Dec 9th, 2016: Wooden Car

[xoxoxoBruce]

I started by drawing the car on paper, in 2006, and by 2007, I began physically producing it in a shop
behind my house. I had a mentor named Joe Hunt, a friend of my dad's, and my professors helped me, too.
My dad gave me some money to eat, so I didn't have to focus on anything but that car.

I'd wake up, work 16 to 18 hours, go to sleep, then do it again. Along the way I was able to pick up
sponsorships — wood companies, glue companies, tool companies.
It took about 20,000 hours to complete the car, over many years. During that time, I graduated, got a
full-time job and got married. I finished the car last fall, nearly a decade after I started, and I took it to
the Essen Motor Show in Germany, to show it for the first time.
It's called the Harmon Splinter, "the world's only wooden supercar," as I call it.

The structure is made primarily out of maple, ash, birch, and hickory, all woods found in North America.
I wanted the body (the parts you can see) to have a certain look, so I used cherry, walnut, and oak.
For these body panels, I used two large looms and wove the wood into a kind of cloth. That took
a lot of work. I'll be honest — I never want to do that again.
Many of the mechanical parts started out as Corvette components, but most have been customized.
The engine is a modified LS7, the motor used in the last generation of the Corvette Z06.

You can see the weave pattern of the wood like you can with fiberglass or carbon fiber, so I'm guessing he
used a tinted resin for uniform color.

link

[sexobon]

It probably leaves a lot of woodpeckers confused.

[fargon]

it must be heavy.

[Snakeadelic]

I'm wondering how he set up the engine cooling system!

[glatt]

obviously, he's marrying wood to other more traditional vehicle materials. I'd be curious to know just how much is wood. Is any of the suspension wood?

[Diaphone Jim]

If you Google "wooden car" and then go to images, you get dozens of wild pics of, well, wooden cars.
Some are old and some are new.
There does not seem to be agreement on whether the Harmon Splinter actually runs.

[gozar]

Wood eye?!
Wood eye!?

Harelip!
Harelip!

[Rhianne]

There are a few clips of the car moving on YouTube - at walking pace only, at least so far as I could see.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by gozar

Wood eye?!
Wood eye!?

Harelip!
Harelip!

Hah! That's a classic.