I always love when readers send me vehicles that I haven’t seen before. You lovely readers have been sending me buses, motorcycles, and even Smarts. Keep it up! This creation is the find of reader and good friend Austin Little, and it sure is something. There are lots of articles from a decade or longer ago talking about the Thoroughbred Stallion. But oddly, none of them ever really got into just what buyers got when they bought one of these. I was surprised to find that a car engine powers the trike, then I couldn’t believe it when I realized that this was way more than that. In 2006, an east Texas company called Motor Trike made headlines with its newest creation. The company, then known for turning popular two-wheeled motorcycles into three-wheelers, decided to make its own trike. Thoroughbred Motorsports, a subsidiary of Motor Trike, announced the Stallion. As KLTV reported in 2006, the company was setting itself up to double in size with twice the workforce. And what would they be building? The Thoroughbred Stallion was unlike its parent company’s offerings. Instead of taking an existing motorcycle and converting it, the Stallion would be of the company’s own creation. As Autoblog reported back then, the Stallion features a frame and suspension of the company’s design. The sleek, futuristic bodywork was of the company’s design, too. Motor Trike owner, Jeff Vey, told KLTV that riding it was like driving an exotic car. He even went so far as to say that it had the power-to-weight ratio as a Chevrolet Corvette, from KLTV: But how would this custom trike do all of this? News reports of the day just said that the trike was powered by a 2.3-liter Ford four coupled to a five-speed automatic. Output was rated at 143 or 150 horsepower and 160 lb-ft torque depending on the outlet that you read. […] Owner Jeff Vey went after comfort, style, and fuel economy — as much as 55 miles-per-gallon on the highway. As someone who loves both cars and motorcycles, this intrigued me. But none of the period’s news stories ever said just where that engine and transmission came from. And come to think of it, more current reports don’t say, either. Then it hit me, a Ford 2.3-liter making roughly 150 horses? That sounds like one of the engine options for the third-generation Ranger! And sure enough, the specs do match. Just to make sure I wasn’t missing something, I threw “Ford Ranger” into my searches for the trike’s engine. Sure enough, results included owners looking for manuals and parts for their Ranger-powered trikes. Under the plastics of a Thoroughbred Stallion resides a 2.3-liter Ford Duratec 23 inline four. This engine is also known as the Mazda L engine. It’s an engine that was used in Fords and Mazdas alike from the Ford Focus to the Mazda MPV. And as Ford Authority notes, it served as the basis for the 2.3-liter EcoBoost. Alright, so a trike powered by a small truck engine would be pretty cool enough, but there’s so much more than that going on. Owners seeking to repair their own Stallions have found out that their trikes aren’t just using a Ranger’s engine, but the truck’s transmission, rear end, and electrical system, too. Thus, owners looking to repair their trikes just end up buying a 2007 Ford Ranger service manual. And it doesn’t stop there. The trike has the entire steering column and gauge cluster lifted right out of the Ranger, turn stalk and all. Small companies raiding the parts bins of a big auto manufacturer are nothing new. But I haven’t seen it quite to this level. It’s as if Thoroughbred Motorsports just lifted all of the guts of a Ranger and plopped them down into its custom frame. And that’s not a dig; I actually love this thing! Comforts with a Stallion include leather seating for the rider (driver?) and a passenger, working air-conditioning, wind protection, a radio, cruise control, and adjustable pedals. It even has a tow hitch, power brakes, and an air suspension. Forums suggest that even the air-conditioner was ripped out of the 2007 Ranger, which makes sense. [Editor’s Note: I thought those might be early late ’90s/early 2000s BMW taillights but no, I think they may, somehow, be unique to this thing? Damn. Wait! The Bishop helped me to ID them! They’re Acura lights! – JT] I’ve found zero magazine road tests for the Thoroughbred Stallion, but owners seem to love the things. This is more or less a car that doesn’t have a roof and gets 45 mpg. And at 1,736 pounds, it’s heavier than some Japanese kei cars. Some motorcycle riders say that riding a Honda Gold Wing is like driving a car. But even the Gold Wing doesn’t go as far as this. Sales of the Stallion started in 2007, briefly stopped between November 2011 and October 2012, then finished out in 2013. Thoroughbred Motorsports didn’t release production numbers, but noted that 2011 production stop was due to low demand. Owners believe that just 930 left the line. Amazingly, the site for the trike is still up and advertising a $33,995 base price. For $1,995 more you could get a Stallion with fake wood or fake carbon fiber trim. There is no official explanation for what happened to Thoroughbred Motorsports, but one thing is for sure, its source of parts dried up. Production on the third-generation Ranger ended at the end of 2011, leaving Thoroughbred without most of what it needed to build Stallions. Amazingly, despite the rarity, you can find a ton of these for sale. Included here are links for seven that I found with a simple search on Facebook. Chances are there is at least one for sale near you. If you have one of these, send me an email. I’d love to swing a leg over it and see what riding an open-air Ford Ranger is like! I recognize the cupholders from my Mustang, and the subtly-peaking-out gas pedal appears to have the metal covers common on some Mustang trims at the time. I mainly remembered them from their weirdly low production value commercials that they’d air during late night TV in the mid/late ’00s, not sure if they were from Throughbred themselves or a local dealer, but they looked like they could have been recorded to VHS in the mid ’80s Wait, you can repair these? I was told mine went to live on a nice sunny farm in the countryside. 1st Gen aluminum Insight with a K series swap and battery removal weighs around 1500-1600lbs and has a roof and power windows, a sound system, and a sweet manual transmission (or auto if thats your thing). Just as fast, room for turbo, comfortable driving position, air conditioning, and that sweet feeling you can have it forever as it will never rust out like regular cars with steel frames. Cool tho. https://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/mcy/d/tacoma-unique-trike-low-mileage/7520144866.html Even though I’m a confirmed owner of three-wheeled vehicles (American Microcar Tri-Ped and HMV Freeway), these are a bit too large, powerful, comfortable, and pricey for my tastes. https://m.facebook.com/marketplace/item/755231445837046/ Great concept and I see where this lead to the Slingshot and Cam-Am Spyder. I would drive it, but not want to own it.
