No Need To Worry About Rust... Just Termites

And now for something completely different...

I have an acquaintance who is an incredibly talented woodworker. On occasion she'll send me photos of some of the stuff she's created. That often sends me to the internet to look for info on the type of wood she used, how it was created, the tools she used, etc., etc. After a few months of this I had a pretty good sized folder of wood and woodworking sites. I started checking them out now and then just for fun. (No, I have no plans to become a woodworker... A. I have no artistic talent whatsoever, and B. No one is foolish enough to put sharp tools in my hands.) A few months ago I came across this...

The car shown above is a scale model of a claimed 240 MPH car made of wood. You can find info about it and links to pictures, blogs, etc., at WoodMagazine.com

What made me think about that car again was this car...

This was sent to me by Just A Car Geek reader, "Hoov23". In his e-mail he wrote; "It's probably one of the most unique custom cars I've seen in that it isn't based on any particular car, and was actually built by a west-coast boat builder in 1959. Check it out, it looks like a cross between a rat rod, farm tractor, and Chris-Craft. I love it."

This is a running, drivable car. It's now being offered on eBay. The seller states that is has 1952 Ariel Square Four motorcycle engine and transmission and that the suspension was taken from a Citroen of the era. Except for lights, guages, etc., the rest was all hand fabricated.

The eBay listing has a ton of clear pictures and a good description of this car. Click here to see it.

The engine used in this car is as interesting as the car itself. According to AirelNorthAmerica.org, "The Ariel Square Four (is) the only motorcycle (engine) to have four cylinders arranged vertically and equidistant to form a square. The front two cylinders drove one crankshaft, and the rear two drove another. A helically toothed flywheel gear was in between. When these gears meshed, the crankpins of one shaft were at top AND bottom dead centers while the crankpins of the other were at half- stroke. This resulted in perfect balance and no vibration at any speed, all in a very compact unit."
I'm still trying to figure out what that looks like...

A big thanks to "Hoov23" for sending this to me!