Wooden car "Achilles" from the Vietnamese designer Le Nguyen Khang

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

"Whatever you call a yacht, so it will float" - we all remember this advice of Captain Vrungel from childhood. Vietnamese designer Le Nguyen Khangwho managed to create wooden car, made the right decision and named the car "Achilles" … The bravest ancient Greek hero did the almost impossible - he raised an uprising against Troy, while the Vietnamese created a unique car, which became a real decoration of the city of Ho Chi Minh.

As is often the case, the idea to create such an unusual transport arose spontaneously: one of his friends jokingly asked Le Nguyen Khang (the owner of a lumber company) to make him a car out of wood. The Vietnamese was not taken aback and … having collected the necessary materials, as well as having enlisted the support of professionals from his company, he got down to business. In April 2011, the sketch of the future car was completed, 11 best employees spent 16 months on the implementation of the plan. Work on "Achilles" was completed only a month ago, the car immediately made a splash on the streets of the city, becoming a local landmark.

With its vulnerable Achilles' heel in mind, Le Nguyen Khang says he named his brainchild because the car is far from perfect. "Achilles" was built from imported wood, the craftsman used ash and walnut. The dimensions of the car are comparable to the usual "iron horse" - 4, 6 m in length, 1, 8 - in width. The case is richly decorated with carvings, the company logo is carved on the front panel, as well as images of four sacred animals (dragon, unicorn, turtle and phoenix), which symbolize power, beauty and nobility.

The car is equipped with a BMW engine and gearbox, since only the spare parts of this German company were able to withstand the impressive weight of the wooden body (the body alone weighs about 1.5 tons). All other parts are made of wood, which does not prevent the Achilles from reaching a maximum speed of 60 km / h.

Photos of the unusual car quickly spread across the Internet, but the reviews were mixed. Many in Achilles lacked high-tech, although Le Nguyen Khang himself emphasizes that he created this car in order to demonstrate the talent of Vietnamese craftsmen in woodworking. Among those who deservedly appreciated the invention, there were four foreigners who wanted to buy an unusual car. On average, they offer $ 24,000 for it. Le Nguyen Khang plans to spend the proceeds from the sale on charity. In addition, negotiations are underway with the city authorities to obtain a permit for the construction of such machines, which may in the future attract foreign tourists to the country. By the way, we recall that the idea of creating such an unusual transport is not new, we have already written about the wooden Volkswagen bus.