Dec 18 2007Wood Supercar Concept Makes Me Wonder
The Splinter supercar concept comes to us as a graduate project from some students at NC State (who undoubtedly failed). As you can see it's wooden (like this car). In theory the car would be a "600-hp, 2,500-pound goer with wood used for the chassis, body, and parts of the suspension and wheels" that's "powered by a twin-supercharged Northstar V8." It would allegedly be capable of doing 190 MPH. What a concept! Very clever students, but next time try to think outside the box -- wood is such an obvious choice for car materials. I've developed a conceptual supercar called the Candyvan. It's made out of candy. It's got a Butterfinger engine, Hershey Bar tires, Jolly Rancher windows and you steer with a giant lollipop. It's capable of doing 220 MPH on the streets of Candyland and handles turns like those found in the Marshmallow Mountains like a dream. Now that's a concept car. If it's make-believe, go all out.
A bunch more pictures after the jump, including one of the car shooting lasers out of its brake lights.
Grad students create Splinter, the wooden supercar
thanks to Paul, who enjoys fast cars and beautiful women, for the tip
Reader Comments
1. The Moat - December 18, 2007 11:36 AM
Right. 'Cause my car and I don't already catch enough shit for the 10 mpg we get. Why don't we kill a few trees in the manufacutirng process, too, and see what kind of rat's nest of hippies we can stir up.
2. SuperFrank - December 18, 2007 11:45 AM
Dude, that's Dirksen's dream car. I know the man loves his candy. The chocolate river, with the strawberry mountains and the vanilla snow. Or something like that.
3. sp - December 18, 2007 12:16 PM
Candyvan huh? Just like the Skoda Fabia advertisement.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLv77vwD2ts
4. flareback - December 18, 2007 12:17 PM
That could make for some cool hollywood effects. Drive through a tanker truck and get set on fire and when you finally get to the ballroom to dance with your princess your car is a smoldering pile of charcoal.
5. Smartass - December 18, 2007 1:37 PM
Looks Cheap.
I'll stick with my car made entirely out of snow leopard noses.
They are sooooo cute.
6. blpressure - December 18, 2007 1:45 PM
How close to that 190 MPH could you get before the fire starts?
7. CLICK HERE - December 18, 2007 2:29 PM
Interesting, but I don't think this is the future...
8. Angel Mass - December 18, 2007 2:45 PM
Oh great! So now its not enough to pollute the air and raise the levels of contamination with the automobiles, but also lets cut more trees to make more cars!!
9. The Moat - December 18, 2007 3:28 PM
@8
See, people? I told you it wouldn't take long for the damned hippies to show up.
10. Anexio - December 18, 2007 5:52 PM
#9 - Thanks for the funniest comment of the day on all the superfish boards!
11. Josh - December 18, 2007 7:00 PM
Make hippies happy. Build cars from hemp. Fuel them with patchouli oil.
12. guate6 - December 18, 2007 10:20 PM
It's a concept car...I didn't see that they were serious about making this into a production car. A lot of concept cars have only one made model. It looks neat though.
13. Michael Browb - December 18, 2007 10:43 PM
#4 I want whatever drugs your on.
14. Joe - December 19, 2007 11:43 AM
>.<
you do know that the first car bodies ever were mostly made from wood right?
metal is cheaper, lighter, and stronger (usually all 3) than wood, so it was pretty quickly replaced as the primary body material.
good try at making fun of them though...
http://www.ausbcomp.com/~bbott/cars/carhist.htm (first car link)
15. Rallen - December 19, 2007 9:57 PM
If you bothered to check out the construction website, I think you might see that the design and construction are actually very impressive, and safe. Marcos made quite a few race cars with monocoque chassis made of wood. Just like these guys. Only he used Aluminum for the suspension and bodywork. Veneer plywood construction was also how some of the fastest prop fighter planes were built. The only reason the aircraft industry moved to metal was because, like the auto industry found, it needed skilled woodworkers and a longer period of time for each aircraft. They were lighter and stronger, but more expensive. Anyone remember 'The Spruce Goose'?
16. bleh - December 20, 2007 7:25 AM
how would you clean it?
17. Max - February 20, 2008 1:48 PM
Thank God I'm not a student at NC state. It is unfathomable that someone, much less a group, would do this for a capstone project. It's a joke project and it looks like it.
Get this thing moving at the hypothetical 190mph and it'll look like a shit streak on your old man's underwear.