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Homemade Or Engineered? 1970 Wedge Car

Nothing like creativity! You start out with parts from a ’63 Pontiac LeMans, make a few drawings, take a few measurements, wave a wand, and voila, a wedge car. How? Why? Who knows but it’s unique and, according to the listing, it was homemade by a GM employee. While looking like something that you might find in New Mexico’s Nevada’s Area 51, this wedge car is actually located in Sierra Vista, Arizona and is available, here on craigslist for $2,500. Thanks to Paul G. for this most unusual tip!

The seller tells us that this Wedge is constructed of steel and aluminum with a removable, fabric convertible top. It is balanced on parts from a 1963 Pontiac LeMans chassis with a mid-engine attached to, presumably, the LeMans automatic transaxle. Other ingredients such as the headlights, taillights, instrument panel, armrests, etc. have been cobbled from production model cars The seller advises that he has owned for all of two months and now wishes to find it a new home. Perhaps the rose is off the bloom?

Mid-engine power is courtesy of a 215 CI Buick aluminum V8 engine with an original power rating of about 150 HP. The seller advises that the Wedge runs and drives OK. He further adds, “I just took it on a 5000-mile road trip, and made it home.” It is capable of cruising at 75 MPH while delivering about 17 MPG. As for needed repairs, apparently both the engine and transmission leak fluid and need repair.

There is no description of the interior but this is a two-seater with a sizable bulkhead separating the drivers and passenger seats. As referenced earlier, there is a Pontiac LeMans instrument panel in place and the seats appear to be GM units of some sort. It would seem that the interior was finished off with nylon loop carpet in a curious shade of cranberry, curious because it seems out of place with a silver and blue exterior and black vinyl seats. Perhaps the carpeting was leftover from some other project. Drive 5,000 miles in this environment? I don’t think so.

I’m not sure how such a vehicle would be titled. There is an Arizona license plate affixed to the rear so I suppose it’s possible but a potential acquirer may want to see the title first before taking the plunge. This Wedge is described as follows, “This is a very unique car, and attracts a lot of attention. It would be great for promoting a business, or as a conversation starter. It would even be a good commuter car if you’re handy at keeping an old car running.” Generally, commuter cars are ones that have to be reliable. If you are using it to get to your job, you’re going to be more concerned about getting there on time as opposed to tinkering with what amounts to a Frankenstein collection of production and homemade parts. That said,  you have to admire the creativity that was employed here. Sometimes the only answer to why? is, “Because I could!” Anyway, all is not lost, if this Wedge gives it up for good, you can always use it to hold open a very large door, right?

Comments

  1. Avatar Junior Samples

    RUN! There other way

    Like 9
  2. Avatar angliagt Member

    “I just took it on a 5000- mile road trip,and made it home”.
    To me,that doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.

    Like 17
    • Avatar Fordfan

      Looks like the inspiration for the tesla cyber truck

      Like 6
    • Avatar stu

      I’m surprised it left the driveway…

      Like 0
  3. Avatar doug

    This car just won the Lemons Rally.

    Like 19
    • Avatar Stan Marks

      Did you mean, Lemon Rally? LOL11

      At least it has good tires.
      Looks more like a shim.

      Like 0
      • Avatar stu

        Your wrong, a pack of shims….lol

        Like 0
  4. Avatar Stangalang

    I wonder what the drag coefficient is lol..actually I would probably drive it just for the looks and questions I’d get

    Like 5
  5. Avatar BlondeUXB Member

    Seems he didn’t have access to an English wheel / just the sheet metal brake his house siding guy left behind…

    Like 13
    • Avatar scott m

      Kind of disappointed that it’s not an EV with that lightening bolt side!

      Like 4
  6. Avatar scott m

    No accounting for taste- I like it!

    Like 9
    • Avatar stu

      What? Do you need glasses…..

      Like 0
  7. Avatar Steve

    Looks better the the tr7s “bold slashing wedge”. Lol

    Like 3
    • Avatar scott m

      The TR7 gave a “wedgy” to the car community lol

      Like 3
      • Avatar stu

        Guys….I’m dying here…your making me laugh too much…

        Like 0
      • Avatar stu

        Guys….I can’t stop laughing here…great comments….

        Like 0
  8. Avatar KEVIN

    check out @jforb427 on instagram for more pictures.

    Like 3
  9. Avatar JoeNYWF64

    Street legal? Needs bumpers/cat converter? Pedestrian friendly?
    It would be right at home on old ’70s & ’80s sci-fi tv programs.
    & in “Road Warrior”, “Death Race”, etc. movies.

    Like 6
  10. Avatar Kenneth Carney

    …He got it one piece at a time. And it
    didn’t cost him a dime. You’d know it’s
    him when he came through your town.
    You’re gonna drive around in style. You’re gonna drive everybody wild. ‘Cause you’ll have the only one there is
    around.

    Like 11
  11. Avatar Daniel Wright

    I would drive it around just for the Horrified looks people would give me.

    Like 4
  12. Avatar Steve

    Imagine driving that to your state inspection station.

    Like 2
  13. Avatar Mitchell Gildea Member

    Much like Area 51, we need answers as to why this happened

    Like 9
  14. Avatar 370zpp Member

    Right off the set of the not so classic Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

    Like 3
    • Avatar Raymond Smith

      The lead photo reminded me of a Lost in Space TV show set.

      Like 1
  15. Avatar scott m

    Looks about 8 feet wide, so should corner well?

    Like 1
  16. Avatar canadainmarkseh

    Junk it…!!! That thing is a 2 bagger, to be worn on the driver and passengers head. You’d have to give me money to take. FUUUGLLLY.

    Like 0
  17. Avatar David Raezer Member

    Looking at this car makes me think of the movie line in National Lampoons vacation where Randy Quaid says “she’s a beaut Clark” . If I drove the car I would have a tendency to try to fill a slot or take pictures of it at the base of leaning structures.

    Like 4
  18. Avatar Rodney - GSM

    Made me laugh out loud then I thought, gee, at least this guy built his own car. More than I can say.

    Like 10
    • Avatar terry brundage

      Ok, but makes one wonder why builder sold it!!!

      Like 0
  19. Avatar Connecticut Mark

    I would not take it on a 5 mile trip. Liar

    Like 0
    • Avatar Greg

      There’s proof lol. Look up the LemonsRally on Instagram. This car just won the Route66 Rally.

      Like 5
    • Avatar terry brundage

      yeah I think he added at least one zero! Mid engine cars are hot inside!

      Like 0
  20. Avatar Spridget

    I like it! Yes, it’s ridiculous and ugly, but based on the sellers’ statement that he drove it 5,000 miles and it goes 75 mph down the highway, this home-brew creation seems to have held up better than a lot of factory cars! Maybe Jaguar or Alfa Romeo should hire the guy who built this thing to run their reliability department.

    At $2,500, you’re in used Corolla territory, and you’ll have the only one like it at Cars and Coffee. Think of all the Youtube content you could make with this thing . . . taking it to an autocross, track days, run-what-you-brung events at the local dragstrip, entering it in a judged car show, trying to daily drive it- this thing would practically pay for itself in Youtube money! I’d replace the fugly house carpet and shag interior with some vinyl, which looks more period-correct and is less likely to smell, then I’d think about throwing some Rover V8 speed parts at the engine!

    Like 11
    • Avatar PaulG

      Spridget, I had to laugh…
      The only thing you forgot was the look on the Valet’s face when you pull up to the fine dining establishment!

      Like 9
  21. Avatar Rex Kahrs Member

    It should be painted like a wedge of cheese. It’s cheesy. And, it would appear that the front wheels can only go straight, and thus limiting it’s maneuverability quite severely.

    Like 5
  22. Avatar Mike

    I’m not nerdy enough to be seen in it.

    Like 1
  23. Avatar Joshua

    My castle has a 25 foot entry door that won’t stay open, this car will do the trick I will just take the wheels off it or I could put it in the skate park and have the kids ride there skate boards on.

    Like 3
  24. Avatar rustylink

    three words – “jaws of life”

    Like 2
  25. Avatar ChingaTrailer

    I’ve seen it and talked to the man who built it. Much nicer in person than in photos.

    Like 13
  26. Avatar Chio Laugal Member

    I wonder how you change a flat tire.

    Like 1
    • Avatar Stan Marks

      Very carefully, Chio. LOL!!

      Like 0
    • Avatar stu

      Throw a can of gasoline on the car with a match…never change another tire…

      Like 0
  27. Avatar Fernando Abruna

    The front looks like a stretched out (electric) Vanguard Citicar.
    The Citicar was known for its “wedge styling”…Did I say styling?

    Like 0
  28. Avatar Sedoy

    Cyber ​​truck how it all began …

    Like 3
  29. Avatar Bill McCoskey Member

    Anyone else notice the wooden stick that appears to be a mount for the driver’s front seat? In an accident at least it’ll break off, so the rescuers can pull the driver and seat out in one piece!

    Like 1
  30. Avatar Michael Kraus

    Anyone who has frequented the car show circuit in Southern Arizona for the last decade or so is familiar with this car. It seems it was at most of them. Actually the workmanship on the body always stuck me as surprisingly well-done. What a person would do with it is as much a mystery as why it was built in the 1st place.

    Like 5
  31. Avatar Allgonquin

    “Thunderbirds, we are GO!”

    Like 1
  32. Avatar Greg Millard

    Shop project by the designer of the Tesla Truck when he/she was in high school?

    Like 4
  33. Avatar CCFisher

    Rectangular headlamps and 1978 Monte Carlo taillights suggest this is a late-70s creation. Let’s send it back there.

    Like 0
  34. Avatar Lance

    Ummmmmm….. Eagle Scout project?????

    Like 0
    • Avatar CCFisher

      Eagle Scout projects are supposed to be a service to the community or an organization. In this case, the service would be to destroy the car.

      Like 0
      • Avatar stu

        Sledge hammer anyone? Anyone…..

        Like 0
  35. Avatar Kenn

    Rodney-GSM has it right. And “building it himself” is more than a high percentage of commenters here can say. Especially those who disparage creations like this. By the way, to change a tire, just jack up the body. It will leave enough room to get at the wheel lugs.

    Like 4
  36. Avatar Bryan Cohn

    Eyyyyyyye Like Eeeeet! Its ridiculous. It makes no sense. Its a hodge podge of car parts. It actually works.

    So many seem to forget that one man’s dream is another nightmare. The creation rolling around inside your thick skull is likely just as ridiculous as this fine wedge. Appreciate the skills it takes to build such things, not everyone can be a Harley Earl or a Zora Duntov or even Preston Tucker.

    I promise most of you would HATE the care I’d design and build if I ever decide to do so but it’ll make me happy as can be. That’s what matters.

    Like 3
  37. Avatar Packard Pang

    Ah, hello. Area 51 in located in Nevada, NOT New Mexico!

    Like 0
    • Avatar Jim ODonnell Staff

      Congratulations, you found the intentional buried error…

      (Thx, fixed now).

      JO

      Like 2
    • Avatar Stan Marks

      I think he had it confused with Roswell, NM.

      Like 0
    • Avatar Stan Marks

      He had it confused with Roswell, NM.

      Like 0
  38. Avatar Gerald

    What,,,? No comments or references to Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson or Geoff (that home-built electric car they made)?

    Like 0
  39. Avatar Phlathead Phil

    Has anyone noticed the car has 3 wipers, two pair of headlamps, and yes, TWO pair of back-up lights?

    Wonder why the creator of this thing forgot the federally mandated side marker lights? And, why not 2 pair of them…too?

    Like 0
    • Avatar ChingaTrailer

      The final MGBs also had three windshield wipers, two headlights and two reverse lamps. It just makes sense. Side marker lights weren’t required until 1968 on manufactured cars, and it appears still are not required on home made or kit cars.

      Like 0
      • Avatar Bill McCoskey Member

        If the donor car or chassis was built and titled before 1 January 1968, the car is not required to have sidelights and other US DOT safety items like headrests. So this car, titled as a 1963 Pontiac, is exempt from any & all government required equipment from the date it was built and newer. That also includes seat belts, as they didn’t become a requirement until 1 January 1964.

        I like what the constructor created, using an early production US car, bringing new ideas and solutions to design problems. Not all of it worked, and this car reflects good and bad designs of merit and note.

        That said, I wouldn’t even drive or ride in this car without belts & shoulder harnesses.

        Like 0
  40. Avatar PAW

    This is so ugly that even I would look cool in that – strong buy

    Like 1
    • Avatar stu

      Stop it dude….I can’t stop laughing…

      Like 0
  41. Avatar John H Harlow

    I built this car!! I like all the comments!!

    Like 6
    • Avatar ChingaTrailer

      Then we talked at the Tucson Classic Car Show. I usually bring out my old dilapidated RHD Cobra. You may have seen it.

      Like 1

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