The Trihawk three wheel sports car was the brainchild of entrepreneur and engineer Lou Richards. A born tinkerer, Richards spent his childhood in Seattle followed by a stint in the Navy working on construction projects in the Philippines. He later studied industrial design at the Illinois Institute of Technology. His student project, a motorized skateboard, won him a design award, garnered national attention and led to his first job at food processing design firm, Hollymatic. After rising through the ranks at Hollymatic, Richards set off on his own, creating Formax, whose hamburger patty forming machines eventually made 90% of the fast food patties sold world-wide.
Not content to rest on his laurels, Richards decided to do it all again and turned his sights to the automotive industry. He aspired to create a high performance, light-weight sports car in the spirit of the Lotus Super 7, but was dismayed by the mountain of regulations that applied to automotive design. But three-wheelers, legally designated as motorcycles by the federal government, had fewer emissions and safety requirements, simplifying design and production for a small operation. So the Trihawk was born.
Enlisting the help of legendary race car designer Bob McKee, and award-winning designer of the 1978 Toyota Celica, David Stollery, Richards assembled a talented team with automotive expertise and set up shop in Dana Point, California as Hawk Vehicles. An historic building on Coast Highway became the factory headquarters and showroom.
The low front profile of the Trihawk required a boxer style or otherwise short engine. After Subaru and Mazda declined to sell motors, a willing partner was found in Citroen, whose air-cooled boxer engine from the GSA was a perfect fit. Citroen not only supplied drivetrains, but conducted wind tunnel testing and provided engineering assistance.
The Trihawk received high praise from automotive journalism winning two of Car and Driver’s “10 Best” awards in 1984, including the award for best road-holding (i.e. skid pad testing). The Trihawk was praised for its superb handling, innovative design, and for being the most fun driving experience on three or four wheels. GTU champion Lance Stewart was enlisted to drive the Trihawk at various time trial events where it competed favorably.
Fewer than 100 vehicles were produced over a three year run when Lou Richards developed health problems. He sold Hawk Vehicles to Harley Davidson which had plans to move the business to Wisconsin, ramp up production and sell Trihawks through its dealer network. A tumultuous era for Harley, the 1980’s saw a period of dwindling sales, and HD never followed through on its Trihawk plans.
It would take another 30 years and the debut of the Polaris Slingshot before a three-wheeled sports car would become a high volume success in the United States. It’s worth noting that despite 30 years of technological improvement and double the horsepower to weight ratio, the Slingshot can only just hang with the Trihawk on the autocross circuit. Maybe the Trihawk wasn’t just a zany part of three-wheeled automotive history, but truly ahead of its time.
