The Maniwa Supercar - Stylish, Powerful, and Made of Wood

In brief: This Japanese car is street legal and is made almost entirely of wood.

Vehicle in the news

Make/Model: Maniwa
Manufacturer: Sada-kenbi

The word

The entire car, from the frame to the seats, is made of wood. Right down to the wooden hubcaps.

The steering column is made up from a Honda scooter (no word on which model) and the 175cc engine powers the vehicle up to 80km/h (about 35mph, or neighborhood electric street-legal in Japan). The Maniwa seats three: a driver and two passengers.

It's a three wheeled car and the video below shows the design iterations the designer/builder, Sada-kimbi (a furniture maker), went through before perfecting it - based roughly on his favorite Lamborghini.

A smaller, pedal-powered version is available for children while the full-sized machine sells for $44,000USD.

Here's video of the Maniwa in action (Japanese language):

And so ...

How can you go wrong with killer styling like this? The faux solar panels under the front windscreen don't hurt either.

Photo credits: Sada-kembi