In Trabzon, Gökmen Türkmen, an automobile mechanic specializing in suspension springs, travels on snow-covered plateaus with his specially modified tracked 1977 Renault 12 – which basically looks like a Renault 12 station wagon mounted atop a tank's tracked wheels.
Now, Türkmen is looking to sell his Renault 12 crawler, which has attracted the attention of local and foreign tourists, to concentrate on a different project.
The mechanic who lives in Trabzon's Akçaabat district bought a 1977 model Renault 12 vehicle to travel on the snow-covered plateaus of the region. Türkmen, in developing this project, is another example showcasing the acute intelligence of the people in the Black Sea Region.
The mechanic fitted a tracked-wheel system to the car, doing all the work himself. He removed the steering wheel of the vehicle and developed a braking system similar to a tank assembly. Türkmen designed the vehicle so that it turns by utilizing the braking system, which naturally also works to stop the vehicle.
He tours the Hıdırnebi Plateau and helps to rescue lesser stranded vehicles. The crawler has also attracted the attention of local and foreign tourists who visit Hıdırnebi Plateau – one of the most popular tourist destinations of Trabzon.
"I love the plateau in winter but my off-road vehicle could not reach all the places I wanted to go. So I thought, 'let's turn an affordable car into a tracked vehicle,' and bought a Renault 12," Türkmen said. He explained that it took him six to seven months of hard work to convert the vehicle during his free time.
He now uses the tank-like Renault 12 on the highlands with his friends in winter when it snows and says that tourists also come to the plateau and show interest in his vehicle.
But now he says he wants to sell his pride and joy. Expressing that he has rescued numerous other vehicles that had been stuck in the snow, Türkmen said: "I'm thinking of selling my car for a different project. I want to make a smaller vehicle. I want to develop a different automobile."
He said he wants to sell it cheaply for TL 60,000 (around $4,400) so that other people can enjoy the vehicle like he has. "I'll give it a little cheap. I enjoyed it, so I want others to enjoy it too. I am considering selling because I want to concentrate on new projects," he outlined.
He added that tourists, especially Arabic ones, love the vehicle when they visit the plateau. "They are taking pictures. They want to travel in it. There is interest," he said.
