North Carolina man spent 20,000 hours building a fully functional supercar entirely out of wood that's a total engineering masterpiece
Published on Jun 05, 2026 at 4:08 AM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on Jun 05, 2026 at 4:08 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Mason Jones
In a feat of engineering brilliance, a man from North Carolina created a fully functional supercar out of wood.
Fittingly named Splinter, this supercar was a true labor of love, as graduate student Joe Harmon invested 20,000 hours into the project.
And don’t be fooled into thinking this is a mere art project either – Splinter can go up to 200 miles per hour.
Wood you believe it?
This man created a supercar out of wood – but it’s no artifact
The idea came to Harmon in 2006 while he was studying industrial design at North Carolina State University.
He started making his dream car a reality in mid-2008, toiling over nights and weekends.
All in all, it took 20,000 hours to complete over a seven year period.
The end product is a car that weighs in at 2,500 pounds, making it heavier than a Mini Cooper – though admittedly, that’s not saying much.
A stat that really does make you sit up and pay attention is its reported top speed of 200mph.
Besides the Cadillac Northstar V8, the transaxle and a few connecting parts, this whole car is wooden.
20 different types of wood were incorporated into the design, with a cherry wood making up the body and maple, oak, hickory, and ash contributing towards the chassis and the suspension.
‘What about the wheels?’ we hear you ask.
Each one is made up of 300 individual components, including aluminum outer shells and a wooden center section.
“When we finished the wheels, I didn’t think there was any way we’d ever finish the rest of the car because the wheels took a long time,” Harmon recalled.
Why don’t more manufacturers make their cars out of wood?
On the face of it, it sounds like it’d be a cool idea, right?
After all, wood has served interiors for years, so why not the outside?
The reason why carmakers aren’t leaping at this is simple – it’s too time consuming to prepare timber composites, and the supply would never meet demand.
That’s not forgetting the environmental costs – a whole fleet of wooden cars would leave the Lorax inconsolable.
So for now, Splinter remains a total one-off and maybe it’s better that it stays that way.
It turns out that you can make a car out of pretty much anything
There are really no limits to human creativity.
When you’ve got someone who thinks outside of the box, the sky really is the limit and plenty of people have proven that with their car creations.
A teenager from Nigeria has made not one but two Lamborghini replicas, one out of metal and out of cardboard.
And in a true demonstration of skill, one man transformed a scrapyard Nissan Maxima while spending barely anything.
Creatives of the world, we salute you.
Ben joined Supercar Blondie in February 2025 after being published by international organizations including LADbible, The Sun, the New York Post, and the Daily Mail. He covers supercars, rare and collectible vehicles, aviation, luxury assets, and the fascinating people behind them. His reporting has explored everything from seven-figure supercars and historic Ferrari collections to unusual aircraft adventures and extraordinary automotive discoveries from around the world. Ben has also gained first-hand insight into vehicle craftsmanship and customization, including visiting specialist workshops to see bespoke vehicles up close.
