How about those gas prices? I’ll admit, when the clock struck midnight on Dec. 31, I didn’t imagine such a dramatic increase in fuel prices, but part of the personal effect is truly my own doing. Two cars that run on high-octane, woe is me and all that. However, if you don’t have a place to charge at home or can’t justify an electric car, what about something conventionally fuelled yet exceptionally efficient? As CBS 8 San Diego reported, one man did just that by transplanting the engine from a pressure washer into a Power Wheels Barbie Dream Camper.
See, while a Power Wheels in stock form is a low-cost EV, you probably aren’t going to be keeping up with traffic on 12-volt power alone. Sure, juicing one up with some spicy LiPo batteries and a suitable controller lets your kid learn to powerslide, but then you’re a bit limited on capacity. A single Milwaukee M18 battery usually has what, five amp-hours? That’s where small-displacement internal combustion comes in. It might not be as green as electricity, but it’s cheap, and Mali Hightower of Ellenwood, Ga., has made it work.
Granted, there isn’t much Barbie Dream Camper left here. Hightower seems to have sliced the bottom out of the Power Wheels, installed a tubular frame with a solid rear axle, and connected a single-cylinder engine to said rear axle using what appears to be a chain drive. In essence, this is a proper go-kart that looks like a children’s toy, and there’s something wonderful about that.
Shenanigans in go-karts are top-tier stuff. When I was a kid, I first learned to do feint entries in a pig-rich-running theme park go-kart, along with sending it in for an overtake from way far back, and general try-hard stuff that would be frowned upon in most establishments not staffed by teenagers. Is the thought of taking something so small on the road mildly terrifying, given your melon’s at the height of an F-150’s center cap? Sure, but Hightower’s machine has seat belts, so other than unclear highway legality, what could possibly go wrong?
Plus, this DIY rig doesn’t seem spartan. As Hightower told Reuters, “I started with a go-kart, then I found the Power Wheels frames, and then just kind of went to upgrading it from there as far as making the motor bigger and faster, adding lights, music, a tablet screen, everything that you would pretty much see in a real regular car.”
It’s a bit like a McLaren F1, when you think about it. Composite bodywork, central driving position, engine behind the driver, a certain degree of lightweighting … that’s about it, but really, isn’t that all you need? Tiny tank, cheap fill-ups, all in a package that looks like immense fun. Maybe DIY microcars are going to get us through this fuel squeeze. If we all build one, they can’t catch all of us.
Top graphic images: YouTube/CBS 8 San Diego
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