Man spends 20,000 hours and 7 years building a functional wooden supercar with a Cadillac V8 engine, 20 types of wood, and a reported top speed of 320 km/h.

Written by Fabio Lucas Carvalho

Published on 12/06/2026 at 22:17

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Created by Joe Harmon over seven years of work, the Splinter brings together 20 types of wood, a Cadillac Northstar V8 engine, wheels with 300 components each, and a reported top speed of 320 km/h, showing how far an unconventional handcrafted project can go.

A wooden supercar capable of reaching 320 km/h was born after 20,000 hours of work in North Carolina, where Joe Harmon turned a project into a functional vehicle, called Splinter, using wood in almost everything.

Project started at university

The idea of the wooden supercar emerged in 2006, when Harmon was studying industrial design at North Carolina State University. By mid-2008, he began to bring the design to life.

The work progressed during nights and weekends, in a seven-year handcrafted process. In the end, the Splinter totaled 20,000 hours, a number that reflects the complexity of the construction.

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Wooden supercar uses V8 engine

Despite its handcrafted appearance, the Splinter features a Cadillac Northstar V8 engine. The gearbox and some connecting parts are also not made of wood, but almost all the rest of the vehicle follows this material.

The assembly weighs 2,500 pounds, which places it above the weight of a Mini Cooper. Still, the most striking data of the project is the reported top speed: 200 mph, equivalent to 320 km/h.

The construction incorporated 20 different types of wood. The body received cherry wood, while maple, oak, walnut, and ash were used in parts of the chassis and suspension.

The wheels also required meticulous work. Each one gathers 300 individual components, including external aluminum coatings and a wooden central section. Harmon stated that upon finishing the wheels, he thought he would never be able to complete the rest of the car.

Why the idea didn’t turn into mass production

The Splinter helps explain why wooden cars don’t make it to the production lines. The preparation of wood composites is very time-consuming, which would make it difficult to meet industrial demand.

This limitation makes the Splinter a unique project. It shows that wood can go beyond interior finishes, but also highlights the effort required to turn an unconventional idea into a functional vehicle.

What do you think of this wooden supercar built over seven years? Leave your opinion in the comments and tell us if you consider this project a proof of creativity, handcrafted engineering, or a curiosity that would hardly have space in mass production.

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Man spends 20,000 hours and 7 years building a functional wooden supercar with a Cadillac V8 engine, 20 types of wood, and a reported top speed of 320 km/h.

Created by Joe Harmon over seven years of work, the Splinter brings together 20 types of wood, a Cadillac Northstar V8 engine, wheels with 300 components each, and a reported top speed of 320 km/h, showing how far an unconventional handcrafted project can go.

Project started at university

Wooden supercar uses V8 engine

Why the idea didn’t turn into mass production

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Man spends 20,000 hours and 7 years building a functional wooden supercar with a Cadillac V8 engine, 20 types of wood, and a reported top speed of 320 km/h.

Created by Joe Harmon over seven years of work, the Splinter brings together 20 types of wood, a Cadillac Northstar V8 engine, wheels with 300 components each, and a reported top speed of 320 km/h, showing how far an unconventional handcrafted project can go.

Project started at university

Wooden supercar uses V8 engine

Why the idea didn’t turn into mass production

Engineers want to carve through Africa with a giant canal to bring water from the world’s second-largest river to a dying lake on the edge of the Sahara Desert that has already lost 90% of its water.

A giant brown band visible from space, approximately 8,850 kilometers long, connected Africa to America in the Atlantic Ocean, and satellites revealed that it is neither land nor pollution, but the largest accumulation of seaweed in the world, which broke records in 2025.

Instead of burning or burying old tires, an American city is transforming about 2,000 of them into the street itself, paving its first sections with a quieter and more durable rubber asphalt.

In just one cast, fishermen are surprised to capture 14,096 mullets in Bombinhas and close a historic season with 58,000 fish; scene recorded in the Santa Catarina paradise marks the last day of the 2026 season.

Consumers eat six times more chicken than in the 1960s, global meat supply quadruples in 60 years, and FAO report reveals the invisible cost on the plate: livestock could drive 80% of the increase in agricultural emissions over the next decade.

Using high-resolution satellite images, archaeologists rediscovered the Egyptian city of Imet, buried for centuries in the Nile Delta, revealing rare multi-story houses, granaries, and a sacred road linked to the cobra goddess Wadjet, from about 2,400 years ago.

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