A Truck that Runs on Wood Fuel: For the Truly Desperate

When gas prices are high and you’re desperate enough to just not give a f#!k, rigging your vehicle to run on wood fuel might just be your answer. All you need are some materials you’ve probably got laying around in your garage, and a lot of patience, because you’re going to be throwing trees into this thing like there’s no tomorrow.

A listener to the Coast to Coast AM with George Noory radio program, Dave B., submitted this photo along with a few others and had this to say about it:

I ran into this interesting character today at my local farmers market that drove up in an old pickup with a crazy looking contraption in the bed of the truck composed of ducting, PVC pipe, a 50 gallon drum, an old furnace, and of course, a lot of duct tape among other many other things.

I had to ask him what in the world was on the back of his truck. It was a wood burning oven that catches the combustible fumes from the wood coals, condenses any moisture, then feeds the fumes into the engine to make it run. I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it.

Apparently this is a concept that was engineered back in WWII when there were fuel supply shortages. I have never heard of it.

Probably would not be good if we all did it, but at least I know there is someone in town with a truck that will run no matter what happens with gasoline.

You gotta hand it to the guy for ingenuity. The setup looks like a traveling moonshine still. If this isn’t giving Big Oil the middle finger, I don’t know what is. It’s not very practical, and the emissions factor makes it less than an eco-friendly choice, but it’s definitely funny.

[Update!] Back in 1981, Mother Earth News published this piece on using firewood to fuel a truck. A guy named Chicken John also has one with a pretty interesting setup

Link [Coast to Coast AM with George Noory]
Photo credit: Dave B., submitted to Coast to Coast AM with George Noory

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