Photos

Charleston retiree blazes trail in snazzy 3-wheeler

Charleston Gazette photo by Chris Dorst Kenny Williams backs his Polaris Slingshot down the driveway of his Mountain Road home.
Charleston Gazette photo by Chris Dorst
Kenny Williams backs his Polaris Slingshot down the driveway of his Mountain Road home.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kenny Williams may not seem like the most likely guy in the Charleston area to be the first to own a Polaris Slingshot, the sleek new futuristic-looking three-wheeled roadster that a Car and Driver reviewer described as “Mad Max’s Saturn Ion.”

“I’m 77 — you know, a teenager,” said the retired coal miner and construction worker who lives on Mountain Road in the Vandalia neighborhood near the Charleston-South Charleston border. “But I really liked the looks of this, and it will move on down the road. It really sticks to the ‘S’ turn at the bottom of the hill.”

Williams said his son learned about the new Polaris vehicle on the Internet, and located a dealership in the Ashland, Kentucky, area where the new three-wheelers, just now starting to trickle into showrooms, were in stock.

“We went there on a Saturday to take a look at them, and I came back on Tuesday to look again,”Williams said. “The following Tuesday I bought mine, and later, my son bought an identical one.”

Although the passengers sit side-by-side in bucket seats and the driver uses a steering wheel, five-gear stick shift and floor mounted accelerator and brake pedals, the vehicle is classified as a motorcycle for licensing purposes. 

“You need a cycle endorsement and you need to wear a helmet…

 

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