Open source project gives cars the Ikea treatment

A successful demo-build video, in which a flat-pack gets turned into a driveable chassis in 41 minutes, has focussed attention on an open-source car project, OSVehicle. The project, which first went public last October, has several aims: vehicle makers could build and ship the kit car as a flat pack with their own individual …

[Anonymous Coward]

So it's a kit car then?

Anyone that has built one will tell you the basic bit, i.e. what they have there is not that hard, it the electrics and the finish that's the real pain in the arse. Then of course are the "tweaks" i.e. you want a Ford Ecotech and not the VVTi, you want PFC brakes and not EBC brakes.....

The fun of making you own car is the fact it's NOT stock build and is unique and with it, being unique, means it will cause you some grief.

[Khaptain]

Return to the 70s

That looks an awful lot like a moon buggy, I had a toy one as a kid. With the plans I can now build my own, who knows, today my back yard, tommorrow the moon.......

(Cmon a man has to dream as well you know)

[jubtastic1]

Open source kit car

Looks like you could have fatalities by coliding with a speed bump, other than that, great idea, carry on chaps.

[John Smith 19]

OSVehicle.

Built by OSCorp?

I fear this could end badly.

[Graham Marsden]

Flat pack...?

So you'll end up with bits that don't quite fit properly, holes that don't line up and, when you've finished, you have a bag full of miscellaneous screws, bolts and other fittings which don't appear to be part of what you've just been building...

[UncleDave]

Re: Flat pack...?

Perfect for my DIY abilities then.

[Chris King]

Re: Flat pack...?

Not to mention three separate sets of instructions, none of which actually match the parts list or the item you're trying to build.

[Christoph]

Street legal?

For a start I can't see the roll-over bar.

[TopOnePercent]

Old hat

This has effectively been done decades ago - Ron Champion wrote a book about building your own sports car from scratch, which forms the basis of the Locost chassis and vehicle design.

Chris Gibbs updated the book recently to bring in modern chassis developments (spaceframe) and more options for donor car.

[Jan 0]

Re: Old hat

By "modern", do you mean the 1930s? How old is Ron Champion's book?

Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion car was one of the first spaceframe vehicles. Lotus was using spaceframes in the 50s and by the 70s even Ford was using them. IIRC Hannu Mikkola's Escort had a space frame hidden under the bodywork - unlike the Ford Marketing Department's design sold as the "Escort Mexico".

[Anomalous Cowturd]

Re: Old hat

My father was involved in the Africar project in the early eighties. Cars that were originally planned to have a stainless steel chassis, with wooden panels.

Channel 4 made a series about it.

Plus ca change.

[Roger Houghton]

Re: Old hat

"Whatever happened to the Africar?"

http://eandt.theiet.org/magazine/2013/05/interview-tony-howarth.cfm