Remember the “thinnest street-legal car”? No, not that world’s narrowest car. The hint is in the name “street legal,” and while it isn’t the narrowest, it is equally surreal.
Anyhoo, that dude is back, and this time, he built the “Widest Street Legal Car,” and as you can imagine, it is as surreal as the Festiva on an extreme diet—perhaps even more.
Speaking of the Festiva, Prop Department, a.k.a. Tyler Fever, has again used the Ford Festiva for his custom build. However, this time, he uses not one, not two, but three donor Ford Festivas, each costing 200 dollars.
I have no idea why he needed three vehicles because he actually fabricated the entire center section, from the roof to the floor, to fill the gap created by the widening. Even the extra-wide grille is 3D-printed.
One donor car was sliced straight down the center to widen the floor and roof frames. The two sections were separated to become the sides. In between, square hollow sections and sheet metal formed the new center section.
All told, the newly widened Festiva is a whole 10 feet (3 meters) wide. And yes, Fever did obtain a wide-load permit along with commercial insurance to allow this ride to be driven on regular roads.
Interestingly, you’d think this build would have the original engine in the center—well, at least that’s what I thought. But no. Fever chose to mount it as if it were a regular-width Festiva. This allows Fever to retain much of the left axle—CV and all. However, to reach the far side on the right, a custom CV axle with custom adapters had to be fabricated.
With the widened body completed, the wide-body Festiva now has an incredibly voluminous engine bay, which was quickly populated by a fuel tank and an actual home’s AC unit (yes, really!), powered by an auxiliary power unit (basically, a gas-powered generator).
Oh, did I also mention it has dual-functional steering wheels? Unfortunately, though, it is dual-side drive. The pedals—brake, clutch, and accelerator—are all on the left.
In addition to the 3D-printed grille, it has a 3D-printed dash with a whopping 14 extra-large cup holders to fill the gap created by the extension.
If you ask me, this is a more interesting build than the thin car. I managed to sit through the entire build video. Seeing the finished product may make you question if there’s a bug in this world. It’s like seeing a Festiva in the wrong aspect ratio.
Keep going to see the build and how it put a smile on people’s faces.
Images: YouTube (Prop Department).
