As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a very fortunate man, for a wide variety of reasons: my family; Nissan Pao ownership; the existence of such a wide and varied array of canned and preserved fish; all you wonderful Autopians; the way that green dense floral foam stuff feels when you push on it with your fingers; and, significantly, the fact that we have Autopian contributor Emily Velasco out in the world finding interesting cars and sending me the pictures.
This most recent find is one of my favorites, because it feels like an idea that may have flitted through almost all of our minds at one point or another, only to be dismissed as a terrible, terrible idea: building a crappy wooden body for a car, an idea that usually occurs sometime between wrecking your car and realizing how huge your insurance deductible is.
We’ve had a few stories about wooden cars before, but what all of those had in common was that the woodworker-builders were extremely skilled and talented. This one, I think maybe less so. That’s not to disparage it, of course: the fact it was built at all is a testament to, um, something. But this does look a like the sort of wood construction that I suspect pretty much any of us could be capable of, given enough time and booze
There’s a lot of interesting design choices going on here in this what looks to be mostly plywood car. Those suicide, rear-hinged doors, for example. That somewhat Seussified, whimsical shape of the upper A-pillar. The carpet (?) roof, the practical pickup bed with the external fenders, the running boards, all of it.
It looks like it once sported some fancy LED headlamps, which are now dangling by their optic nerves:
There also appears to be a nice layer of varnish on the wood that really brings out the grain, which almost gives it a leopard-skin effect.
Okay, but what was this car before being re-skinned in sliced tree meat? Looking at the engine, I think we have some clues:
That plastic intake manifold sure looks familiar. Where have I seen that before?
In our ill-fated NV200 Taxi! There are a few differences, but all of the key stuff looks to be in the same place: that intake manifold, the ECU, that fuse box, alternator, battery (not present in the wood car, but its spot is filled by what looks like a can of starting fluid), and so on. The four-lug wheels rule out another NV200 van as the platform, but this engine was used in Sentras – so this could have been a 2007 or so Sentra with the 2.0-liter four MR20DE engine.
I could be wrong, and I’m absolutely curious to hear your guesses. But even more, I’d love to know the story behind the Plywood Prowler here. What motivated this? Was it a case of a wrecked Sentra and a dream? What was this thing like to drive? Where did that windshield come from – was it the rear window of a pickup? Were all the panels flapping around, or did it hold together?
Emily said she’ll check back and see if she can talk to the owner/builder. I hope she finds him, because I have so many questions.
I have no idea what what this based on, but I’m pretty sure the Slate EV was based on it.
Based on what you said and 4-lug wheels, it is Sentra circa 2000s
More weirdness like this, please. New car reviews? Eh. Homemade shitmobiles? Big yes.
Its clearly Sequoia based.
That’s a very Poplar answer. I find myself Pine-ing for this vehicle which is oak-y dokey for my needs.
I cedar myself out.
Is this the first Slate development mule?
Hammerhead Eagle I-Thrust!!!
i3
Just gotta keep 1 mph ahead of the termites!!!
Looks like someone put wheels on Calvin’s transmogrifier
Hey, look at that, a Plyber Truck.
I made that joke during our Monday pitch meeting when this truck was brought up. 🙂
Story of my life: a day late and a dollar short.
Are you me?
Wood you guys be serious for a change? I mean we can all lumber about thinking about poor puns. But if we try to see the Forest through the trees we can cedar a better future. So quit laying about pining for a better future and plank god we are oak A in the current world where we can take a syc a more time and smell the roses.
complete it for me yall:
Aint know this truck,
It is a stranger.
Aint know that truck,
that’s a ________ ___________ Danger!
Splinter Fucking.
It’s clearly Mater.
“Why did you put wooden suicide doors on it?”
“I guess it just fits the theme of the car.”
“Wood?”
“No, suicide.”
I was thinking Sentra, as well! The engine, plus the 4-lug wheels, it just gave me that feeling.
Had you said nothing at all, I think I would have assumed this was the Maverick refresh and not some kind of homebuilt creation. Tariffs are tough, guys.
“Tree meat” made me snort.
I don’t know, but it looks funded by Jeff Bezos.
Why don’t we see more Jeff Bozos jokes?
This really begs the following question:
How much wood could a wood truck chuck if a wood truck could chuck wood?
How many Lowes could a Rob Lowe rob if a Rob Lowe could rob Lowes?
Si Pancha plancha con cuatras planchas, con cuantas planchas Pancha plancha?
4?
You are correct, sir!
Who said I’d never get any use out of my college Spanish class?
Desafortunadamente solo aprendà a hablar tonterÃas.
What I can figure out from these photos is that every state needs to have mandatory safety inspections.
“Pardon me, what wood stain do you use on your car? And is that polyurethane or lacquer?”
Owner: Look who I got to design the new body for my car! Giorgetto Giugiaro!
Owner’s wife: He doesn’t look like…
Geppetto: He’s paying me $800. Just go with it.
Log makes a great front bumper! It’s big, it’s heavy, it’s wood. It’s better than bad, it’s good.
What rolls down stairs
Alone or in pairs
Rolls over your neighbor’s dog?
What’s great for a snack
and fits on your back?
People laughed at me when I paid too much for that shrimp boat.
That wheel fit makes me scared of what will happen when it hits a pothole.
Love that ‘leopard skin’ finish! Reminds me of the dappled bottom of a pool in the sunshine, like in a Hockney painting.
If I had $$$ to fritter about on various automotive whims, I’d like to have a car wrapped in a whale shark pattern: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=whale+shark+skin&t=opera&ia=images&iax=images
Ugh these engines are hateful. I have a friend with one that was misfiring. No big deal on most engines, just swap the coils and plugs in 10 minutes. But on these, you get to buy a new intake manifold gasket and throttle body gasket, and pull about a dozen extra bolts and multiple components out to even get to the plugs, including the entire intake manifold. Friend didn’t have the budget to replace the coils, so I spent an hour and a half doing all that mess for spark plugs just to have to redo the entire job again 3 months later when the coils gave out.
The intake box on this doesn’t line up exactly with the Versa, so could be a Sentra, but doubt this is based on anything larger given the 4-lug wheels. That said, this is absolutely an MR18 or MR20 from not much later than 2012 at the latest based on the intake manifold design.
EDIT: Actually no, I was wrong, I’m fairly confident this is versa based. The airbox I was going off of was the NV, not the hacked up engine bay of the car in question, and that is absolutely the same but butchered airbox from the MR18DE, including the battery you have to remove to do spark plugs. Yeah I forgot to mention, the BATTERY on the far right side of the engine bay has to come out to pull the airbox, which clears space to pull the throttle body, which blocks a blind bolt that supports the intake manifold, which completely covers access to the spark plugs. These engines suck.
Yeah it looks versa to me too. I agree they are hateful little things basically the 1.6 to to the 2.5 all have those issues. Along with the maf. I think the French got in the the electronics. The part store parts don’t really do the job I’ve found random eBay parts from Florida seem to work on but also hit and miss. Some people swear up and down you need oem but I’ve gone that route and hasn’t really helped.
I’d venture it’s a Balsa.
Could be a pinesolsa
I can confidently assert that the engine would be the least of your worries in that conveyance.