The Wood Car
12-31-2008, 11:54 AM
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Vehicle: MC + RD2 + AW11 + 944 = 4x Win
It's apparently kind of old, but I finally cracked my January '09 issue of Automobile and found this amazing piece of machinery:
http://www.joeharmondesign.com/index.html
Yes, you're seeing this right, no need for that little pine tree air freshener, this car is actually made out of wood; and comes with all the amenities you expect at your grandmothers's house: wicker seats, a brisk breeze wafting the scent of freshly cut firewood, and the rumble of a Cadillac V8! And its not just the interior and exterior that have a green background, even then mechanicals of this car are made of various types of wood where applicable and safe. The aptly named Splinter emulates the most modern super cars inside and out. Mechanically it's as high tech as anyone could expect from 300+ thousand dollar road warrior, with the exception that its made of wood. According to the magazine the owner, Joe Harmon, designed and built this vehicle as his senior thesis at North Carolina State University. In his own words "We aren't trying to sell anything; we aren't trying to save the world, and we aren't advocating that everyone should drive a wooden car. This project is a scholastic endeavour..." Even the skin of this car is innovative. Much like carbon fibre and other woven materials the outer shell of the Splinter is more closely related to you grandmother's bread basket than a super car.. or is it? Harmon put his innovation to work to create a loom with which he actually wove 60' long pieces of wood together to create a wooden fiber that he then vacuum epoxied, thus, in the neo-classical styling of a Ferrari or Bugatti, created a wooden fibre which encompasses the entire vehicle. Even the spokes on the wheels are wooden; and to encourage better cooling and to prevent damage to the wood he reversed the heads so that as warm air rises so does the exhaust piping, which the enormous air ducts on top of the car are meant to cool and diffuse air from below the vehicle. Mechanically its impeccable!
Physically the design is very much like potato pizza to me. Do I like it, or do I cringe? But the execution is killer! Dude wove his own wooden fiber body. How crazy?
Some fan sites date back over a year so sorry for the dated news, but to me this is an amazing work of art!
http://www.joeharmondesign.com/index.html
Yes, you're seeing this right, no need for that little pine tree air freshener, this car is actually made out of wood; and comes with all the amenities you expect at your grandmothers's house: wicker seats, a brisk breeze wafting the scent of freshly cut firewood, and the rumble of a Cadillac V8! And its not just the interior and exterior that have a green background, even then mechanicals of this car are made of various types of wood where applicable and safe. The aptly named Splinter emulates the most modern super cars inside and out. Mechanically it's as high tech as anyone could expect from 300+ thousand dollar road warrior, with the exception that its made of wood. According to the magazine the owner, Joe Harmon, designed and built this vehicle as his senior thesis at North Carolina State University. In his own words "We aren't trying to sell anything; we aren't trying to save the world, and we aren't advocating that everyone should drive a wooden car. This project is a scholastic endeavour..." Even the skin of this car is innovative. Much like carbon fibre and other woven materials the outer shell of the Splinter is more closely related to you grandmother's bread basket than a super car.. or is it? Harmon put his innovation to work to create a loom with which he actually wove 60' long pieces of wood together to create a wooden fiber that he then vacuum epoxied, thus, in the neo-classical styling of a Ferrari or Bugatti, created a wooden fibre which encompasses the entire vehicle. Even the spokes on the wheels are wooden; and to encourage better cooling and to prevent damage to the wood he reversed the heads so that as warm air rises so does the exhaust piping, which the enormous air ducts on top of the car are meant to cool and diffuse air from below the vehicle. Mechanically its impeccable!
Physically the design is very much like potato pizza to me. Do I like it, or do I cringe? But the execution is killer! Dude wove his own wooden fiber body. How crazy?
Some fan sites date back over a year so sorry for the dated news, but to me this is an amazing work of art!
