Hanebrink The Box

The Box was a multi-purpose lightweight vehicle designed in 1970 by Dan Hanebrink and Matt Van Leeuwen of Costa Mesa, California. Popular Science described it as a racing car, economy car, dune buggy and off-road vehicle all at once; because its body was fully watertight, it also became an amphibian when paddles were fixed to the wheels.

Design

There is no separate chassis. The body is a monocoque of end-grain balsa sandwiched between layers of aircraft-grade glass fibre, built as upper and lower halves bolted together, which allowed stressed points such as suspension mountings to be reinforced without adding weight elsewhere. Suspension is by independent swing axles front and rear with a hydropneumatic nitrogen-oil system, each wheel having its own reservoir.

A rear-mounted 500 cc two-stroke Kawasaki motorcycle engine drives all four wheels through belts and pulleys. Popular Science quoted a top speed of over 100 mph (about 160 km/h) and a standing quarter-mile in 13.5 seconds; a four-stroke Laverda engine was also being tested.

Controls

The two occupants climb in through a single front door that doubles as the windscreen. The controls come from motorcycles: gear change and clutch by the right hand, a twist-grip throttle in the left hand, and braking by pushing the throttle grip forward. Steering is by the feet, soap-box style, but through a hydraulic system that turns all four wheels.

History

About half a dozen were planned by the end of the year, with a team to be entered in the Mexican 1000 off-road race. Whether series production followed is doubtful. Hanebrink later became known for mountain-bike suspension design.