Would You Pitch In To See The First Drivable Off-Road Hot Tub Race?

Take a look at this rig. What do you see? Chances are you’d say a late 60s Cadillac and if you were even more technically oriented, you might even say that it’s a Coupe DeVille. What you probably wouldn’t say is that it’s an off-road hot tub on wheels, but look closely and you’ll see that’s exactly what this is. But it’s not just any vehicle that has been converted into a true driveable hot tub. Actually, it’s set to be the first (and possibly only) hot tub to ever attempt a land-speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats this year, but the awesome folks looking to make that happen need your help!

It’s not every day that you see a hot tub on wheels, let alone one that can drive around the block. And its especially not every day that you find a one looking to be the fastest and possibly only legit off-road hot tub in the world. Ironically, that’s exactly what this is and the engineers behind the unique project are reaching out to the public on KickStarter to help them make the trip to the 2014 SCTA Speed Week possible.

A Bit of Background

In 1996, a handful of McMaster University engineering students found themselves faced with a 1982 Chevy Malibu abandoned at a student house near campus. But instead of having the car towed away at their expense, the students conjured up the idea to turn the car into a driveable and fully functional hot tub.

Not surprisingly, this idea came after some drinking and really wasn’t something they intended on following through with until fellow students started showing up with tools to start the conversion the next day. The result was The Carpool–a hot tub the students drove and parked at parties, football games and the like.

In 2001, The Carpool made an appearance at the Canadian International Auto Show where, seeing this unique contraption, the Southern California Timing Association invited the engineering students to bring the car out to the Bonneville Salt Flats to run the course. If the students did so, the SCTA promised to name the car the World’s Fastest Hot Tub.

Unfortunately, life happened and the car never made it to The Salt. Over the years, the hot tub on wheels eroded away with unsuccessful attempts to build a new one.

That was until 2008 when a group of enthusiasts, including some of the originals, got together and started building a hot tub that could truly race at Bonneville out of a flooded-out 1969 Cadillac Coupe DeVille.

Where You Come In

The car took a lot of work, including removing all the inner workings of the Cadi, installing steel reinforcements to help support all the hot tub’s water, creating a tub and securing it into the vehicle, making a custom air-ride suspension system, and installing a killer 472ci engine between the fenders. Now that the next-generation Carpool, named Carpool DeVille, is complete, the crew behind it just has one problem- they need the funds to get them to Bonneville for this year’s Speed Week.

Through their KickStarter page, The Carpool DeVille’s crew is seeking to get $10,000 donated by July 11th to help them pay for renting a trailer, tow vehicle and RV to get the hot tub out to Speedweek and allow them to stay for a full week, fuel for the required vehicles, race fees, food and other necessities like cases of water, and the safety gear required for the driver of The Carpool to actually race. Any money they raise over that will go towards bringing some McMaster University students out with the crew and reimburse much of the self-funded project thus far.

The Carpool KickStarter page will be open through July 11th and already has 48 backers for a total of just over $3,000 raised. Now the question for you is how much do you want to see this crazy off-road hot tub vehicle race at Speed Week and will you help the crew behind it all finally make it happen?

 

About the author

Lindsey Fisher

Lindsey is a freelance writer and lover of anything with a rumble. Hot rods, muscle cars, motorcycles - she's owned and driven it all. When she's not busy writing about them, she's out in her garage wrenching away. Who doesn't love a tech-savy gal that knows her way around a garage?
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