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
It even shows him going to the gas station…it’s still not street legal and unsafe. Everyone is praising him while he’s breaking the law
Yes, I’ve been seeing this on Youtube for a few days now. Various local news puff pieces and other broad/podcasters recycling from those clips. Not one mention about how he’s driving an ICE vehicle on public roads without legal registration or insurance, which is required for all motor vehicles on public roads.
Sure, it’s cute: a grown man in a Barbie gokart, but wtf? Same w/all the young guys riding quads and dirt bikes on public streets, and with e-bike users w/amped-up bikes, some of which are capable of exceeding 60 MPH. I regularly see quads, dirt bikes, and a seemingly infinite number of different e-bikes around LA, as well as some golf cart-type things too, some having four or even six seats. All on public roadways. All without visible license plates, thus unlikely to be registered or insured.
It’s more than a little irksome. I’d like to save thousands a year in registration fees, smog testing, repairs needed when testing fails, and of course, car insurance. But I don’t skip any of that because it’s required by law. Maybe I’m the crazy one and all these other guys are right: just do whatever you want, laws be damned. 🙁
Yeah, that is frustrating. Luckily, I hardly ever see that where I live even though there are still the usual dumb distracted drivers like anywhere. With most everything, I try not to let it get to me since it’s out of my control; but it’s just something that I’ve noticed. Everyone is quick to praise stuff like this and if you say anything otherwise, you are not “cool” or they come up w/ some stupid reason to justify it. Most people see stuff like this and similar as “no big deal” and think they are special. They bend the laws, then don’t recognize how it, like anything in public, still affects everyone else even though it’s not always directly. It just goes to show how selfish and self centered these people are. It just goes to show the TYPE of people there are so many of these days. People can say anything they want, but they will never get away from the type of person they are, their actions, and the consequences of their actions. Actions speak louder than words.
Anyway, enough rambling and more funny stuff! Yeah, this dude just looks like a goofy doofus on this thing! Yeah, ya go to the gas station to fill up a miniscule gas tank. I guess he’s never heard of a gas can! Ha ha
“Ya big dummy!”
-Fred Sanford
Yes, I do try not to sweat too much about things beyond my control (which is almost everything in this universe). Then I think about how much pollution (relative to displacement) is coming out of that little weed-whacker motor in his Barbie minicar and I get irked again. 😉
There is a local guy that I assume has a DUI that gets around via a skateboard and a weed wacker with a propeller to pull him along. His techniques for braking are pretty impressive. I’d say he goes about 25mph and gets up to speed quick.
This is stupid. He would be much better off buying an electric bicycle.
https://electrek.co/2026/05/03/here-are-the-best-electric-bikes-you-can-buy-at-every-price-level/
Literal LOL on that one!
His name is Hightower and he had to remove the front seats?
Police Academy
That’s a man with a vision. Identify the market, prototype the solution, and mass production is next. While I’m not in for a Barbie camper, he said “Jeep”, so I think he’s got something else in the works that I could be interested in.
I think I prefer Grind Hard’s Barbie Camper: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL5hF_waT6s7jOeIfi0Yff80mZiLURe_P
So what’s the MPG?
I couldn’t find that. I’m guessing based on the mass/aerodynamics, somewhere around 70-100 mpg.
Which isn’t much, considering 500+ mpg is perfectly possible in a more enclosed/aerodynamic/practical vehicle.
So a Barbie Aerostdream?
I didn’t realize the Citroen 2CV came in pink.
What I love about this site is seeing off the wall and strange builds. This one did not disappoint, and I appreciate the video link included.
Mine is legally a “bicycle”.
https://i.imgur.com/Jpc9dQq.jpg
I still need to make a roll cage for it, add a safety harness, and build an aerodynamic body. Right now with a 1.8 kWh battery, I get about 50 miles range cruising 30-35 mph. It used to be a trike with a body, and the same battery pack used to give it a 150-200 mile range in the same operating conditions, and I expect my next body to be a lot more slippery because the front wheels will no longer be outboard, but partially enclosed by the shell.
By the time I’m done with it, it will look like a cross between a Stanguellini Colibri and an Auto Union Type C V16 streamliner, except miniaturized, and done up with a Mad Max meets witchcraft/occult aesthetic. I even have a Baphomet statue waiting to become a hood ornament.
Related: There was a goth girl in my neighborhood that used a crucified Barbie doll as a hood ornament on her handed down Mercedes.
That’s awesome. Do you know what kind of Mercedes?
I THINK it was a W123 but it might have been a W114. This was the 80’s and the girl lived many blocks away.
Either is a fine choice, especially if it’s black. Bonus points if diesel.
IIRC it was a tan or light yellow. Dunno if it was a diesel. It was clearly a handed down car so you takes what you gets and make it yours as best you can.
As I said I didn’t know her or the family at all but in my imaginings she was the angry, semi estranged daughter of a sleazy, morally bankrupt evangelical mega church pastor and his alcoholic, slutty wife. They fought a lot behind closed doors and did their best to forget about their Goth daughter who was clearly doing everything she could to get their attention, good or bad. Thankfully Goth girl had grandparents who did not ignore her but they had passed, leaving her the Mercedes. Out of respect for their memory she kept the changes to it minor and reversible.
Goth girl would have preferred to have mounted the crucifix upside down but THAT would have crossed the line for mom and dad. Goth girl was on the edge of being kicked out as it was.
Again this may or may not have been the case but it would have not been out of character for the neighborhood.
A beige W123 would work as well. One made an appearance in the Sisters of Mercy music video for the song “Dominion”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FrxFYfNNe0
At least he’s having fun!
Weird headline but awesome car.
I would have gone with “some geniuses” it makes me so happy when people get mad at that headline.
This right here is why I visit this site daily.
The exhaust heatshield on the rear door is just perfection.
Also whoever wrote the script for that CBS segment did the announcer dirty. “A 2 gallon, 1 piston engine” is an odd way to describe what he did.
It had me imagining a thumper with the displacement of a ’67 Continental’s V8 (or a pair of Buick 3800s, if you prefer) and just what that might sound like.
A twin-supercharged W12 of 3800s would be reliably glorious…
While it’s not a thumper, the Fiat S76 (aka the Beast of Turin) is a 28.3L inline 4. Each piston displaces 7.1L, or ~1.9 gal.
If anyone is unfamiliar with it, here’s how it sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As_63QMoCig
The Beast is absolutely one of my favorite insane old race cars. It was built for top speed not race courses. Watching it slither around the curves at Goodwood is fun, but it’s really best out on the motorway, dusting modern cars and belching flame.
Awesome! Thanks for the video link.
1 gallon = 232 cubic inches so 2 gallons = 464 cubic inches, as we used to say.