??k: Ramses’ Chariot: 1980s Fiero-Trike, Riddler

Sometime in the 13th Century BC the largest ever recorded battle involving chariots took place in the city of Qadesh in what is now modern day Syria.  King Ramses II of the Egyptian Empire engaged Muwatalli II of the Hitites with a combined force of roughly 6000 chariots and 60,000 men.  Chariots ruled the ancient world until armored knights proved far more mobile than the 2 wheel + 1 horse setup and became obsolete.  However, until an unnamed builder in Grand Rapids, MI combined the proud history of the chariot with GM’s 2-seat mid-engine ’80s sports icon for a stunningly futuristic view of future warfare.  Find the Fiero-Trike for sale via craigslist at an undisclosed asking price.

Before you rush to judgement, please keep in mind that if we’ve learned anything from playing video games, it is this…trikes rule.  The 1992 game Dune II, loosely based on Frank Herbert’s Dune futuristic fantasy world, pits houses of Atreides, Harkonnen and Ordos against each-other in a spice-fueled frenzy introducing a genre called ‘real-time-strategy’ to the gaming world.  All of the major successful RTS games (Command and Conquer, Warcraft, Starcraft, Age of Empires etc) owe a debt to Dune II and the first vehicle you could produce in any quantity in the 16-bit pixelated graphics..was a trike!  What does this mean?  The vehicle you are looking at is essentially a prototype for futuristic war vehicle. Obviously.

In case this confuses you – we’ve created the above graphic for readers who need a visual aid.  Back to the ad — unfortunately the seller gives little insight into the design, development and validation of this 3-wheeled glimpse at the future.  He pretty much just says he is open to offers/trades and leaves his contact info, which is a shame because we have all kinds of questions, like: Does it run? Has anyone died in it? Does it turn? Has anyone died in a turn? Does it stop? Has anyone died trying to stop? Et cetera…

See a better example of the future? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com

Ramses II image from wikipedia.org, Dune II trike from duneii.com