over the past year or so numerous wooden cars, some far more successful than others, have been appearing on the intertubes and seeing as i’m a sucker for wooden vehicles in general i thought it my duty to bring you a collection of the best that i’ve seen. the amount of effort and skill required to even craft a wooden door handle surpasses any possessed by myself.

the tryane II

first of all, the guy that built this wooden beauty goes by the name of ‘friend wood’, a fact that in itself deserves a round of applause. then there’s the car. using a technique called ‘cold-moulding’, wood has managed to build an incredible mahogany covered car over the space of 2000 hours, and it even has a wooden chassis. amazingly the 3-wheeler can reach a top speed of 101mph despite owning the engine of a citreon 2cv. read more here.

the maniwa wooden supercar

japanese furniture maker sada kenbei co ltd decided to show off their carpentry skills last year when they produced this ‘wooden supercar’, a vehicle which somehow doesn’t deserve the ’super’ part of its name when compared to the splinter seen below, even though it still looks the business. valued at $32′000, the car can reach a respectable 50mph. there’s a video clip of the supercar in action below.

the wooden cadillac

here’s an example of a handcrafted masterpiece. jerry nickel spent 4 years building this beast after retiring from his waste collection career. the car is powered by 2 cadillac v8 engines - one for the front wheels, one for the rear - and materials used to build the car inlude 4183 hand-cut pieces of wood, 5 gallons of glue, 4 gallons of varnish and 60 pounds of drywall screws. the resulting vehicle is absolutely stunning. more info here.

the splinter

joe harmon is making what truly deserves the title ‘wooden supercar’. when completed the ’splinter’ will have a top speed of 240mph and a level of detail which is truly astounding. the easiest and most enjoyable way to learn about the project is to, a) watch the video below, b) visit the official site of the splinter here where you’ll find loads of photos and renderings, and c) visit this construction diary, updated most days. truly epic.

the two-face of wooden cars

vasily lazarenko is a madman, but in a good way. one day he decided he was going to build a car from oak, that alone being a difficult task, but with a twist. he wanted it split down the middle, enabling a different body style on each half. clearly mental but at one with a plane, ukranian lazarenko even quit his job to get it done without distraction. the end-product is exactly what you’d expect from the brief. a wooden car with a split-personality. more info at spluch. watch the car in action below.

extras

i just wanted to mention the next 2 vehicles even though they aren’t cars. one’s a wooden car-shaped boat and one’s a wooden motorcycle. they’re both fascinating. for more info click here for the boat and here for the bike.