My Geo Metro Can Rip Your Arms Out

Officially-speaking, my 1989 Geo Metro has just over 55 feisty horses kicking under the hood. For people that don’t get the concept of horsepower, that seems like a fairly weak car.

I however, beg to differ.

Allow me to explain how amazingly powerful my Metro is, using the scientific method, which is to use facts, figures, testing, and results to validate my hypothesis.  In 500 words or less you will be utterly convinced that the 55 HP is more than adequate in pushing around my Geo’s light frame.

What is Horsepower Anyway?

In order to adequately explain “Horsepower” I whisk you back in my Geo-Metro-powered time machine to 18th Century Scotland.  Envision, if you will, an Scottish-born engineer named James Watt working on his newly acquired steam engine.  He was planning on using it for all sorts of cool stuff around his neck-of-the-woods, and wanted to make a bunch of money selling it to his friends – but he needed a way to describe the force it produced without using the nominally accepted term for work-force called “Newton-Meter Per Second” – a term which made him sound a total nerd to all his Scottish friends.

So, since everyone and their mother owned a horse in those days, the term “Horsepower” seemed to make sense to him.  More importantly, it made sense to the folks he was selling his contraption too , and he became totally successful!

There you go, Bing-bang-boom –  the term Horsepower was born.  Any questions?

BTW: for those nerdy types – 1 Horse Power = 745.7 N.m / S

1 HP = TONS of Power

William Wallace In Geo Metro Blue

William Wallace In Geo Metro Blue

For my second point, in which I describe the sheer awesomeness of the HP, I again, ask you to come with me to Scotland.  This time during the age of William Wallace!  Well, more like the movie Braveheart’s version of Wallace’s Scotland.  Remember that scene where’s like 4  horses are pulling on old Mel Gibson’s appendages?  Yeah, so just one of those horses was enough to pull William Wallace’s arms and legs out of his socket!  Just ONE!

According to some history books that I sort of remember reading in High School, there were these guys whose sole-purpose was designing weird contraptions to kill people.  Think of the Iron Maiden and the like.  Anyway, they’d figured that they could design a pulley-system attached to a horse or mule whereby – when attached to an unsuspecting felon – it could easily rip the unsuspecting villain’s arms right out of their socket.  I’m pretty sure that’s what they used on old Mel Gibson.  Or rather, Mel Gibson playing William Wallace.

Now think about 55 Horses from a Geo Metro pulling on his arm.  Crazy right?!  I know.  Now stop thinking about it – it’s far too gruesome.

Conclusion

So there you have it.  55 Horsepower is a lot of power.  Is it the most force EVER on a car?  No.  But it’s plenty enough to rip arms out of sockets.

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