Feber smart fortwo buggy

Lifted smart cars, I detest them. The idea of taking one of the most astoundingly clever modern vehicles and reducing their day-to-day capability is twisted. Actually following through with it? A crime, if I was king beyond this newsletter.

I'd be a lazy ruler if I didn't have an alternative to the terrible-ness that is the realm of lifted smart cars—I'll get to it—but I wanted to mention this story was inspired by AI renderings the digital artist kefan404 had recently made of a first generation (450) smart fortwo built  into a supremely capable off-roader. I shared it, then multiple people sent it to me, so I feel as though y'all are missing out on the real thing.

Without getting too deep into the weeds, conceptually, a smart fortwo is its egg-like 'Tridion' safety cell-slash-frame-slash-roll bar. People go inside the egg, and the mechanical parts are hung on the outside of it. 

What bugs me about a lifted smart is that it elevates the entire egg, often using the same suspension pickups as before, which weren't designed for an American weekend hack job. Those are fun, don't get me wrong, but not when there's a far better solution.

Modern side-by-sides are built and often weigh suspiciously similarly to a fortwo: a central safety cell, yes, though with additional subframes front and rear that are designed for extreme off-roading. The earliest off-road buggies, using Volkswagen parts, had the same setup as ninety percent of the modern side-by-sides: long-travel suspension, safety cell in the middle, and an engine out back.

That's the solution: you take a smart fortwo and literally bolt on the front and rear of a Polaris RZR or Can-Am Maverick X3 or some other suitably quick side-by-side. Or hollow out the egg's shell and drop that on top of a side-by-side's frame (the technique often used to mate a Volkswagen New Beetle to an X3, with Andy Rick's build likely being the first.)

Then, you rip.

"Michael, what do you know about these cars, surely these are the unhinged ramblings of someone who has owned a smart fortwo and worked at BRP and has made dozens of sketches, some with measurements, hoping to validate this entire scheme to rid the world of inferior lifted smart cars?"

You're not wrong, I offer as a reply, but someone beat me to it. 

Someone did The Thing, and even tried to enter the Dakar with it before running out of funding.