Mutant Vehicle Stardust (BS02)

The car shown below is a mutant vehicle designed and built to be used as a sort of taxi at Burning Man. Mutant vehicles are,

“A unique, motorized creation that shows little or no resemblance to their original form, or to any standard street vehicle. Mutant Vehicles are radically, stunningly, (usually) permanently, and safely modified from their base vehicle. Sometimes the whole vehicle is made from scratch. “

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This car was designed to look like something you might find in the near future on Mars transporting passengers along the martian surface. It was designed to hold six passengers and one driver (but it safely held 10), and travel at 5 mph, although it can probably do 30. We completed all of the design and fabrication here in our shop. The car was entirely designed in 3D CAD software. We rapid prototyped over 30 components and tig welded all of the steel tube frame and body panels. Working part time, we took this Stardust from idea to a running vehicle in about 4 months.

Stardust traveled on a journey from our shop in Tennessee, across the US, and now lives in San Francisco. There, it was painted and outfitted with led light strips (which look amazing!), ipad screens, a power generator, and stereo system. It made its first appearance at Burning Man in August of 2018. It performed wonderfully with no breakdowns or major issues. We drove it every day and night of the event and shuttled burners, DJs, turntables, bags of ice, gasoline tanks, and even pizza ovens all around the city and out into the playa. I hope all you ultra marathon runners enjoyed your pizza!