# Teenager Makes Car Out of Wood **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 29, 2021, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teenager-makes-car-out-of-wood/938994 "2021-03-29T23:04:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2021, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teenager-makes-car-out-of-wood/938994/1 "2021-03-29T23:04:20Z")
Wanted to share this video of a teenager who made a model car out of wood. I found this on Reddit where he posted it to an engineering group and explained he was mildly autistic and could never have a career in engineering because of his lack of social skills and the fact he couldn’t afford to go to college. Needless to say he’s been getting lots of encouragement. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qFu-Wer1dQg/maxresdefault.jpg "Realistic Working Wooden Car Model") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFu-Wer1dQg) Anyway, he’s just built a speedometer and there are other videos where he adds an odometer and shows how to build individual elements of the car. He said in the Reddit thread his ambition is to build a life-sized car that someone can drive. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teenager-makes-car-out-of-wood/938994/2 "2021-03-30T00:45:26Z")
I saw the speedo vid yesterday and have been a casual fan for some time. It’s really impressive though I can’t help but think he needs access to some better equipment & materials to really shine. He clearly has the vision, drive and talent to make something very cool. I also saw this one yesterday (@[r/engineeringporn](https://old.reddit.com/r/EngineeringPorn)) which I enjoyed: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bG3rvkpDsdg/maxresdefault.jpg "【DIY】How to make 1:150 micro RC Car") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG3rvkpDsdg) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teenager-makes-car-out-of-wood/938994/3 "2021-03-30T01:14:53Z")
I can attest from my own coworkers that lack of social skills is no impediment to having a career in engineering. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teenager-makes-car-out-of-wood/938994/4 "2021-03-30T01:34:40Z")
Oh… a model car. From the title I was imaging he’d built his own handmade woodie station wagon or something. Actually the reality is cooler than what I’d pictured. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teenager-makes-car-out-of-wood/938994/5 "2021-03-30T02:09:37Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I can attest from my own coworkers that lack of social skills is no impediment to having a career in engineering. Yeah, I was gonna say–has he _met_ engineers? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teenager-makes-car-out-of-wood/938994/6 "2021-03-30T04:27:47Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I can attest from my own coworkers that lack of social skills is no impediment to having a career in engineering. Or any other career, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teenager-makes-car-out-of-wood/938994/7 "2021-03-30T08:53:08Z")
Really cool. Though I had to rub my chin dubiously when he bent the wire with tweezers and they just happened to perfectly fit into the plastic holes near the tyres. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teenager-makes-car-out-of-wood/938994/8 "2021-03-30T09:04:22Z")
That is what [Morgan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Motor_Company) has been doing for 111 years, but cool nonetheless. He can hardly be weirder than those Brits, can’t see why he would not fit in. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teenager-makes-car-out-of-wood/938994/9 "2021-03-30T15:41:12Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > Though I had to rub my chin dubiously when he bent the wire with tweezers and they just happened to perfectly fit into the plastic holes near the tyres. The perfect alignment during gluing the chassis halves had my chin similarly rubbed but I’m ok with edits like that in this kind of video. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teenager-makes-car-out-of-wood/938994/10 "2021-03-30T15:55:37Z")
Well, they’ve been making [cars out of wood (and stone)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hmZfF4Mt0g&ab_channel=ChrisChatman) since prehistoric times. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teenager-makes-car-out-of-wood/938994/11 "2021-03-30T16:00:21Z")
Since when did techies have “social skills” anyway? Benevolent donations can solve the college part of the problem. LOL ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teenager-makes-car-out-of-wood/938994/12 "2021-03-30T19:08:05Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > mildly autistic and could never have a career in engineering because of his lack of social skills Definitely does not sound like an impediment to engineering. His citing the lack of funding sounds like the best, true reason. But even so, you can get a good start toward a four-year eng. degree by attending an inexpensive community college. (This situation fits my teenage son to a tee; I know he has many options if he wants to be an engineer.) ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teenager-makes-car-out-of-wood/938994/13 "2021-03-30T20:40:22Z")
As a civil engineering student myself I’ve been impeded by both lack of funding and lack of social skills. Despite working full-time to the tune of nearly $50k/yr it was all I could do to afford part-time tuition at the local community college. I ultimately had to take out loans. Financially, things got worse when I transferred to an in-state 4-year university to complete my upper-division coursework (which my community college did not offer). By this point, however, my academic performance convinced the powers that be that I deserved grants and scholarships. I _still_ had to take out more loans. On the social front, there’s certainly this trope of engineers being socially awkward, but my experience and the advice I’ve received from career development staff here at school is that being gregarious and networking to the extreme are the name of the game. I’m hearing the phrase “there are lots of jobs… if you know somebody” a lot and after submitting 30-odd applications I’ve received 3 interview invitations. You can guess how those went. I’m really impressed by this kid’s work and I sympathize with him regarding the intimidating expense of college. I was intimidated when I returned to college even though I was in a better financial position than most people. I wish him the best of luck whatever path he chooses.