Saturday, April 05, 2008

Pedal powered 'Flintstone car'

Here is a neat YouTube video of a car modified to be pedaled.

Part four-seater bicycle, part work of art, this makeshift Buick Regal has:
  • no engine
  • no transmission
  • no floor
  • no signal lights
  • in place of headlights... tea light-candle headlights
  • the whole thing is entirely propelled by pedal power
With top speeds reaching no more than 15 km/hr, the vehicle uses traditional bicycle handbrakes.

The pedalers on the left control the propulsion on the left side, and the same goes for the two pedalers on the right. Should one side break earlier than the other, the car would pivot and turn.

The "Shared Propulsion Car" was on exhibit at the Mercer Union Centre for Contemporary Art on October 24. The work was supposed to make a statement about consumption. The following day, it made a statement about heck of a lot more. Dean Baldwin and three others took the vehicle for an impromptu test-drive in Toronto, Canada and got pulled over and ticketed for operating an unsafe vehicle. (See video)

However, without a clear definition of what the vehicle even is or what law applies to its altered state, the charges were dropped.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Tall Pines said...

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Best of luck in your search through life.