Ever think about trying your hand at building a car from scratch? The chassis, body, interior, using someone's engine, suspension, and other mechanical pieces? Well this guy in MN does it and here's a R&T article on his efforts. This particular car is a VW/Porsche origin, claimed HP is 120-130 RWHP which doesn't sound like much, unless your car weighs 1200 lbs! He uses a planishing hammer and english wheel to hand-form the aluminum body panels, CLECO's to hold them together, and then TIG welds it. The chassis is mild-steel tubing, triangulated, the body rests on a space-frame of small-diameter tubing. He says it takes about 7 months of work to make one. That's $45,000 in labor alone, @ $40/hour.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/videos/a30742/runge-hand-built-car/
It uses a 50+year-old Porsche 356 engine. If you ever were involved in a serious wreck in one, I think they'd just have to crate the car & you up, and drop you into a hole in Mother Earth, not much to protect you in this. Beware teenage (and other ages) drivers texting and updating their facebook pages, or women driving 5,000 lbs. SUV's, one-handed while they happily knaw-away at an artisan chicken wing while swerving around pedestrians in the parking lot of the local Mariano's supermarket like I saw in Lake Zurich IL yesterday. :confused2:
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/videos/a30742/runge-hand-built-car/
It uses a 50+year-old Porsche 356 engine. If you ever were involved in a serious wreck in one, I think they'd just have to crate the car & you up, and drop you into a hole in Mother Earth, not much to protect you in this. Beware teenage (and other ages) drivers texting and updating their facebook pages, or women driving 5,000 lbs. SUV's, one-handed while they happily knaw-away at an artisan chicken wing while swerving around pedestrians in the parking lot of the local Mariano's supermarket like I saw in Lake Zurich IL yesterday. :confused2:
