Hi, Just watched the video, thank you for being so complementary about my car ( his name is Fouie) A couple of small comments, there is no metal or fibre glass sub structure under the wood other than the two mini subframes, they are joined by 18mm marine ply box sections not fibreglass. The steering column is Triumph Dolomite and you missed the Ford Capri bits. It was great fun to build and own and it has always been head turner. Fouie has never been very quick, a little engine is working hard as Fouie weight is one and a half times more than a standard mini. Great video about a great little car. Angie
@Herbert Norkus The concept was the challenge to make a decent looking car from inexpensive flat sheet stock as a homebuilt. You can't get the kind of surface-crowning you can get from die-stamped sheet metal, molded composites, or similar. William "Bill" Towns was a talented Industrial Designer. This car looks remarkably good for something made of those materials. Some people may notice that the front fascia appears concave. It isn't. It's flat. That's a flaw in human visual perception. FMI "Hustler" Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustler_(car)
I was thinking the same exact thing! Back in the day of wooden warships, you were more likely to get injured or die from the splinters that fly out when a cannon ball strikes, rather than the cannon ball itself.
@@mauropereira187 Yup - there's a reason why new tram cars no longer have timber frames - if the ash frames of the olden days actually split in an accident they usually killed people! Plywood panels on a steel frame are probably quite a bit less dangerous though.
Imagine local speed camera verifier looking at the pictures asking the sarge was there a hurricane that day as a wooden greenhouse just been caught speeding. Love it.
Wow! I remember reading articles about those in the eighties but I've never seen one. That would be the star of any car show. Fantastic. There was a guy who built a car completely out of wood. Wooden body, wooden wheels, even a wooden engine. The only problem was it wooden go. I'll shut the door on my way out. Bye.
I built a Wooden Hustler in 1986 and used it as an everyday car for about ten years. It was built entirely of wood, there was no steel or fibreglass frame to the body. It certainly didn't retain the floor pan from the original car, I don't know where you got that idea from. As I recall there were 86 panels or thereabouts. The Weller wheels were not part of the kit, which was best thought of as plans and glass, although Towns did supply some lights, which weren't specially good quality. I think they were probably trailer lights. I didn't build the instrument panel out very far from the bulkhead as there was a tendency to kick it when getting in and out of the car. I had the switches fitted to a panel on the side. It's certainly true that everyone looked at it and wanted to ask about it. I definitely felt rather like a goldfish in a bowl! The visibility was certainly excellent and it was fun to drive. It did have issues though as it was a lot heavier than a standard body, and the cooling wasn't very good as only about two thirds of the radiator vented to the outside, although a cowling on the top part did help somewhat. I didn't have issues with it rattling though, which you mention several times. As you say, I suspect that few were ever built. I've never seen another one, apart from the prototype and now the one in this video.
@Dan Didnot Not sure if you're American or whatnot, but to a lot of Britons, "Liberals" were a poltical party that existed until the 1980s. As a historian its really hard to hear someone in the UK using the term because I imagine the Victorian Politician they're describing to me would be more puzzled at how a man not in the gentry could afford a horseless carriage.
When you want an Aston-Martin Lagonda (known as The Anteater here in the States) and a woody wagon in the same car, very interesting things can happen!
Screws and rails can rust out just the same. Also, metal subframes and suspension. That’s like, saying you never have to worry about mechanicals of a mini- rusting out
That car is simply incredible. Those "windoors" look like the one my uncle had back in the 80's on his shop's display cabinets. Even the lock! Brilliant video
I’d never heard of this amazing example of British engineering and eccentricity until watching this video. My reaction went from “What on earth is that?” To “Where do I get one?” In the space of about six minutes. The strangest thing is that I live in Moreton in Marsh, where William Towns lived and had his workshop. Makes me proud. Thank you for this lovely dose of education 😊
Wow what can I say? Did expect that, top notch content as usual. Needs to go to a museum so it can be appreciated by all. What a labour of love the couple who built it must of got massive satisfaction from it. Nice one Matt 👍
Can see why it would be popular with a certain market, but not sure I’d use wood considering the warping issues you’d have over time. I like you could create you own car with options for engines, lights, essentially do whatever you wanted.
Full of admiration for the builder, what a top job, one of the best built British cars of the 80's 😉 I recognised the switches, they were our work's car of choice at the time, when was the last time a Strada was seen in the wild?
@@furiousdriving People drive motorcycles. You on average have to drive 8 million miles to kill yourself or one of your passengers, so to most people, crashworthiness is purely theoretical sales pitch. I drive in a car without airbags, lane assist or rear facing camera, and I have to be aware of every vehicle around me all the time. That's the way to be an attentive driver, living on the edge! If you install a sound system in a wooden car, the sound quality must be amazing.
@@Darkest_matter What does the theory test have to do with car construction? And the theory test isn't harder, just different. Back in the '80s the examiner could ask any random question they felt like. No seperate theory test with multiple choice tick boxes, just several questions on the spot, with a pass or fail.
I got the Fiat Strada switches straight away, I remember playing with them in a family friends car in the early 80s. They were very unhappy with their Strada, it gave them endless trouble. Love the fluorescent interior light, it's made by Labcraft. looks like it has outstanding visibility with all that glass!
“Building a car is surprisingly difficult , even when the parts are in front of you”........ I can scarcely manage furniture, when it is in self build form. There are always bits left over.... or bits missing. Mercy Mercy.....
I think this is the first time you've reviewed something I've never even heard of! Such an interesting idea. I think the wiper is from a Citroën Visa, as it lacks the washer tube found on the BX and CX.
@@Ragnar8504 My first car was an 1983 Nissan Prairie, metallic light blue it was. That thing was a beast- we drove it all the way across Australia and back again and it never died. I still have the car key for it
I remember these! Saw a 6 wheeler at a kit car show many years ago - I think that was possibly a woodie too. Fantastic car, you are picking some great vehicles to "go for a drive" with!
I remember that too. I used to attend all the kit car shows like Stoneleigh and Newark back in the day. Had a great time building multiple kit cars and going to the shows.
The front wiper on that car is from a Citroen Visa. My 1982 Visa Super E had exactly the same straight wiper arm and big blade. The rear lights are Triumph Dolomite and the exterior mirrors look very much like standard issue BL door mirrors seen on everything up to the early '80s when they got replaced by cheaper plastic ones that snapped off very easily. Clearly the person that built this one did a lot of parts shopping at their local BL dealer, which makes a lot of sense as, if you're buying a lot of stuff, you can usually wangle a good discount. The front seats in this one are also BL items, as is the steering column, not Mini, as they had the light switch on the dashboard at the time, but Triumph Dolomite again, that rotary light switch was a Triumph-only item, one of very few items not shared across the whole BL family, though I imagine you could use a variety of columns from the BL range to tailor the driving position to best suit you when you were building it... The Hustler 4 wood actually was crash tested in comparison to the Mini, and did rather better than the stock car, especially in terms of side impact intrusion, though this was a vehicle built by the team at Interstyl and the results would be very dependent on the woodworking skills of the builder. William Towns was very keen on vehicle safety and paid to have all versions of the Hustler crash tested at a time when most production vehicles weren't to a high degree. They all did well in the tests, showing how much care he had put into the design as regards crashes, and there is evidence that the Hustler range may have been one of the first vehicles that was designed and digitally crash tested before any had been built. A lot of the principles that went into the design and development of the semi-monocoque construction in the Hustler would be seen again in the Africar vehicle project that, sadly, got killed off by the major manufacturers, even though it was precisely tailored to the requirements of the African vehicle market...
Best Goes for a drive episode EVER! Came home tired and exhausted, saw your new installment and it made me smile again, thank you! Incredible this car, so well made and so unique
OMG I F-ing love it! Back when cars were actually interesting and had style. I'd love something like this (maybe with an electric motor) to scoot around my town.
Gosh, I remember the Hustler featuring in Autocar back in the day, had totally forgotten about it. Must also admit that I'm sad enough to have recognised the switchgear as Fiat Strada...
Recognised the switch gear straight away thro the window. Same as early Fiat badged 1500cc X1/9 too but not later Bertone badged ones. Sadness at a whole new level 😂😂😂
@@neilwalsh4058 I'm going even deeper now . . . I was the joker that owned both a black Strada 105TC and a green X1/9 1500 . As someone once said," Everything turns to rust and dust . . " ;-)
@@robdriver1419 great fun whilst it's happening. I had a 130TC Abarth in the early 90's, what fun dispatching boys in Escort RS Turbos like they were stood still. Moved on to X1/9's after that and owned 19 in total. Those were the days when you could buy minters for £1500 and decent running ones for £300. Long gone sadly!
Lovely piece, your knowledge is truly impressive - even down to the detail of the canteen chairs of the original prototype! A couple of notes: The wooden Hustler really was wooden throughout - with mini-subframes bolted directly into a wooden chassis. No fibreglass pan or steel frame (at least, that was the original design, your builder may have improvised). Re. the amphibious version, it was a Hustler body wrapped around an Argocat (www.argocat.com/ ) - another of my dad's creations.
This one definitely had a non wood pan as you can see it under the car, the prototype was mahogany so that may well have been structurally strong enough to take it but I think the production version kept the floor pan of the regular car
@@furiousdriving I'm pretty sure it didn't, as all you got when you bought the wooden model were the glass panels and the blueprints - anyway, I'll get this confirmed one way or the other,
@diccon Towns sorry I missed the last line of your comment, if you'd like to share more memories and stories about these please drop me a message at bodyintheboot@gmail.com
I worked for the company that imported plywood parts for what was called 'the Africar' for production in Africa. They never moved from storage whilst I worked there and had been there for years. It looked very much like this...maximum use of an 8x4 sheet of exterior plywood.
Love this! The future was so much cooler In the past, and for that matter what happened to the robot, diagonal zips and jet pack they promised me? Thanks matt!
Wow just wow. Well done Angie and Don amazing work. 'Window cleaners here!' 'Tell him to do the front, sides and the Hustler. Thanks' Back in the early 80s, you'd be classed as a nutter for building a wooden car, now you'd be classed as soooooooo cool.
Great review Mat, I'm still smiling. Reminded me of the electric car Top gear made. Although you think it's quite strong I wouldn't like to test being t boned with a Landcruiser etc 😯
This is amazing (except for the horrendous rattles - probably to be expected)! For those who couldn't afford a Matra Rancho, here's your wooden kit replica! Never knew these existed, bit before my time although I was quite into kit cars in my mid-teens.
I do vaguely remember seeing this car as a magazine or newspaper photo decades back. For some reason I thought it was a one-off built and designed by schoolkids in South Wales. Maybe a school bought the kit and assembled it as a Design and Technology project, and a local paper took pictures and wrote an article about it, which was then picked up by the national press. A truly comprehensive, informative and interesting vid - very well done. Kit cars are certainly a part of British motor history, albeit as you say, with variable quality - and many were bought , but fewer were actually completed. Certainly this one would make a very good exhibit for a car museum or for a collector to take to car shows where it would get a lot of interest; it's certainly very original, a bit wierd and beautifully made. I'm also not quite so sure about the practicality as a daily driver, despite the Mini underpinnings. Safety in a collision would be my biggest concern.
I remember the Hustler from my childhood, especially the six wheeler. I don't recall ever seeing the wooden one in my Dads kit car magazines. My Dad and sister had a Midas each. He had the Gold, she had the Bronze. I wasn't keen myself due to mobility issues and the sill was high on the Midas Gold, but then the seat was low. I always loved Minis, as did they but only so they could cannibalise them for parts. The Midas Bronze was Mini based but the Gold was Metro based and had a highly tuned engine which flew like shit off a shovel once he put his foot down.
I really was not Expecting this! This is Right up my Street. It's a Good Job I have no access to a Garage or I would Quite Happily Blow 11k on this thing. I love anything that is beyond Obscure, This is Right up my Street. Absolutely loving this 👍
Saw one at the Manchester Evening News motorshow at Platt Fields park in 1979. Never seen one on the road unsuprisingly enough. I remember them being advertised in all the custom car magazines in the early 80's.
I think I would add a couple of sun visors and move the Mirrors up onto the windscreen frame. I’d certainly look into getting it vinyl wrapped for extra weather protection, very quirky car though, love it.
There was a car built in Antigua and Barbuda in the late 70s to early 80s called the Hustler. In it's early iterations, it was built on a VW Beetle chassis but later I think on the mini platform. It was made of fiberglass. I was a boy at the time so don't remember the details but our school took us on a field trip to the factory to see the production process
i've never seen this in my entire life, looks like something from blade runner lol by the way, you should really get ahold of a Renault Twizy, i presume that the drive will be a pain to record!
I wonder if this inspired Edd China with his creations? I found the windoor concept so much funnier than I probably should have - my wife agreed - and that indicator noise really takes me back to the one our Vauxhall Carlton's made when it was towing a caravan. Haha touch wood!
I remember seeing this in the KIt car Annual magazine from the early eighties. I think the adverts showed the different models. It being in bright yellow I think I recall. Perhaps I'll check the loft for the old magazines to have a reminisce of all those weird and wonderful designs.
Followed one heading north up the M1 - somewhere between Leicester and Sheffield. early-mid 80s as was on the bike. Didn't know what it was beyond being a decent if weird looking homebuild. Hustled(!) nicely at around 75 so would keep up with the 1.6 cortinas of the time
Towns didn't only do wedgy straight edged cars - Aston DBS , scimitar ss. It's only apt that it has Hunter headlights, he helped design it. I think the door locks are from shop display cabinets.
My first car was a Mini, amazingly it's still about allthough the MOT failure history begs the question would I ever buy it back. As I move ever forward in my years I've always wanted to either get another Mini or have something Mini related/kit esque and something like this would be incredible. I dream one day of opening my own bakery/patisserie and would love a fleet of Mini vans as a delivery fleet but imagine delivering freshly baked bread in the mornings driving that thing around the estates, can't imagine cream cakes would fair too well in a mobile greenhouse though......... Interestingly, it's come up in my feed an interview from the 70's with the cars designer showing some other twee cars he designed.
Hello, I was at a party last night and I was speaking to the previous owner of this exact car! I’ve seen this about the village where I live in Milton Keynes! Great little thing 👍👍
Haha! That Compu-Cruise unit is the *exact* same as the ZT "Driving Computer" that came with my '84 Chevy pickup! Same unit with different branding. It even has the same tiny slide switch for cruise control on/off. It doesnt work anymore either. I need to fix it
Absolutely bonkers - only in Britain ! I love it ! Lots a rattling going on, but then again; its a driving wedgy cupboard !!! One of the coolest cars, ever ! The craftmanship is out of this world, Im so impressed!
Gotta love turn signals that sound like a heat seeking missile alert
I thought he was honking the horn before rounding corners for a minute.
Only other vehicle I've known with those turn signals are the old Dennis Sabre fire engines!
I thought it was a warning about some kind of catastrophic mechanical failure.
Timestamp for when he uses the blinkers?
My motorbike's a BMW from 1978 and its turn signals do the exact same sound, and really loud at that. Turns a few heads every time I take a corner.
Hi,
Just watched the video, thank you for being so complementary about my car ( his name is Fouie)
A couple of small comments, there is no metal or fibre glass sub structure under the wood other than the two mini subframes, they are joined by 18mm marine ply box sections not fibreglass.
The steering column is Triumph Dolomite and you missed the Ford Capri bits. It was great fun to build and own and it has always been head turner. Fouie has never been very quick, a little engine is working hard as Fouie weight is one and a half times more than a standard mini.
Great video about a great little car.
Angie
I love this car so much. The workmanship is incredible.
Absolutely amazing construction job, modern car makers could learn a thing or two from you.
The car is a credit to you :)
@Herbert Norkus The concept was the challenge to make a decent looking car from inexpensive flat sheet stock as a homebuilt. You can't get the kind of surface-crowning you can get from die-stamped sheet metal, molded composites, or similar. William "Bill" Towns was a talented Industrial Designer. This car looks remarkably good for something made of those materials. Some people may notice that the front fascia appears concave. It isn't. It's flat. That's a flaw in human visual perception. FMI "Hustler" Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustler_(car)
You are a carpentry wizard.
Imagine the splinters you'd get in a crash.
Rather harmless wood splinters than the lethal carbon fiber splinters you get when modern cars are crashing !
@@thefreedomguyuk Yeah, ok Vlad.
I was thinking the same exact thing! Back in the day of wooden warships, you were more likely to get injured or die from the splinters that fly out when a cannon ball strikes, rather than the cannon ball itself.
Imagine getting impaled by one...
@@mauropereira187 Yup - there's a reason why new tram cars no longer have timber frames - if the ash frames of the olden days actually split in an accident they usually killed people! Plywood panels on a steel frame are probably quite a bit less dangerous though.
This is the car I imagine LGR drives.
"Mmm... wood grainy goodness... but can I play Doom on it?"
@@Mikitanfox1 and also that late 90's PC graphics appearance
@@nomoreprivacyanymore HAHHAHAHHAHAHAH
Who is LGR?
@@AbdulAllahAbuDaoud Lazy Game Review channel , check him out and you see
That’s the car I used to draw as a kid 😂
I love it when just about 32:25 he goes by a van and you can hear them laughing over the sound the car makes.
When I saw this for sale a couple of weeks ago I thought two things:
- That's never going to sell and
- I want one
wrong on one..it sold this morning!
@@furiousdriving may I ask how much it sold for?
@@bletheringfool it was up for £11,000 I dont think it went for much less
@@furiousdriving Went for shed loads...
@@adrianrowden8266 Yes. Looks like loads of shed....
What in the name of
Sheer madness but I love it!
and if you break down in the middle of nowehere on a winters night, you've got fuel for your fire 😜
@@furiousdriving That windscreen wiper arm looks like it's off a Citroen CX first series. But the wiper blade is shorter.
my first thought was it looks like the cabs from Total Recall with Arnie
I got 5 kids to feed!
Gilbert Lynds yes I instantly though as well Jonny cab 🚕😂
"Could you repeat the destination?"
Imagine local speed camera verifier looking at the pictures asking the sarge was there a hurricane that day as a wooden greenhouse just been caught speeding. Love it.
Wow! I remember reading articles about those in the eighties but I've never seen one. That would be the star of any car show. Fantastic.
There was a guy who built a car completely out of wood. Wooden body, wooden wheels, even a wooden engine. The only problem was it wooden go.
I'll shut the door on my way out. Bye.
Probably the best outcome really considering the wooden steering and wooden brakes.
Ill get me coat...
@@seancooke4127 Yeah, he couldn't see much out of the wooden windscreen either!
shockingly bad, but good. ha ha
😂 An oldie but a goody.You can tell its age by counting the rings.
I built a Wooden Hustler in 1986 and used it as an everyday car for about ten years. It was built entirely of wood, there was no steel or fibreglass frame to the body. It certainly didn't retain the floor pan from the original car, I don't know where you got that idea from. As I recall there were 86 panels or thereabouts. The Weller wheels were not part of the kit, which was best thought of as plans and glass, although Towns did supply some lights, which weren't specially good quality. I think they were probably trailer lights. I didn't build the instrument panel out very far from the bulkhead as there was a tendency to kick it when getting in and out of the car. I had the switches fitted to a panel on the side. It's certainly true that everyone looked at it and wanted to ask about it. I definitely felt rather like a goldfish in a bowl! The visibility was certainly excellent and it was fun to drive. It did have issues though as it was a lot heavier than a standard body, and the cooling wasn't very good as only about two thirds of the radiator vented to the outside, although a cowling on the top part did help somewhat. I didn't have issues with it rattling though, which you mention several times. As you say, I suspect that few were ever built. I've never seen another one, apart from the prototype and now the one in this video.
It looks like a hearse imitating a coffin.
How is nobody talking about how it’s literally called “hustler 4 wood”🤦🏼♂️
@Dan Didnot Not sure if you're American or whatnot, but to a lot of Britons, "Liberals" were a poltical party that existed until the 1980s. As a historian its really hard to hear someone in the UK using the term because I imagine the Victorian Politician they're describing to me would be more puzzled at how a man not in the gentry could afford a horseless carriage.
Fancy failing the MOT due to woodworm!
You could with a Moris Minor Traveler
@@35dononeill my friends sisters traveller got woodworm
When you want an Aston-Martin Lagonda (known as The Anteater here in the States) and a woody wagon in the same car, very interesting things can happen!
At least you won’t have to worry about rust! Termites maybe but not rust! 🐜
I'd be worried about woodworm!! 😁😎👍 and squirrels 🐿 at least the ones in my back garden seem to love devouring anything made of wood!! 😁😯
Or just rot
With this car you need to worry about a lot, or better yet don’t worry and sell it for 11k pounds
I dont have termites in my old toyota but it definitely got rust!😂
Screws and rails can rust out just the same.
Also, metal subframes and suspension.
That’s like, saying you never have to worry about mechanicals of a mini- rusting out
It looks like the TopGear HammerHead Eagle i-Thrust if just James May designed it! 😂
That car is simply incredible. Those "windoors" look like the one my uncle had back in the 80's on his shop's display cabinets. Even the lock!
Brilliant video
I’d never heard of this amazing example of British engineering and eccentricity until watching this video. My reaction went from “What on earth is that?” To “Where do I get one?” In the space of about six minutes.
The strangest thing is that I live in Moreton in Marsh, where William Towns lived and had his workshop. Makes me proud.
Thank you for this lovely dose of education 😊
Wow what can I say? Did expect that, top notch content as usual. Needs to go to a museum so it can be appreciated by all. What a labour of love the couple who built it must of got massive satisfaction from it. Nice one Matt 👍
Thanks, and yes if is too special to be left unseen
Can see why it would be popular with a certain market, but not sure I’d use wood considering the warping issues you’d have over time. I like you could create you own car with options for engines, lights, essentially do whatever you wanted.
Full of admiration for the builder, what a top job, one of the best built British cars of the 80's 😉
I recognised the switches, they were our work's car of choice at the time, when was the last time a Strada was seen in the wild?
You wooden want to be in a crash?
Those long side bars would demolish most traffic, still wooden want to try
Brit puns are the best puns
touch wood.
knock on wood
@@furiousdriving People drive motorcycles. You on average have to drive 8 million miles to kill yourself or one of your passengers, so to most people, crashworthiness is purely theoretical sales pitch. I drive in a car without airbags, lane assist or rear facing camera, and I have to be aware of every vehicle around me all the time. That's the way to be an attentive driver, living on the edge! If you install a sound system in a wooden car, the sound quality must be amazing.
What the.........!!!!!
Is this what happens when golf buggies grow up?
Loved the review, a refreshing change from the 'normal' boxes with wheels.
Great review ;)
I believe the mirrors are from a Triumph Dolomite but mounted vertically :)
I can scarcely believe the stuff permitted on British roads, even back then! Takes guts to drive it on public roads today; Cheers!
Theory test is MUCH harder nowadays.
Outspan Mini anyone?
@@Darkest_matter What does the theory test have to do with car construction? And the theory test isn't harder, just different. Back in the '80s the examiner could ask any random question they felt like. No seperate theory test with multiple choice tick boxes, just several questions on the spot, with a pass or fail.
@@another3997 beck then it was like 20/50 = pass. Now you need 43 to pass.
I'd say motorbikes are still more dangerous!
Being a kid of the 70s I love it😍
I think he could at least have made the steering wheel square as well as the road wheels for consistency!
I got the Fiat Strada switches straight away, I remember playing with them in a family friends car in the early 80s. They were very unhappy with their Strada, it gave them endless trouble. Love the fluorescent interior light, it's made by Labcraft. looks like it has outstanding visibility with all that glass!
It's a Johnny Cab from "Total Recall" :D
“Building a car is surprisingly difficult , even when the parts are in front of you”........ I can scarcely manage furniture, when it is in self build form. There are always bits left over.... or bits missing. Mercy Mercy.....
Fortunately this car is mostly furniture anyway
I just had a flip through the installation manual for that CompuCruise trip computer/cruise control. Fitting it must have been an ordeal.
I think this is the first time you've reviewed something I've never even heard of! Such an interesting idea. I think the wiper is from a Citroën Visa, as it lacks the washer tube found on the BX and CX.
This car is just utterly delightfully bonkers!
Kinda Nissan Prairie meets Tesla Cybertruck with a bit of yacht thrown in I guess?
It think it has a dash of Toyota Tercel about it as well
@@kerrytaylor1795 Even more Nissan Prairie I'd say but the two are similar anyway. The Prairie is just even taller and boxier than the Tercel.
@@Ragnar8504 My first car was an 1983 Nissan Prairie, metallic light blue it was. That thing was a beast- we drove it all the way across Australia and back again and it never died. I still have the car key for it
They also did a jaguar based version the highlander with 6 wheels and a V12
I remember these! Saw a 6 wheeler at a kit car show many years ago - I think that was possibly a woodie too. Fantastic car, you are picking some great vehicles to "go for a drive" with!
I remember that too. I used to attend all the kit car shows like Stoneleigh and Newark back in the day. Had a great time building multiple kit cars and going to the shows.
'A hearse for Smurfs..' 😂 Would that be a Smearse?...
The front wiper on that car is from a Citroen Visa. My 1982 Visa Super E had exactly the same straight wiper arm and big blade. The rear lights are Triumph Dolomite and the exterior mirrors look very much like standard issue BL door mirrors seen on everything up to the early '80s when they got replaced by cheaper plastic ones that snapped off very easily. Clearly the person that built this one did a lot of parts shopping at their local BL dealer, which makes a lot of sense as, if you're buying a lot of stuff, you can usually wangle a good discount. The front seats in this one are also BL items, as is the steering column, not Mini, as they had the light switch on the dashboard at the time, but Triumph Dolomite again, that rotary light switch was a Triumph-only item, one of very few items not shared across the whole BL family, though I imagine you could use a variety of columns from the BL range to tailor the driving position to best suit you when you were building it...
The Hustler 4 wood actually was crash tested in comparison to the Mini, and did rather better than the stock car, especially in terms of side impact intrusion, though this was a vehicle built by the team at Interstyl and the results would be very dependent on the woodworking skills of the builder. William Towns was very keen on vehicle safety and paid to have all versions of the Hustler crash tested at a time when most production vehicles weren't to a high degree. They all did well in the tests, showing how much care he had put into the design as regards crashes, and there is evidence that the Hustler range may have been one of the first vehicles that was designed and digitally crash tested before any had been built. A lot of the principles that went into the design and development of the semi-monocoque construction in the Hustler would be seen again in the Africar vehicle project that, sadly, got killed off by the major manufacturers, even though it was precisely tailored to the requirements of the African vehicle market...
This gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, like being in a boat on Lake Windermere in the 80's - nice one Matt
Thank you for a really good video. Fascinating how versatile wood (and Mini) can be. Really enjoyed this.
The smiles per miles value is through the roof 😁😎
Best Goes for a drive episode EVER! Came home tired and exhausted, saw your new installment and it made me smile again, thank you! Incredible this car, so well made and so unique
OMG I F-ing love it!
Back when cars were actually interesting and had style.
I'd love something like this (maybe with an electric motor) to scoot around my town.
there is a 6 wheel version I belive in stone Staffordshire! It has brown tinted windows on it see it once in a blue moon. its always great to see it
Looks like an A-Level Craft Design & Technology project!
I thought "Talbot Tagora" when I first saw the front quad headlights.
Yes i saw one for sale down at my local IKEA store. It was a flat pack kit in the coffee table and home ware department
I like the fact the car has a fire extinguisher for those small emergencies.
You know youre in a wooded car when the extinguisher is that close!
Hi Matt I can vaguely remember the 6 wheeled one like this,it's a great video to watch,almost everything made of wood.
Gosh, I remember the Hustler featuring in Autocar back in the day, had totally forgotten about it.
Must also admit that I'm sad enough to have recognised the switchgear as Fiat Strada...
Recognised the switch gear straight away thro the window.
Same as early Fiat badged 1500cc X1/9 too but not later Bertone badged ones.
Sadness at a whole new level 😂😂😂
@@neilwalsh4058 I'm going even deeper now . . . I was the joker that owned both a black Strada 105TC and a green X1/9 1500 . As someone once said," Everything turns to rust and dust . . " ;-)
@@robdriver1419 great fun whilst it's happening. I had a 130TC Abarth in the early 90's, what fun dispatching boys in Escort RS Turbos like they were stood still. Moved on to X1/9's after that and owned 19 in total. Those were the days when you could buy minters for £1500 and decent running ones for £300. Long gone sadly!
The 1982 brown tint glass was on every expensive hifi system.
Love the car, great video.
did anyone else physically jump at the reflections of the cars in the other lane? looked just like a head on collision for half a second!
I imagine the person who built that car had immense fun building it and designing the modifications to the base kit.
A certain Lazy Gaming Reviewer would love this.
Has it got a mobile fitting or just a what you call a trunk ?
Lovely piece, your knowledge is truly impressive - even down to the detail of the canteen chairs of the original prototype! A couple of notes: The wooden Hustler really was wooden throughout - with mini-subframes bolted directly into a wooden chassis. No fibreglass pan or steel frame (at least, that was the original design, your builder may have improvised). Re. the amphibious version, it was a Hustler body wrapped around an Argocat (www.argocat.com/ ) - another of my dad's creations.
This one definitely had a non wood pan as you can see it under the car, the prototype was mahogany so that may well have been structurally strong enough to take it but I think the production version kept the floor pan of the regular car
@@furiousdriving I'm pretty sure it didn't, as all you got when you bought the wooden model were the glass panels and the blueprints - anyway, I'll get this confirmed one way or the other,
@@furiousdriving There's a reply from the builder further up. BTW, that was a Towns family comment,maybe you missed the name!
@@nigelbetahpe I did miss that and the mention of dad!
@diccon Towns sorry I missed the last line of your comment, if you'd like to share more memories and stories about these please drop me a message at bodyintheboot@gmail.com
I worked for the company that imported plywood parts for what was called 'the Africar' for production in Africa. They never moved from storage whilst I worked there and had been there for years. It looked very much like this...maximum use of an 8x4 sheet of exterior plywood.
Love this! The future was so much cooler In the past, and for that matter what happened to the robot, diagonal zips and jet pack they promised me?
Thanks matt!
Im still waiting for my jet pack. I have to go write to my MP
Wow just wow. Well done Angie and Don amazing work. 'Window cleaners here!' 'Tell him to do the front, sides and the Hustler. Thanks'
Back in the early 80s, you'd be classed as a nutter for building a wooden car, now you'd be classed as soooooooo cool.
Great review Mat, I'm still smiling. Reminded me of the electric car Top gear made.
Although you think it's quite strong I wouldn't like to test being t boned with a Landcruiser etc 😯
Absolutely smashing! I knew the switches looked familiar, just couldn't place them. I absolutely love this!
This is amazing (except for the horrendous rattles - probably to be expected)! For those who couldn't afford a Matra Rancho, here's your wooden kit replica!
Never knew these existed, bit before my time although I was quite into kit cars in my mid-teens.
I do vaguely remember seeing this car as a magazine or newspaper photo decades back. For some reason I thought it was a one-off built and designed by schoolkids in South Wales. Maybe a school bought the kit and assembled it as a Design and Technology project, and a local paper took pictures and wrote an article about it, which was then picked up by the national press.
A truly comprehensive, informative and interesting vid - very well done. Kit cars are certainly a part of British motor history, albeit as you say, with variable quality - and many were bought , but fewer were actually completed. Certainly this one would make a very good exhibit for a car museum or for a collector to take to car shows where it would get a lot of interest; it's certainly very original, a bit wierd and beautifully made. I'm also not quite so sure about the practicality as a daily driver, despite the Mini underpinnings. Safety in a collision would be my biggest concern.
It looks like someone looked a shipping crate and thought “what a waste, I reckon I could do something with that”.
I remember the Hustler from my childhood, especially the six wheeler. I don't recall ever seeing the wooden one in my Dads kit car magazines. My Dad and sister had a Midas each. He had the Gold, she had the Bronze. I wasn't keen myself due to mobility issues and the sill was high on the Midas Gold, but then the seat was low. I always loved Minis, as did they but only so they could cannibalise them for parts. The Midas Bronze was Mini based but the Gold was Metro based and had a highly tuned engine which flew like shit off a shovel once he put his foot down.
I like how you’re showing off his obviously tidy wiring. Whilst showing everything is the same colour....
he built it he knew where it all went!
When i built my mini based kit car I used two mini looms so all colours correct but with a lot more fuses!
I really was not Expecting this! This is Right up my Street. It's a Good Job I have no access to a Garage or I would Quite Happily Blow 11k on this thing. I love anything that is beyond Obscure, This is Right up my Street. Absolutely loving this 👍
I think that car made it into production as the Citreon C4 Grand Picasso 🤣
Finally a car with enough headroom!
Very different, would turn more heads than any Ferrari etc. 32:25 someone laughing?
so builders in a van going the other way. I assume it was a comedy on radio 4 and not the car
What a lovely car and what ingenious people who put it together!
It's the Cyber Trucks grandfather.
Saw one at the Manchester Evening News motorshow at Platt Fields park in 1979. Never seen one on the road unsuprisingly enough. I remember them being advertised in all the custom car magazines in the early 80's.
There is one near me. The people had it in the 80's when I was growing up and they still have it and use it today....it is just a white one though.
I think I would add a couple of sun visors and move the Mirrors up onto the windscreen frame. I’d certainly look into getting it vinyl wrapped for extra weather protection, very quirky car though, love it.
Wouldn't want to drive one on the motorway, could easily get boxed in....
What, your boxed in before you turn the key.
Please.
There was a car built in Antigua and Barbuda in the late 70s to early 80s called the Hustler. In it's early iterations, it was built on a VW Beetle chassis but later I think on the mini platform. It was made of fiberglass. I was a boy at the time so don't remember the details but our school took us on a field trip to the factory to see the production process
i've never seen this in my entire life, looks like something from blade runner lol
by the way, you should really get ahold of a Renault Twizy, i presume that the drive will be a pain to record!
No idea how Id do it but t would be fun!
I wonder if this inspired Edd China with his creations? I found the windoor concept so much funnier than I probably should have - my wife agreed - and that indicator noise really takes me back to the one our Vauxhall Carlton's made when it was towing a caravan.
Haha touch wood!
No triangles of doom. Just two corners of disappointment.
And one “arc of panic”!
That's awesome! It looks like a car you'd make from Legos, and I don't mean that in a demeaning way. It's super unique!
I remember seeing this in the KIt car Annual magazine from the early eighties. I think the adverts showed the different models. It being in bright yellow I think I recall. Perhaps I'll check the loft for the old magazines to have a reminisce of all those weird and wonderful designs.
Followed one heading north up the M1 - somewhere between Leicester and Sheffield. early-mid 80s as was on the bike. Didn't know what it was beyond being a decent if weird looking homebuild. Hustled(!) nicely at around 75 so would keep up with the 1.6 cortinas of the time
Little did I know when sketching pics of cars at age 5, I was actually drawing a pretty accurate pic of the Hustler!
This thing looks like a cartoon car from the 1970's and I really want one now.
Towns didn't only do wedgy straight edged cars - Aston DBS , scimitar ss.
It's only apt that it has Hunter headlights, he helped design it.
I think the door locks are from shop display cabinets.
Must been interesting taking it for an MOT. No welding needed due to rust, just a black n decker and a trip to B and Q for the parts!
This appeared on carandclassic yesterday. I went back and looked at it about 10 times. I love it!
"Some friend in a shed knocks out something..."
It looks like said friend put wheels on said shed and called it a car.
My first car was a Mini, amazingly it's still about allthough the MOT failure history begs the question would I ever buy it back.
As I move ever forward in my years I've always wanted to either get another Mini or have something Mini related/kit esque and something like this would be incredible.
I dream one day of opening my own bakery/patisserie and would love a fleet of Mini vans as a delivery fleet but imagine delivering freshly baked bread in the mornings driving that thing around the estates, can't imagine cream cakes would fair too well in a mobile greenhouse though.........
Interestingly, it's come up in my feed an interview from the 70's with the cars designer showing some other twee cars he designed.
Hello, I was at a party last night and I was speaking to the previous owner of this exact car! I’ve seen this about the village where I live in Milton Keynes! Great little thing 👍👍
I SAW ONE OF THESE WHEN I WAS A KID! I THOUGHT I WAS IMAGINING IT. though I'm in the US.
My school teacher built one in the 80s as a project. Great to see one again
Those BMC/BL bonnet/boot lid struts were available in a self releasing version (imagine trying to hold up a Frogeye Sprite bonnet with your head!)
The wooden car I remember is the Africar. Does anyone know if any of them survived?
It’s unreal! Like a wooden cabinet on wheels!
Very quirky! Thanks for showing it on your vid👍
Great to see something different, never seen one before Shane
Haha! That Compu-Cruise unit is the *exact* same as the ZT "Driving Computer" that came with my '84 Chevy pickup! Same unit with different branding. It even has the same tiny slide switch for cruise control on/off.
It doesnt work anymore either. I need to fix it
Absolutely bonkers - only in Britain ! I love it ! Lots a rattling going on, but then again; its a driving wedgy cupboard !!! One of the coolest cars, ever ! The craftmanship is out of this world, Im so impressed!
Wonder what it smells like inside with the leather and wood?
I've seen this car. literally this specific car about 12 years ago, retail park. took photos, looks tidier now than it did then