It's probably one of the most unique custom cars I've seen in that it isn't based on any particular car, and was actually built by a west-coast boat builder in 1959. Check it out, it looks like a cross between a rat rod, farm tractor, and so on. And according to VisualNews, the roadster was created based on the article in the September 1956 issue of Mechanix Illustrated magazine.
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| 1959 All-Wooden Speedball Special Roadster. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1YgBrd) |
As reported by Hemmings Daily, the Standard Catalog, as faulty and full of holes as it is, actually has an entry on the Speedball Special. They have it listed as a 1956 Buckboard, though they note that "it may have been known as the Bruce or Bruce Buckboard." That would be because they say a Donald S. Bruce designed the car. They list the manufacturer as Automotive Associates Co. in White Plains, New York.
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| Left side view of 1959 All-Wooden Speedball Special Roadster. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1YgBrd) |
Here's the result: a modified version of the Speedball Special. The car is equipped with an impossibly rare 1952 Ariel Square Four motorcycle motorcycle engine and transmission and that the suspension was taken from a Citroen of the era, except lights, guages, etc., the rest was all hand fabricated.
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| Rear side view of 1959 All-Wooden Speedball Special Roadster. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1YgBrd) |
A smooth-running four-cylinder 1,000 cc engine able to push out about 42 hp. That might not seem like much, but when driving the sequential four-speed and with a weight of only a mere 750 lbs this little wooden car has got to be a rocket. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | HEMMINGS DAILY | VISUALNEWS | JALOPNIK]
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