Spotted: An H-M-Vehicles Free-way!

Jeff Glucker

/comment

Comments

I’ve been trying to get a picture of this thing for a while now. I know where it parks. But the road where I see it is a tight, twisting ribbon hidden in a canyon and it’s not a great place to stop. Then yesterday I was sitting on the side of the road, setting up a camera for in-car video when this H-M-Vehicles Free-way rumbled past and pulled over not 20 yards from where I was parked.

This funky little runabout is part of a production run that spanned four years and produced around 700 examples. The buzzy engine sounded like it came from a dirtbike, but Wikipedia tells me it’s more likely a one-cylinder mill which probably came from a lawnmower. H-M-V offered the Free-way with a choice between two gas engines, a diesel, or an electric. And no one ordered the diesel, which is mildly hilarious.

But if anyone knows anything about these… he’s waiting in our comment section. Doc, the floor is yours – tell us all about the H-M-V Free-way.

About

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff

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75 responses to “Spotted: An H-M-Vehicles Free-way!”

  1. Wayne Moyer Avatar
    Wayne Moyer

    They have plastic windows that barely fit. They can barely hit a speed that makes them safe on back streets. They are just plain not safe. This from someone who really wants a seventies Citi-Car. You have to be a sadist to own a Freeway.

    Reply
    1. mdharrell Avatar
      mdharrell

      Mine has the smaller 12 hp engine and will hit sixty-ish on the freeway, given enough time. The original front suspension is notoriously unstable at speed but the much-improved “racing” modification is still available, easy to install, and readily reversible.

      Reply
      1. Wayne Moyer Avatar
        Wayne Moyer

        What was the racing upgrade?

        Reply
        1. Sjalabais Avatar
          Sjalabais

          Putting it on a trailer?

          Reply
          1. mdharrell Avatar
            mdharrell

            It was, in fact, faster that way.

            https://live.staticflickr.com/1692/24104006120_e356d170f5.jpg

          2. Wayne Moyer Avatar
            Wayne Moyer

            He sounds like a happy owner of it. So i am honestly curious.

          3. Sjalabais Avatar
            Sjalabais

            Just to clarify: I have bottomless respect and admiration for those who take care of odd cars like that, and who even share their knowledge and adventures online. Perfect!

            That said, mdharrell also seems tolerant of whatever quip is hurled his way.

          4. Wayne Moyer Avatar
            Wayne Moyer

            I didn’t mean it that way either. I am honestly curious since I want a really odd car and I am trying to talk my wife into it. I want this thing for two reasons. It’s one of the strangest seventies cars and its electric. I want to use it as a means to learn how to do electronics by doing upgrades to it. I know she is okay with two classics. That being our Corvair and probably a classic truck. I don’t know if i can do a third until our kids move out. We own too large of a fleet of cars right now with teenagers.

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d35c8e86268dd1734b5fc5d99e9c0d71a58bb90df9afd5693aa73930422e5fb1.jpg

          5. Sjalabais Avatar
            Sjalabais

            Whenever I go to Oslo, I see one or two of these. Definitely unusual. Learning how-to-EV in order to pimp something more common, too, eventually?

          6. Wayne Moyer Avatar
            Wayne Moyer

            I have a very short commute right now of only thirteen miles but one part of it involves getting up to 55mph. So a gokart wouldn’t work. AN upgraded gokart though…

        2. mdharrell Avatar
          mdharrell

          The racing part is a joke on the part of the guy who designed and still makes these, as he calls it the Freeway Advanced Racing Team (F.A.R.T.) kit. Nonetheless it fixes two very real problems with the original: First, as originally designed, the front suspension forces the wheels to move FORWARD when rising in response to a bump. Second, the positive scrub radius is so large that the extended line of the steering axis is completely inboard of the entire contact patch, in that the steering axis is more or less vertical. The kit relocates the lower rod end bearing outwards to a point under the brake drum, reducing the scrub radius, and changes the angle of the lever arm for the torsion bar so that the front wheels now move REARWARD when rising. Below is the original suspension at top and the modified version at bottom:

          https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50223269336_a9d9e0de0b_z.jpg

          The same guy also makes a kit to introduce Ackermann geometry to the steering (it has none), but I’ve never felt the need to install this.

          Reply
          1. Wayne Moyer Avatar
            Wayne Moyer

            How did you end up acquiring this?

          2. mdharrell Avatar
            mdharrell

            I saw it on Craigslist and traded the seller my MGB for it. I’m fairly happy with it but every now and then I wonder whether I should have come up with the difference in order to have gone with the considerably more expensive Velorex he also had up for sale.

          3. mdharrell Avatar
            mdharrell

            I saw it on Craigslist and traded the seller my MGB for it. I’m fairly happy with it but every now and then I wonder whether I should have come up with the difference in order to have gone with the considerably more expensive Velorex he also had up for sale.

          4. Wayne Moyer Avatar
            Wayne Moyer

            Don’t know the Velorex. As a former owner of a couple of MG Midgets lets say it sounds like you came out on the good side of that deal.

          5. Wayne Moyer Avatar
            Wayne Moyer

            Don’t know the Velorex. As a former owner of a couple of MG Midgets lets say it sounds like you came out on the good side of that deal.

          6. mdharrell Avatar
            mdharrell

            The Velorex Oskar is a three-wheeled Czech vehicle with a tube frame and soft vinyl body panels. This video features one but contains almost no useful information about them:

          7. Wayne Moyer Avatar
            Wayne Moyer

            So one of the Zappa’s made a video about being a European rock-shaman. This is a great way to showcase a car that, like you said, has nothing to do with the car. Although I can see why you would want one of those. It’s just too weird not to want one.

          8. Mr.Kelly Avatar
            Mr.Kelly

            I installed the F.A.R.T. many years ago. I also designed my own steering suspension set with gas springs against the frame to the pitman arm. I think it did a better job. I don’t recall the Ackermann geometry kit. Maybe after I left the group?

      2. crank_case Avatar
        crank_case

        If you’re going to all that trouble and thinking about making it reversible anyway, would you not just fit a decent 1 cylinder from a bike that some newbie rider unprepared for the power delivery of a single banger has fallen off of. (i.e. someone an idiot Ike me if I ever got on a bike). C’mon, who doesn’t wanna see an mdharrell tripod of doom?

        Reply
      3. crank_case Avatar
        crank_case

        If you’re going to all that trouble and thinking about making it reversible anyway, would you not just fit a decent 1 cylinder from a bike that some newbie rider unprepared for the power delivery of a single banger has fallen off of. (i.e. someone an idiot Ike me if I ever got on a bike). C’mon, who doesn’t wanna see an mdharrell tripod of doom?

        Reply
        1. mdharrell Avatar
          mdharrell

          “Tripod of doom” is my other yellow three-wheeler, the American Microcar Tri-Ped. Absolutely terrifying over 15 mph, so I try to keep it under 25 mph.

          https://live.staticflickr.com/8650/15974049153_8a66ff5ca5.jpg

          Reply
  2. mdharrell Avatar
    mdharrell

    That… doesn’t look like the stock Tecumseh engine. Not only does the glimpse available through the side look wrong, but I have no idea how that exhaust would work.

    As far as the diesel “option” is concerned, I asked the designer about this back in 2010. Not only were none ordered by customers but HM Vehicles themselves never bothered to order an engine so as to be able to construct one, either. They figured they’d worry about it only if it actually became an issue.

    By the way, before anyone expresses concern about the external baggage covering the rear window, I’ll say from experience that the window is worthless for visibility anyway.

    Reply
    1. Rust-MyEnemy Avatar
      Rust-MyEnemy

      I’m still short of a worthy garment to adorn with my KV patch, by the way… can’t be sewing that to any old rag.

      Reply
      1. Peter Tanshanomi Avatar
        Peter Tanshanomi

        My KV patch is displayed on a shelf over my workbench. I, too, can’t seem to find the proper attire for it.

        Reply
      2. Peter Tanshanomi Avatar
        Peter Tanshanomi

        My KV patch is displayed on a shelf over my workbench. I, too, can’t seem to find the proper attire for it.

        Reply
        1. mdharrell Avatar
          mdharrell

          https://www.theautoreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/lemons-21.jpg

          Reply
        2. Rover 1 Avatar
          Rover 1

          Where does one obtain such a prestigious patch?

          Reply
          1. mdharrell Avatar
            mdharrell

            Ask Jeff to forward your contact info, although maybe I should have checked with Jeff before volunteering him…

          2. Rover 1 Avatar
            Rover 1

            So it IS an exclusive club.

          3. mdharrell Avatar
            mdharrell

            I suppose, at least to the extent that you’re prepared to believe that Jeff has standards.

          4. 0A5599 Avatar
            0A5599

            Jeff has at least one standard. The Montero has three pedals and a stickshift.

            https://hooniverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tony-Montero-19.jpg

          5. Peter Tanshanomi Avatar
            Peter Tanshanomi

            The Professor must deem you worthy. It’s a lot like being knighted.

          6. Rover 1 Avatar
            Rover 1

            I can’t help but think this is some sort of dubious honor, like a fast eating title in the Guinness Book of Records.

          7. mdharrell Avatar
            mdharrell

            One difference is that, as far as I know, Guinness doesn’t require a self-addressed stamped envelope.

          8. Jeff Glucker Avatar
            Jeff Glucker

            email me and I will put you in touch… jeff@hooniverse.com

    2. Jeff Glucker Avatar
      Jeff Glucker

      This thing sounded much more like a dirtbike or small motorcycle the way it revved.

      Reply
      1. mdharrell Avatar
        mdharrell

        If it was capable of anything that could be described as “revving” then it wasn’t the Tecumseh.

        Reply
  3. mdharrell Avatar
    mdharrell

    “…produced around 700 examples.”

    Fun fact: Before switching to standardized seventeen-character VINs towards the end, Freeways were given serial numbers that jumped by ten, thereby making the production run look larger. Mine is HMV4490G81 (G for gasoline, 81 for the year), but the 4490 indicates that it is number 449. The previous one was 4480 and the next was 4500.

    Reply
  4. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    Begging for a Hayabusa swap?

    (I jest… seriously, that would be a death trap.)

    Reply
    1. mdharrell Avatar
      mdharrell

      A few months ago I picked up a 16 hp Tecumseh (the optional big engine) to swap into mine as an upgrade for its 12 hp Tecumseh. Most of them were manufactured with the 16 hp engine in the first place, for reasons that are obvious to any owner of the 12 hp version.

      Reply
      1. neight428 Avatar
        neight428

        60 mph with only 12 hp is impressive for something capable of carrying a human body.

        Reply
        1. mdharrell Avatar
          mdharrell

          Admittedly that’s on level ground; climbing even a modest grade is difficult.

          Reply
        2. Sjalabais Avatar
          Sjalabais

          The Trabant’s* 0.6 litre engine produced 23 hp and doing 100 kph on the motorway was seen as a badge of honour.

          *standard of the other world

          Reply
          1. neight428 Avatar
            neight428

            I once saw a photo of a Trabant with a trailer hitch, presumably for flat towing other Trabants with a tow bar. Not sure what else it could have managed. The internet shows some intrepid folks posing with camper trailers hooked on, which would seem to alternate between nearly stationary and horrifying. The other popular alternative indeed seems to be trailers made out of the carcasses of other Trabants.

          2. neight428 Avatar
            neight428

            I once saw a photo of a Trabant with a trailer hitch, presumably for flat towing other Trabants with a tow bar. Not sure what else it could have managed. The internet shows some intrepid folks posing with camper trailers hooked on, which would seem to alternate between nearly stationary and horrifying. The other popular alternative indeed seems to be trailers made out of the carcasses of other Trabants.

          3. mdharrell Avatar
            mdharrell

            Great things are possible with a 16 hp Tecumseh.

          4. Sjalabais Avatar
            Sjalabais

            It is funny what can work as long as you lack alternatives. A Trabant towing the people’s republic own QEK Junior camping trailer was a very common sight when I grew up. 300 kg weight and it helps you push the Trabbi downhill. Otherwise you do like elephants and walk the extra mile around every incline you can avoid.
            https://i.ibb.co/n6DHLW2/bb98ddf4253c919c49183a56a459c5db.jpg
            https://i.ibb.co/z8pLGTM/unnamed.jpg

      2. Zentropy Avatar
        Zentropy

        Hey, to some it may just be 4 hp, but it’s actually 33 percent more horsepower!

        Reply
        1. mdharrell Avatar
          mdharrell

          I’m so giddy with anticipation that I’ve almost talked myself into doing the work. It involves removing the entire body from the frame, though, and I’ve heard some horror stories about this.

          Reply
          1. nanoop Avatar
            nanoop

            You will see horrible things, which either mean a lot of body/frame work, or continue driving with certitude that it’s a flimsy death trap with a power bump?

          2. 0A5599 Avatar
            0A5599

            So, is there any downside?

          3. Sjalabais Avatar
            Sjalabais

            That’s was also my initial reaction when he mentioned the more powerful engine being available at no extra cost when new, too.

          4. mdharrell Avatar
            mdharrell

            The appeal of the smaller engine was the claim that it would provide much better mileage (I mean, it’s right there in the name…), but this attracted few takers. Owners are in general agreement that there’s actually not much difference in terms of fuel economy anyway.

      3. Karen Thomas Avatar
        Karen Thomas

        Are they hard to find? Just bot my first Freeway but it won’t start,:( not seeing gas in the glass bulb, fuses are good maybe fuel pump??

        Reply
      4. Karen Avatar
        Karen

        How do you get to the Engine??

        Reply
  5. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    All of the safety compromises of motorcycling (and more!) without the enjoyable experience!

    Reply
    1. mdharrell Avatar
      mdharrell

      Not true! I can legally park in motorcycle spots and can go to the front of the line at state ferry terminals with the “other” motorcycles, both of which are enjoyable experiences.

      Reply
      1. 0A5599 Avatar
        0A5599

        Are you at Sturgis?

        Reply
        1. mdharrell Avatar
          mdharrell

          That’s, like, 1100 miles from here. I’ve never driven it more than about 300 miles from home.

          Reply
          1. Rover 1 Avatar
            Rover 1

            Over hills too.

          2. 0A5599 Avatar
            0A5599

            You should buy a home every 299 miles for extended range, then.

          3. mdharrell Avatar
            mdharrell

            If I had that kind of money I’d more likely just end up with a distributed fleet of Freeways.

  6. mdharrell Avatar
    mdharrell

    I pulled out some old order forms to help explain why nobody ever ordered the diesel. As of July 1981 the price of the base-model Freeway was $3495 with the buyer’s choice of either the 12 hp or 16 hp gasoline engine. The Deluxe (which is what I have) was $3695, also with a no-cost choice between the two gas engines. The diesel was $1000 extra, a substantial difference.

    I don’t have the price for the electric version at the same date, but in April 1982 it was listed at $4295 and the gas Deluxe had climbed to $3795. Only a handful (perhaps three?) electrics were made. The circuits for the electric version were designed and wired by the Freeway designer’s son, who was fourteen at the time…

    For everyone now keen to know what’s special about the Deluxe, it came standard with a larger fuel tank, radial tires, a “heater-defroster” (which is just a small oil cooler under the dash without any sort of fan or ductwork; it accomplishes very little beyond increasing the overall oil capacity), and deluxe instrumentation (which means nothing to me, as I’ve never seen any variation). The Deluxe also was supposed to come standard with reverse but the company never got around to developing reverse. Any of these were available as extra-cost options on the base model, too, except of course the entirely speculative reverse. Other options for any Freeway were a sunroof, spare tire (I’ve never seen one and I’m not sure where it would go), CB radio, AM radio, AM/FM radio, and any special color other than the standard red, yelllow, or orange. Interiors could be had in red, yellow, beige, black, or dark brown, although I don’t know that I’ve ever seen an original interior that wasn’t black. The most expensive single option was the CB at $175, with the AM/FM radio a close second at $165. Most of the other options were either $75 or $95 apiece.

    Reply
    1. Rover 1 Avatar
      Rover 1

      It seems fairly obvious that a spare tire would go where it does on most cars, where the luggage goes. So, in this case, over the rear window?

      Reply
      1. mdharrell Avatar
        mdharrell

        My guess is that the spare was shipped sitting in the seat and was meant to be kept at home for retrieval when needed, simply as a way of getting the Freeway back on the road without waiting for repair or replacement of a damaged tire or wheel. That would also explain why no jack or lug wrench was included.

        Reply
    2. outback_ute Avatar
      outback_ute

      Deluxe instrumentation is probably anything beyond the speedo?

      Reply
      1. mdharrell Avatar
        mdharrell

        The dozen or so that I’ve seen all have had an ammeter, an oil temperature gauge, and a fuel gauge in addition to the speedo cluster, no more, no less. It may just be that pretty much the entire production run ended up being “deluxe” when the company realized it was more trouble than it was worth to make two different versions.

        Reply
  7. Jeff Glucker Avatar
    Jeff Glucker

    This thread was everything I hoped it would be

    Reply
    1. 0A5599 Avatar
      0A5599

      Reply
    2. mdharrell Avatar
      mdharrell

      Thanks for posting the photo! If you ever get a chance to speak with the owner or at least to have a closer look at it, please do find out more, particularly concerning the engine and the front suspension/steering. I’ll warn you, though, that some of the people who have these can be a little weird.

      Reply
    3. Rover 1 Avatar
      Rover 1

      And more?

      Reply
  8. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
    SlowJoeCrow

    How practical would a 650cc dirt bike engine swap be? Or would that result i a lethal amount of horsepower?

    Reply
    1. mdharrell Avatar
      mdharrell

      Such swaps have been performed. It’s a bit tricky making everything fit but those who have done so seem happy with the results.

      Cooling can be problematic, though. Even the example Jeff saw has a rather large additional vent just below the rear side window. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn there’s another one on the other side facing forward to encourage cross-flow.

      Reply
  9. Karen Thomas Avatar
    Karen Thomas

    I bot one but it won’t start
    Looking for info as to why and help to make it run 1982 gas

    Reply