazingly, it built over 700 of these weird little trikes before the winds of commerce shifted.
It’s gone how far?
This 1981 HMV FreeWay is one of that number, and the ad notes that it has covered over 4,000 miles during its existence. That may seem remarkably low, but remember, this vehicle is powered by a lawnmower engine and has half the horsepower of a Citroën 2CV. These are also more oddities than practical automobiles, with Robert Dunn of Aging Wheels describing the driving experience as like “an amusement park go-kart meant for children rather than a car or motorcycle.” Dunn also classified the brakes as being “terrifying.”
On the plus side, the FreeWay does offer a modicum of weather protection and scoffs at “compacts only” parking spaces. On the downside, as noted, it lacks a reverse gear, so you’re going to get soaked getting out of that parking spot in the rain.
According to the seller (who, it appears, also has a cool Lotus Europa in the garage), this FreeWay has recently undergone a tune-up and an oil change and remains all original. It’s licensed with the seller claiming to drive it on the street and its namesake freeway. The ad doesn’t go into a lot of history on the FreeWay, suggesting interested parties “look it up online.”
Ready to go
Normally, when we see unusual little cars like this for sale, they have been left to fall into disrepair as their limited appeal dulls much of the interest in keeping them on the road. That’s not the case with this FreeWay, however. It’s a clean title vehicle (registered as a motorcycle, so bring a helmet) and, according to the ad, appears to be turn-key ready. What might that be worth to the eclectic individual who might wish to add this to their collection?
The seller asks $6,000 for the sale, but will consider offers of less. What do you think about that as a price? Does six large seem a fair price for a weird bit of 1970s automotive nostalgia? Or is that too much to get on the FreeWay?
You decide!
Nice Price or No Dice:
Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Jonathan Davis for the hookup!
Help me out with NPOND. Contact me at robemslie@gmail.com and send a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your commenter handle.
