# A wooden car **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 2, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748 "2008-05-02T14:26:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748/21 "2008-05-02T20:55:42Z")
I thought the thread would be about [this car.](http://home.clara.net/peterfrost/tryaneii.html) ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748/22 "2008-05-02T21:00:36Z")
That’s a pretty sweet car design, but I’m not that impressed. It takes balls to build it, but [some things take even bigger balls to ride.](http://strongarmsprays.com/SitePages/Bikers/Pix1/RedneckMotorcycleClassic.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748/23 "2008-05-02T21:10:02Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] I thought the thread would be about [this car.](http://home.clara.net/peterfrost/tryaneii.html) [/QUOTE] I want one. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748/24 "2008-05-02T21:54:14Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] I want one. [/QUOTE] I’d rather have [this one.](http://gas2.org/2008/02/29/37659-mpg-car-found-in-museum-it-was-built-in-1959/) > [@](#): > > In another tribute to high-mileage car hacks, a man named Evan McMullen rediscovered a 1975 Guiness-World Record-Setting car that got 376.59 MPG. > > It was wasting away in a museum in Florida: > > That number doesn’t come from some manta ray-shaped, wind tunnel-vetted carbon fiber space car. No, it’s from a chop-top, steel-frame 1959 Opel T-1 (think melting jelly bean, but uglier). And the record was set in 1973 in a contest sponsored by Shell Oil Co. ---
**Author:** ![Mongo\_Ponton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mongo\_Ponton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mongo_Ponton)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2008, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748/25 "2008-05-02T23:18:36Z")
I thought it might be [this](http://www.blackhawkmuseum.org/exhibit_auto.html) second one from the bottom. Unfortunately it’s a crappy picture. One of the most beautiful cars in the world. And its sitting with one made out of sterling silver, one made out of wicker, and a Mercedes with lizard skin interior and a mother of pearl dash. Great Museum. Although the OP’s car is pretty cool too. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2008, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748/26 "2008-05-03T06:51:25Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] [Yes,](http://woodworking.about.com/b/2008/04/23/introducing-the-ultimate-woodencar.htm) [a car made entirely of wood.](http://woodworking.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=woodworking&cdn=hobbies&tm=8&gps=109_397_1276_816&f=00&su=p445.92.150.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.joeharmondesign.com/) It is absolutely gorgeous! [/QUOTE] I wonder if it would be invisible to police radar. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2008, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748/27 "2008-05-03T06:56:14Z")
[QUOTE=Declan] I wonder if it would be invisible to police radar. Declan [/QUOTE] Sure. If you coated it with stealth material, otherwise it’d show up just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2008, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748/28 "2008-05-03T06:58:54Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Sure. If you coated it with stealth material, otherwise it’d show up just fine. [/QUOTE] Don’t stealth materials simply make a vehicle appear _smaller_? So if you’re speeding in this thing, you look like a Smart car doing 15 km/h. [sub]You’ll still get a ticket, just not the one you expected.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2008, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748/29 "2008-05-03T07:05:06Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Don’t stealth materials simply make a vehicle appear _smaller_? So if you’re speeding in this thing, you look like a Smart car doing 15 km/h. [sub]You’ll still get a ticket, just not the one you expected.[/sub] [/QUOTE] Stealth materials work by absorbing radar waves, because they can’t absorb 100% the effect is that it reduces the amount of signal that get’s sent back to the emitter/detector. Below a certain point, the radar will treat it as garbage, and it won’t look like a plane. (Even the F-117 is larger than your typical car.) ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2008, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748/30 "2008-05-03T11:31:30Z")
You’re right, I was wrong, it’s not entirely of wood, but it’s a lot more than you might think. > [@](#): > > Come to find out, a considerable amount of the super-structure, including the wheels and leaf springs for the car, are being manufactured from wood. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748/31 "2008-05-03T18:55:32Z")
Even better, a car made of [cake](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WhfEGKc7PLQ) ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748/32 "2008-05-05T13:18:40Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] You’re right, I was wrong, it’s not entirely of wood, but it’s a lot more than you might think. > [@](#): > > Come to find out, a considerable amount of the super-structure, including the wheels and leaf springs for the car, are being manufactured from wood. [/QUOTE] It was actually the leaf springs I was looking at when I wrote that. They have quite a bit of metal in them. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748/33 "2008-05-05T13:46:41Z")
What, are we going to get carjacked with a Zippo? ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748/34 "2008-05-05T14:59:51Z")
[QUOTE=InvisibleWombat] It was actually the leaf springs I was looking at when I wrote that. They have quite a bit of metal in them. [/QUOTE] “Leaf” springs. Hee. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wooden-car/447748.md?page=1)