DI Y

CARS

WINDUP CAR

Mod a cute convertible with a big rotating key.

By Sunny Armas (with Paul LeDuc)

When my pickup truck broke down, a friend lent me her Geo Metro convertible for 2 weeks. Well, I’m a good-sized guy, and at first I felt a bit silly driving this tiny car, but I quickly fell in love with it. It’s easy to park, great on gas, and a blast to drive. I decided to buy my own, and I thought that if I’m willing to be seen driving this toy-sized car, why not go all the way and put a big windup key on the back?

Photograph by Sam Murphy

I called my metal sculptor friend Paul LeDuc for his help and ideas, and we talked about the project. I knew I wanted a big key that would turn slowly, to make the car look as toy-like as possible. I also wanted the key to be easily removable and fit in the trunk to prevent people from trying to rip it off, and to keep the option of driving a little more low-profile. Also, I had just had the car

painted, so I wanted to be careful that any mods would not damage the nice new finish.

We decided that the key should be about 16" across. For the flat part, we drew a template and used a plasma cutter to cut the shape out of ¼"-thick steel plate. The harder part was the center tube, which needed to mount neatly through the trunk of the car. For this, Paul strolled through the hardware store and found a nice chrome mounting ring for finishing bathroom sink drains. The threaded, 1½" inside-diameter ring had some height that would help guide the key, and included a rubber gasket, washer, and nut to secure it around both sides of an aperture.

Paul used a grinder to remove the strainer from the bottom of the sink mounting ring, then cut a hole in the center of the trunk deck (lid) with

Make: 153