'Backyard special' hits the road,
capable of 100 mph says builder
By Michael E. Abrams Editor of the News When he roars around town on his new street legal burnt orange 'trike' Joseph M. Robinson causes certain people to go goggle-eyed. Some of them seek him out on the side of the road or wherever he parks it, and ask him if he built it from a kit. They plead: Will you build one for me? "What if I give you $ 10,000 for that trike?" asked one lady. Robinson had no diagrams. Drawing on a pure vision of what this vehicle should be, he worked for a year, often into wee morning hours, in his all-purpose shed next to the Robinson home in Tallahassee. Tube by cross strut, he precision-welded this 1200 pound three-seater and its matching carry-all trailer. His backyard special is known to the State of Florida Division of Motor Vehicles as an ASPT -- an "assembled by parts transport." When he went to get it licensed, the DMV inspector saw this trike and couldn't believe it. "All he could say was 'Wow, this is great!' " said Robinson. Volkswagen and Yamaha Combined Joseph Robinson is a refrigeration service technician in real life and all-around mechanical genius in his spare time. The trike took a year to complete, but no work in the winter. "It was too cold," says the 47-year-old native of the sun-blessed Dominica Commonwealth in the West Indies. "It was all by hand, it was all in my head." He made small changes along the way. He cut the front end off of a Volkswagen and welded the rear end to an FCR 1000 Yamaha motorcycle front end. He outfitted the 1600 cc VW engine in chrome and aluminum, with sporty pipes. The burnt orange coat sparkles in the sunshine. The vehicle is capable of 100 mph. It shifts with the typical VW stick, which sits between the driver‚s legs. He matched Harley hand grips and calipers to handmade handlebars. He built the fenders of metal and fiberglass. He mounted a steel luggage carrier behind the seats. Below the luggage carrier is a four-gallon gasoline tank which can get him from Tallahassee to Panama City. He installed a stereo and CD with eight speakers. The vehicle is 10-and-a-half feet long without the trailer, and five-and-a-half feet wide. He gets a thumbs up People at a recent motorcycle gathering in Panama City were lavish in praise. "Everybody gives me a thumbs up and tells me what a wonderful job I did," says Robinson. "A lot of people want me to build one for them, but I would have to quit my job." His wife, Debbie, a hearing officer supervisor for DCF, said that she's become used to her husband's talent, artistry and determination. "I learned early in our marriage that when he gets an idea in his head, he‚s going to create it." When they were married less than a year, he hauled home an old frame and an engine. "I was shocked," she said. But what he made "was gorgeous." "The trike makes you feel so much power behind you," says Joseph. He takes his kids on rides, and Debbie drives it, too. The brakes and acceleration are on the right hand handles. The left front pedal is the clutch. The right foot is the rear brake. The left hand side is a "dummy trigger" for looks. It has lots of power, but can't corner exactly like a motorcycle, he says. Generator astounded folks He grew up with mechanical aptitude. "Well, ever since growing up I was always trying to build something and I started by building a motorcycle." Many years ago in his native country he took a minivan and cut the front part off and attached a motorcycle front end. and it worked. "Everybody was amazed. They couldn't believe I did it." In the Virgin Islands, after Hurricane Marilyn hit in 1995, power was out for four months. Robinson built a generator from the engine of an old Toyota pickup. " It astounded everyone and made the newspapers in a section on "ways people survived the hurricane." The generator could be started from the bedroom with a key. Everyone else's generator made lots of noise, but Joseph's had long pipes and only a muffled sound. He says he may be interested in building another trike, price negotiable. He's even got another old Volkswagen in his yard. He can be reached at 407-509-5957 in Tallahassee. |
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