If ever there was a guy I was destined, humbled and privileged to meet it is Friend Wood. He drove from Pembrokeshire to Fife in a car he made from wood. Body, chassis, fuel tank everything bar the engine and suspension was made from wood. The engine was a recycled from a 2CV.

He had an accident in it years back, it barrel rolled a few times, the engine was ejected and left on the road. It was built with a timber roll cage, Friend unclipped the five point racing harness and walked away. It survived largely in tact, he rebuilt the damaged areas and put it back on the road. A truly sustainable vehicle.

Many of the construction processes are identical to those on a boat or aeroplane. He took me for a spin in it this morning. It’s really airy, it weighs very little and the aero shape has no drag. Acceleration and braking are instant with so little inertia. You could feel the acceleration in neural coasting downhill.

Twenty five years old and its still going strong. It’s range on a single gallon of fuel is 140 miles, handy when every stop to refill draws a crowd with the same 100 questions. Inspired and endorsed by Frank Costin (he described the Tryane I as a parachute) , Friend designed and built the car from scratch. The world needs more Friends.

https://picasaweb.google.com/113038090087066024057/FriendWoodSTryaneII#

He won’t remember but met him 20-odd years ago at the Neatwork events in Coldstream – the car is stunning up close, he also had a wooden recumbent bike I think.

Beautiful. And to think that Volswagen have spent millions getting a car ( the XL1) to market that, admittedly, will get a claimed 300 odd miles to the gallon, but will cost and arm and a leg to buy.

They should have asked Friend for some input 😆

Ben, he said he remembered the events there, he still has his King Cycle, we went for a spin with him on it, he was uncatchable. I should add that he brought the King Cycle with its rear fairing up with him in the car.

He’s still building Velomobiles, as you say they are probably more elegant.

http://www.recumbentblog.com/2010/03/31/friend-wood-wooden-velomobile-mkii/

Fantastic,what a brilliant project.
Those door hinges and steering wheel are awesome. 🙂

My neighbour!

That velomobile almost makes recumbents acceptable!

I heard that 😀

That’s beautiful – the little gaping mouth/air intake is adorable 🙂

That’s lovely.

Some things I love in wood, some wood accents on vehicles but I am going to be the first to say it but I don’t find it attractive! I appreciate the skill and engineering in wood to make it, and I can’t put my finger on it exactly why not! Maybe it’s the wood, now those motorboats made in similar fashion….don’t ask me what they are called are stunning.

Riva