A Florida-based custom car designer is now on par with Elon Musk as he is now creating vehicles that can be converted like spacecraft.
Innovative Michael Vetter puts an extraterrestrial twist to ‘donor cars’ from paying customers by making a series of modifications to the road models.
He called his creations ‘ETVs’
Michael, 42, has his own custom car garage, The Car Factory, in Micco, Florida. He came up with the creative idea after the birth of his daughter when he was unable to fit in her car-seat into his sports car.
He started to build ETVs in 1998 as his sole source of income. Now, he has converted everything ranging from Toyota Prius to a Porsche Boxster into one of his ETVs.
His futuristic models have been sold for as much as $75,000 to a staggering $250,000
Michael begins the process with just an ordinary car model before extending the chassis
The old body is stripped off and extra section is welded in place to make the car longer
He uses fibreglass to form the bodies.
They are then lifted onto the car before they are sprayed
Once the new bodies mated with the chassis, the car looks like a brand new vehicle from the space movie
The curved fibreglass makes his cars look like out of this world
All of his creations are road legal and can be driven up to a maximum speed of 160 kph
The ETVs have engines ranging from 98 bhp to an insane 300 bhp unit
Michael took his inspiration from the 1950s Mercedes when he created the gull wing doors for the ETVs
It is very easy for Michael to develop new designs as he uses fibreglass for the bodies
Michael welds a tubular steel frame to the chassis which then holds the car’s body safely in place
According to Michael, the cars can even be supplied in a right-hand-drive version for the UK and Japan
His unique creations have attracted thousands of people around the world
Micahel said: ‘The modifications I make to the donor car usually include cutting the car in half and stretching it to get a longer wheel base.
“I use steel tubular metal to build a complete new frame inside of my custom fiberglass body. I fiberglass this frame to the body, and then weld this frame to the donor car in at least 20 places.”
“I try to find headlights from other cars. The ETV glass however has to all be custom made. This is a very expensive endeavour.”
“Next, I usually build my own door hinges from scratch out of steel and or aluminum.”
It is no doubt that Michael’s creations are absolutely intriguing and innovative. So, are you interested to modify your car and turn it into one of the ETVs?
Watch the video below to find out more about the ETVs
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