Motorbike YouTuber Matt Spears described how his disaster build ended up working out.
Finding a Spira, an uncommon but unexpectedly fast electric three-wheeled microcar that appears to be at an engineering dead end, is the first task on his mission.
Its front end is entirely composed of foam because safety was a top priority throughout construction.
As Matt shows in a previous video, this also enables it to float.
Eventually, the idea is to make the Spira capable of running on railway lines.
Building a front axle out of aluminium and “a bunch of go kart parts” from Amazon is the first step in the project.
This axle was then attached with train-style wheels.
In order to make the back track large enough to move along a railway, Matt then fabricates some expanded suspension mounts and adds some additional guide wheels to the back.
He then decides to lengthen and reinforce the chassis in addition to adding additional flanges to the wheels to give the setup a more train-like appearance.
Matt gives his absurd home-built invention its first test drive by taking the Spira to an abandoned railway track.
He says: “Alright, I’m pushing through the bounce.
“Whoa! I can feel it like we’re going on a turn right now and it goes straight, then it bounces. It’s really scary.”
Everything runs nicely until it doesn’t, which results in an incident that happens off-camera.
Turns out his franken-train got stuck on the rails.
“I wonder what happened. It was going so good. Now we’re stuck,” he said.
“I think we have some damage,” Matt then admitted.
After taking it back to the drawing board a second run at it turned into a success, with Matt taking the motor over a terrifying gorge.
It sailed along smoothly on the disused railway line.
It comes after a man transformed an old ambulance into an incredible home on wheels and now travels the world.
Content creator CJ Gray, 34, made the daring move after he grew sick of his monotonous daily routine.
To switch things up, he nabbed an “end of life ambulance”, spruced it up and embarked on an epic trip across Europe.
“I bought the ambulance from a private medical firm who used it for events and training I believe,” CJ, from Coventry, told What’s The Jam.
“I was only looking for normal panel vans at the time, but then more eccentric ideas started flowing and before I knew it I was on eBay looking at ambulances.
“When I went to view it, none of the electrics in the rear worked properly so I viewed it in the torchlight, but I knew it was ‘my van’ instantly.
“The van was only ever used for training, but I still see it as a noble van, so I make sure it has a bloody good retirement.”