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Home > Story

Ariel Atom Replica Spotted in Nor Cal

By: Rob Einaudi

Posted On: 11/30/2010 8:30AM

66Mope

Saw this parked in front of a fraternity on Stanford University campus last week. A quick web search turned up details on the build on Make. It's definitely the same car, and one of a kind:

This is the final result of 15 months and at least 800 hours of work in the garage. This is not counting time spent designing, ordering parts, negotiating prices, etc.

The car was built from scratch. The engine is an Acura k20a3 from an RSX. It sounds awesome. Special thanks for the Make community for inspiring the maker spirit in me. Building stuff yourself is a much better way to be a citizen than senseless consumption. The car has a good amount of junk (recycled stuff) in it. The stainless panels all came from old appliances. The black body panels came from an ancient kayak and an old doghouse. The throttle pedal was made entirely from salvaged parts from a dumpster at an engineering firm around town. Of course, the engine was also recycled from a crashed car.

It's a blast to drive. 0-60: 4.5 seconds MPG: 35+ miles per gallon The best part: the bizarre looks I get from random strangers.

Pretty cool project. More pics after the jump!

Comments (8)

	By: Mbeezy3405 11/30/2010 9:06 AM man even a little fender bender and you could be seriously injured in that thing. Cool project nonetheless and great philosophy. "Building stuff yourself is a much better way to be a citizen than senseless consumption." I wish more people had this thought process instead of buying the millions of clone cars we all see and hate, or atleast i hate seeing 50 ford focus' on the road in one trip.

	By: 66Mope 11/30/2010 9:26 AM Agree. Safer than a motorcycle, but... Still, the guy who built it has major talent.

	By: Reekesh 11/30/2010 9:47 AM Awesome, there may be some issues regarding safety but hell that project car is awesome. I wouldn't mind having it in my garage for weekends trips :) Hats off

	By: jond91 11/30/2010 11:08 AM To the one that built this: Great work, this thing looks awesome! You put a good amount of time and work into this and it paid off, props to you

	By: GTwildfire 11/30/2010 5:14 PM Brilliant.

	By: ___nes___ 11/30/2010 6:14 PM I hope it handles just as well if not better.

	By: ilovethestig 11/30/2010 7:06 PM i was gone say it looks a little sketchy especially the...and then radle off all the parts that looked a little shaky...but i realized it was most of the car....but no matter what for a home built car done by hand id have to say these guys/ guys is my f***in heros...i wish i had the money and time to do something like this....and a ka20...it must be sooooo fast....these guys are ridiculous.... 10 points

	By: gold94corolla 11/30/2010 8:40 PM Sweet. Who doesn't wish they had the time, money, talent, etc to build this?

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