THE Carver One may look like a car from the future, but the blueprint for a tilting three-wheeler is decades old.

General Motors got there early, introducing its skinny, streamlined Lean Machine concept car in 1982 at the World of Motion exhibition at Epcot in Florida. As G.M.’s chief designer of advanced vehicle concepts, Preston Bruning worked on the Lean Machine program and later spearheaded a military application called the Mean Machine.

Mercedes F 300 Life-Jet.

Now retired, Mr. Bruning said that the Lean Machine was proposed as “a different way of approaching high-mileage solutions,” adding that a prototype with a 2-cylinder engine averaged 100 to 150 miles a gallon.

Like the Carver One, the Lean Machine’s most distinctive feature was its tilting mechanism. The front wheel and passenger cabin leaned into corners. A handlebar controlled the steering, and separate foot pedals made the car tilt.

Mercedes-Benz also experimented with the idea with its F 300 Life-Jet Concept. But that car never advanced to production after making its debut at the 1997 Frankfurt auto show. NICK KURCZEWSKI

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