Project Streetliner is the screwball idea of designer and brandgineer Nathaniel Salzman. It’s not a business venture, nor a contender for the Automotive X Prize. It’s simply an exploration of what one determined person can accomplish in their spare time with a bit of ingenuity and a lot of help from people on the internet.
I’m deeply inspired by people like Burt Munro and the Wright brothers — seemingly ordinary people who did extraordinary things. They weren’t experts or professionals, but through rigorous effort and sheer ingenuity, they did remarkable things. I don’t actually think that this project is anything extraordinary in and of itself, except that it’s a level of tinkering and garage ingenuity that we seem to have lost touch with these days. Tell the person in the cubicle next to you that you’re headed home to build a three wheel car and they’ll look at you like you have three heads. It wasn’t so long ago that they’d be likely to loan you their cutting torch. Maybe I watched too much MacGyver as a kid or too much Mythbusters as an adult, but either way, I’m excited about this little gonzo engineering project and even more excited that it’s going to involve people from all over the world. But most of all, I’m excited to be making something rather than consuming it – adding something to the world that wasn’t quite there before.
—Nathaniel Salzman
I don’t know if you’ve ever looked at the CycleCart site. (somehow I’m guessing you know this since I think I found it through one of the Mini sites). Its not the same thing as what you are doing here, but it has the same kind of build it yourself kind of spirit and I think a lot of lessons to learn.
They are small home built cars, in the spirit of classic racing cars, powered by chainsaw motors and wheeled with motorcycle cast-offs. They are inspired by CycleCars which were a class of small racing cars powered by motorcycle engines.
http://www.stevproj.com/Carz/CycleKart.html
Actually no, I hadn’t seen this! Thanks for the share. This is the biggest reason that I wanted to get this project moved to a WP install: the collaboration. Tumblr has very very limited support for any kind of discussion and that’s what I want most for this project. Thanks for stopping by!