I Finally Got My Middle School Dream Car: A Two-Seat Go-Kart

Kismet is a fun way to say “fated.” And the funnest kind of fate is one that drops a sweet go-kart into your lap. Get in, losers—we’re fulfilling our eighth-grade dreams of driving something that blurs the line between “toy” and “vehicle.”

So I was puttering across the county on an errand for my lady the other day. On a long, straight stretch of country road, I spotted somebody pushing a yellow go-kart buggy thing up a driveway. “So cool,” I thought to myself.

I’ve been mildly obsessed with kart-style vehicles for about two years, ever since I raced against a CrossKart at the Mt. Philo Hillclimb. It was so cute and so fast—the ultimate toy vehicle, really. Meanwhile, I’ve wanted a mini sandrail-style go-kart since I was a young child. I mean, didn’t we all?

Surely I wasn’t the only kid looking at Yerf Dogs and other lawnmower-level karts in catalogs, and between crunches of cereal, begging my parents to buy me one. They supported me a lot in life, but never acquiesced to my pleas for a small self-powered vehicle.

Anyway, flash forward back to the present, and the go-kart guy drops a sign on the buggy right as it passes through my window: “FREE.”

I checked my mirror, put two boots on the brake pedal, and moments later had a new friend and a new project vehicle.

The kart-giver was jovial and eager to discuss the vehicle in detail, like he was actually actively selling it to me. In my head, I was cracking up, thinking, he could have said, “It might have snakes living in the tires,” and I still would have been giddy to take it.

“Only thing is, though,” I said with a sigh, “it’s not gonna fit in my car,” gesturing to the Toyota Prius loaner car I’d been driving.

“If you can help load it into my truck, I’ll drive it right to your house,” he offered. Welp, at that point, there was no way around my adopting the kart.

The guy explained how he’d never been able to get the machine running, and that he had a huge fleet of other vehicles vying for his attention. Relatable! Apparently, he’d gotten it for free, too—while working a construction job somewhere, he’d spotted it in the corner of a barn. When he asked about it, it was offered to him for $0.00.

He made good on his delivery promise in short order. Days after our first meeting, I linked up with him again, we heaved the rig into the bed of his Ford Super Duty, and he dumped it in my driveway along with a home-printed wiring diagram, a disconnected fuel tank, and an air intake.

That’s where the buggy sits now—on my parking pad, waiting for the fitted cover I ordered to arrive so it can get tucked in before the snow flies.

Since my go-kart landed, I’ve been doing a lot of research on it to determine whether or not it’s worth restoring and what it can realistically be used for.

The make and model is Tomberlin Crossfire. It’s a two-seat bolt-in-frame buggy of Chinese origin. It’s powered by a 150cc single-cylinder engine, specifically one named GY6, which is extremely common in tiny scooters and bitty buggies like this. The motor moves the rear wheels with a CVT and a chain drive. It has no reverse, but it does have an impressively complex suspension system. Like, actual control arms, heim joints, and ball joints, with a real steering rack. That’s really what caught my eye about it when I saw it sitting in the dude’s driveway—it pretty much has a baby version of the foundational components in a real off-road race rig. And many karts are more primitive, rigid, and far less off-road capable.

Turns out, when running properly, the buggy should totally be drivable for me, even with a passenger. The weight cap is purportedly around 450 pounds. And all the comments I was able to find about Tomberlin Crossfires indicate it’s a solid platform as far as old-school single-cylinder karts go.

The Tomberlin brand still exists, but its current offerings look more like golf carts than the desert race-looking go-karts of the past. And these things really are a relic of the ’80s, ’90s, and ’00s. Nowadays, when people want to go fast, they buy UTVs instead of building high-performance karts. And when they want something slow for kids, they go for compact electric options or even small dirt bikes or ATVs like quads.

However, an adult-sized go-kart still occupies a niche that other recreational vehicles live outside. It’s not quite a dune buggy, it’s not a side-by-side, but it’s not exactly a child’s toy, either. Well, it almost is. But a kart like this, with real suspension geometry and a swingarm, is essentially the smallest viable version of a real, dedicated off-road race vehicle. And, to me, that makes it deeply delightful.

Now you know how I ended up with a kookie little kart. Next, I’ll do an update laying out what it’s got exactly, and what I hope to do with it. I hope you’ll come along for the ride.

Got go-kart tips? Hit me up at andrew.collins@thedrive.com.

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