Splinter - The Wooden Supercar

AW: What has been some of your inspiration behind the design of the Splinter? It looks a bit like a hybrid Lamborghini to me (but I'm not that much of a car buff).

JH: "I looked at a lot of nature references while I was designing the body of the car. Falcons and other birds of prey were the things I looked at the most. Since I have been slobbering over cars since I was about 5 years old, I don’t doubt that there are elements from some the cars that influenced me over the years, but these are all subliminal and unintentional. Since we were building the car for ourselves, I was extremely fortunate in that I could design the car to look exactly the way I wanted it to look, rather than having to please someone else."

AW: I assume that most of the power train and some of the other parts will be other than wood. Are there any parts that have been specifically difficult to create from wood?

JH: "Most parts are more of a challenge to design out of wood rather than to build. There are some exceptions, but, for the most part, the difficulty is in making sure everything is designed to be strong enough and as light as possible. The wheels are probably the part that interest most people specifically. They weren’t necessarily the most difficult part, but people seem to respond to them the most because they can relate to what part a wheel is on their car. Some obscure chassis piece that may have been a very technically complex part to mold doesn’t generate the same kind of interest, understandably."

While I'm sure that Joe is anxious to complete the Splinter, they're obviously taking their time to make sure every part is right. After all, when there are literally millions of parts all working in harmony with the power and torque of six-hundred horses at the helm, one has to be a bit concerned about how well those parts will truly hold up the first time he gets behind the wheel.

Is he at all concerned about the first test drive?

As he was quoted in the Delta/Porter Cable press release on the project, "That will be an anxious moment. We figure every part has about a 99 percent chance of working right the first time, so, with 10 million parts, we expect to have to iron out a few wrinkles. We’ll definitely go slow and see what happens from there... I think my dog will be the first passenger.”

To follow Joe's progress, and to see upwards of 1000 photos on the project, visit the Splinter website at www.joeharmondesign.com. You can also check out Delta's coverage of the Splinter project (including a cool monthly journal covering the progress) on the Delta/Porter-Cable website.