Meet the MAX: Homemade biodiesel-powered Lotus Seven replica
Generally speaking, purchasing an eco-friendly automobile is an expensive proposition. One way to reduce that cost is by going homemade. Such is the case with Jack McCormack from Kinetic Vehicles, who decided that he would love to have fun, practical, affordable and high-mileage two seater under $10 grand.
The resulting car is called the MAX: Mother's Automotive eXperiment. Although the initial goal was to reach the 100 mpg mark set for the Auto X Prize, the resulting car turned out to be a little far from this objective and was totaled in an accident. Thankfully, nobody was seriously injured.
McCormack has rebuilt the car and hopes to accomplish the X Prize target with a custom-built streamlined body on a Locost chassis, a 32-horsepower three-cylinder diesel engine from Kubota, old Toyota Corolla parts and plenty of custom bits and pieces. The car is driven either with diesel, biodiesel or SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil). You can read the complete story at his site. We wish McCormack the best!
[Source: Kinetic Vehicles]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
PabloKoh 10:13AM (9/25/2009)
I was just looking at this last night on Mother Earth News. I had hoped they would have a slick new body for that car.
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Aaron 12:02PM (9/25/2009)
Aerodynamics does matter, especially when working with these 100+MPG vehicles. Granted, this car has a very small frontal area, but those giant fenders can't help things...