When a regular motorcycle just wouldn’t do in the mid-1980s, Owasso Motor Car Company had the answer. The seller of this 1985 Pulse bought it in this condition as a modified three-wheeler rather than the two-wheeler with two downrigger wheels that it would have had originally. Thankfully, almost everything comes with it to put it back together again. It can be found here on craigslist in Cassville, Missouri with an asking price of $8,500. Thanks to Rocco B. for sending in this tip!
It’s unfortunate that this Pulse has been modified because they are really rare and they can sell for double this asking price without much trouble. I love the wheels in the back but I’d definitely put this one back to its original configuration. It would have had two wheels like a motorcycle, which technically it is, and the two “wings” on the sides – which have been removed – each with a downrigger wheel on it for stabilization. It would be worth much more in its factory configuration. This is what it would have looked like originally. They say that the buyer will get the original wheels and wings to try to restore it back to factory original if they care to.
There were only around 360 of these vehicles made between 1985 and 1990 by Owasso Motor Car Company in Owasso, Michigan. Unfortunately, this one was converted to what the seller says is a VW/Porsche engine with automatic configuration, which almost couldn’t be any further from the original design intent. Dang, but hey, to each his or her own. Maybe someone will buy it and keep it as is, but I doubt it. It’s like touching up the Mona Lisa to match your living room curtains. The whole idea for the downrigger wheels on the wings is to keep things stable so the trike conversion is totally lost on me.
The interior, or what we see of it, looks great. There are no specific engine photos so we don’t exactly what this VW/Porsche engine/transmission is, but you can see the automatic transmission shift on the right side in the above interior photo. It would have originally come with a four-cylinder Honda engine and manual transmission in the rear, all nice and tucked under the body cladding to make it a slick, sleek aircraft-inspired vehicle. There is no word on if the original engine comes with the sale but it doesn’t sound like it does. This one may be a very hard sell given the modifications that have been done but hopefully it can be saved and put back together to original spec again. Or, maybe you’d rather have it in the current VW/Porsche automatic transmission trike configuration?
You definitely won’t see another one of these down at the local car show if you purchased this.
Owasso MI is a very small town. I was there for work often from 88 to 93 and never seen one there. If the original drive train comes with it you will have a good start for a buggy.
Makes me think of the swiss Ecomobile :
https://www.google.com/search?q=moto+ecomobile+suisse&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi_upTmscjhAhVIyhoKHRlJBYgQ_AUIDygC&biw=1366&bih=625