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CNN Live At Daybreak

Corbin Motors Rolls Out Roadster

Aired August 01, 2002 - 05:57   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, so with $23,000 you can either pay for your kids' education or buy a tricycle.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, get that tricycle because this tricycle that we're talking about is nothing like the one that your dad ran over in the driveway.

CNN's Rusty Dornin takes us for a ride.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What has three wheels, makes a Mini Cooper look like an SUV, can be parked in a motorcycle spot and looks like something built for Batman?

(on camera): What is this?

MIKE CORBIN, CORBIN MOTORS: The roadster is basically a personal hot rod. It's something you take out on Sunday afternoon and go cruising with your buddies and get wind on your nose and feel the fresh air and go out and have a good time.

DORNIN (voice-over): The Merlin Roadster, the latest three wheeled car from Corbin Motors. First, it was the Sparrow, an all electric three wheel car that apparently got folks thinking.

CORBIN: We go to the shows with the Sparrow, people said hey, Corbin, the Sparrow is cool but I'd like one without a top on it, with a motorcycle engine in it.

DORNIN: That's what they did and that's what give the roadster that distinctive rumble. And it gives it the gas to go 100 miles per hour. How about those problems with three wheelers tipping over? They say they've solved that.

CORBIN: The transmission and the engine are on the central line of the car. When you go around a turn, it wants to roll and so we have really long A arms. The tires sit way out here and the whole center twists.

DORNIN: One thousand Merlin roadsters are ordered. Ten are finished. None have officially hit the road.

(on camera): How much of an attractive selling point is the idea that you can park this in a motorcycle spot?

CORBIN: For me, when I'm in the city, it's a big selling point. Parking, motorcycle parking is easy. And even, it's even more fun when you're in San Francisco and you find half a spot. You ever -- you're out parallel parking, right, and you can't quite get your car in. These cars just back right in.

DORNIN (voice-over): At a sticker price of $23,900, hot rodding for one is not cheap, nor is it fantastically fuel efficient, 35 miles per gallon, about seven miles per gallon more than the average car and almost 30 miles per gallon less than the most efficient gas car. But there's always next year's model.

CORBIN: We have another model called the Merlin Coupe, which will have a smaller engine and that will get about 80 miles per gallon. And that should be out the end of next year.

DORNIN: Not everyone dreams of driving something out of a caped crusader cartoon. But most of us have the impossible dream of driving downtown and parking with no problem.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Hollister, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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