For 15 years, Steve Braithwaite has driven a 23-foot banana across the country and, on Wednesday, just like hundreds of times before, he was pulled over…
“‘The reason I pulled you over, that light back there, you peeled out.’”
Nothing like abusing your authority just to make a shitty dad joke.
, officerIn this case he hadn’t
I like his slogan: “The world needs more whimsy”. You see it even here in this thread where half the comments can’t focus on how amazing and hilarious the banana car is and instead make it about their disdain for police.
It would be awesome if more people did this and the world looked more like Richard Scarry’s books!
There’s always room for more disdain for police!
And disdain for colonial plantations! Let’s leave no fun unspoiled!
Bananas themselves use cHeMiCaLs to grow. Some of those chemicals have been found in kids’ snacks.
I’m hearing bananas are evil and gay. Except for the chemicals, those are cool.
i mean what kind of evil? i’m always down for a little evil.
gay chemicals? we need those siloed off for my personal use. but evil needs to be shared for public consumption
And disdain for plantains!
You mean shitty bananas?
The reason it is whimsical and fun is because it’s unique. I’m sure its also a huge pain in the ass when it comes to just owning it. Parking. Painting, Maintenance, etc. Then there’s safety to consider when it comes to things like accidents. I’m sure most of these custom cars are death traps for the occupants in any situation other than just fender benders.
Do I love seeing them on the road, yes. Would I drive one myself or enjoy living in a world full of them? No.
I don’t have an art car like this banana, but I have an old weird Japanese 4x4 and… Yeah. You’re kinda right. When you hit the brakes it doesn’t always stop straight. There is considerable slack in the steering. It sways. It’s slow. It gets surprisingly bad gas mileage. It has an auto-locker, so it clicks going around corners. It has solid axles at both ends, and leaf springs. At both ends. It has no airbags, and there is nothing in the door except the exterior sheet metal for protection. No airbags, no ABS, no traction control, no stability control, no rear camera, just a steering wheel more or less connected to the front wheels. It’s dangerous to drive and it’s objectively horrible to drive.
But it’s so much fun. And it’s completely unstoppable on a trail.
Bender benders.
Would you still love me if I was a worm? Driving an apple?
Well said. Someone needs to come out with a Burger car now. XD
Richard scarry feels validated.
Somehow the builder didn’t even mention it. But there almost no way he hadn’t seen that right? I think that book came out in the late 1960s.
I’ve wanted a Steyr Puch Haflinger since I was about 5 from that book. Pretty rare in the US though.
That looks like it could kill two families of five in a single sunday trip to the beach.
It’s tiny and only goes 50mph max (maybe, and that’s pushing it). it’s more like an all terrain golf cart than even a UTV.
It’s smaller than an old OG jeep.
I stand by my assessment.
Wonderful
passengers wave
It’s all the same guy.
made me think of this
They probably pulled him over as he made them feel very small.
From that perspective, imagine just how much he’s overcompensating…
It’s not the sort of thing I’d use to split town but I can see the appeal.
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enough roadside conversations to fill a produce aisle
Nice
I don’t get it. They sell roadside banter in produce aisles?
… or produce roadside banter in sell aisles?
Hey look we are just asking questions
Imagine how many times if it was a plantain.
I was thinking of the eggplant emoji.
I appreciate the puns in this thread but on a serious note most states have a process to inspect and approve hobby cars for road-worthiness. That’s the one question not answered in the article: is the vehicle actually legal to be driving on the road?
Road worthiness is more about having appropriate lights, horn, seatbelts and mirrors. Engine efficiency is a big part of being road legal so as long as he didn’t alter or remove emissions equipment that will be fine. Depending on what state he lives in he might need a safety inspection but that’s definitely not even close to universal. Lastly he’d need the right paperwork like a title, registration as a hobby car, liability insurance and get the correct license plates.
If you build your own car your safety as a driver or passenger is generally not the concern of the government just that you follow the rules and make sure other drivers can see you and you can see them. Americans have completely free travel between states so there’d be no way to prevent him from traveling around and it likely would be very illegal to try to stop him if he did meet all the requirements listed.
yeah, the expensive part is the dmv safety inspection and the “you built this yourself?” insurance (from what i’ve gathered talking with the kit car community in california). it’s not actually hard to pass or get, you just have to pay a lot for the process.
There’s always money in the banana car
“We’ve stopped him often enough in the past but he’s pretty slippery.”, said Officer Plantain. /s
Is that a banana in your garage or are you just happy to see me?
I have a banana in my garage because I’m happy to see you.
I also have a banana in my garage but it’s only for OP’s mom.
He’s calling the adventure “The World Needs More Whimsy Grand Tour.”
Fuck yeah, I like him.
i remember making this deal
A car with a peal
