Ant - The Three Wheels House of England

Englishman Robert assembled motor home out of old Soviet scooter "Ant."

It looked like a scooter initially:

After the bulkhead motor and gearbox, Robert began running gear:

Cleaned out the rust and painted the frame. Was:

It became

Of course, if you find fault with the point of view of professional restoration, then, for example, with the nuts he did not very well, but we must understand that all the work is carried out by Robert independently and in full shortages of parts:

Painted in the home:

Painted no ordinary acrylic paint, and cellulose:

But the weak point was the body. If the items are still facing Robert restored by cutting the rotten parts and vvarivaya new discs instead of iron, with a body that it looked more difficult.

Do not just restore the Soviet scooter and make it a project at home on three wheels!

He did it all himself again, we must admit that his hands are growing from the right place:

The plans to make a rented booth, so that at any moment it was possible to establish a standard body.

Biography of my Tula scooter ant in England

My ant was imported by Neva (NEVAL) in 1981. They imported a small amount of scooters with an open body and a van, but the exact number is unknown. Products from Neva (NEVAL) represented the Soviet / Russian products were mostly heavy motorcycles with sidecars, such as the Ural / Dnepr / IJ, as well as some light motorcycles and scooters Minsk Tula Engineering Plant.

Registered in the UK was sold to a small ant dairy company in Leicestershire (or Leicestershire, Eng. Leicestershire) in 1982. Was used as an advertisement, as well as for the delivery of milk. Unfortunately, the parts were not widespread. So, after a while, and because of some failures of scooters was abandoned. The ant was put up for sale and sold to a member COSSACK OWNERS CLUB (hell knows what it is, if translated literally, it is a "club Cossacks owners" can someone explain more precisely?). A person having bought a scooter, lived in Salisbury (Salisbury), like me, he owned Russian motorcycles and used for conventional ant runs, as well as visiting motofestivali, loading supplies for camping in the body. In 1990, the split piston. The guy was trying to find the parts and reassemble the engine, but in the process broke the only pedal and gear shift speeds. Ant was forgotten and thrown into his garden under the tree until 2007, I did not see the scooter. I went to the guy to buy another bike. Little Ant was very unusual, and I decided to keep it. Over a bottle of port wine, we agree on the price. Scooter had been kept in the open, sometimes rust had eaten through body parts, some items are already beyond repair, some just do not suffice.

The Internet has opened me access to a lot: parts on Ebay and Internet forums rich technical information necessary to repair the scooter. In particular, help with parts and advice I had Gessor (I mean me), big thanks to him :) The restoration could begin. Back in college, I gained some skills in the welding business. I cut quite decayed and rusted areas of the lining instead of weld the specially made steel plates. The main parts of the scooter in need of repair the lower edge of which is completely rotted away. During the restoration I have acquired many skills as a tinsmith for more than two days spent only to restore the front wing. I also learned through the gun and compressor applied cellulose paint on old technology. Despite the fact that the process of restoration lasted five years, the work has been spent about 1,300 man-hours.

The idea of ??making a camper instead of a body arose from a joke, when my wife asked what I do with ants when refurbish it. And I just said I wanted to make a camper to travel with her for the weekend (weekend stays). I had to decide how to implement this idea, considering the weight and size of the structure. I must admit that I liked to solve this problem. The basic concept was taken from the '50s, like POD trailers (as I understand it, this type) are towed behind the car, which may alter the design. We had to think about how to make a camper waterproof and how to increase the bed space. He was to be nominated and reach the size of 6-foot-1-inch x 4 ft (1.85 x 1.2 m). Time will tell how this will work. I hope that's okay, I've done something new and expand the functionality of this little scooter.

And here's the final result: