Friend Wood is a man with a passion and a man with a mission. His passion centres on cars with wooden chassis designed by the late Frank Costin – and his mission is to ensure that the name of the aeroplane and racing car designer and engineer lives on.
Friend is named after an organic farmer and has been interested in timber since a very early age. He recalled: ‘When I was about two-and-a-half, I nailed two bits of wood together and called it a plane, and I have been interested ever since.’
He did a carpentry and joinery apprenticeship with a builder, then went to work with a furniture maker. Several years ago he branched out on his own and has since divided his time working on the family farm in Pembrokeshire, Wales, and designing and making furniture.
Everything he makes is bespoke and he is a firm believer in ‘the reduction of losses’ – caring strongly for the environment. ‘It can apply to every aspect of our lives and we do not need to be wasteful,’ he said.
His fascination with wooden cars began some 15 years ago when he read a book about Frank Costin’s work. He said: ‘I was really interested in the idea of a car with a wooden chassis, having previously built a wooden body on to a metal chassis.’
He was into mountain bike racing at the time and managed to combine a competitive trip to Ireland with a pilgrimage to seek out his hero.
‘I was lucky enough to get to know Frank, who pioneered the monocoque car, for the last six years of his life. He was very advanced in his ideas, having been chief designer and flight engineer for the aircraft manufacturer
De Havilland, one of the world leaders in wooden aircraft.’
Frank Costin was very much a hands-on engineer and Friend recalls: ‘He had a definition of what makes a true engineer – the knowledge to design, the knowledge to build and the ability to test.’
The monocoque car – a vehicle in which all or most of the load is taken by the skin and which has no separate chassis and body – is based on torsion boxes and Friend was quick to learn the principles of its construction.
Friend said: ‘I studied how Frank did his structures and he told me it would cost about £3,000 for him to design one for me. So I came home and designed and built my own.’
The astonishing result was a car with a wooden chassis and a stupendous body made from mahogany – the all wooden car.
Friend said: ‘I took Frank’s construction methods and aerodynamics on board and created my own design.’
A visit to a local boatbuilder and a quick read of another book taught him the basics of cold moulding veneer and he set about making the cigar-shaped mould of a body shell. It was painstaking work, taking him 200 hours to complete and a further 625 hours to laminate in three layers of mahogany veneer.
He said: ‘I did have a letter from someone expressing concern that I had used mahogany – but first of all it came from a sustainable source and, secondly, I only used the equivalent of one-and-a-half doors!’
He stapled the thin strips of mahogany veneer to the mould then edge glued the first skin with an epoxy resin, face glued the second skin, and put a third skin over that.
Friend believes the result is the most advanced vehicle ever made. ‘It is lightweight, efficient and thoroughly practical.’
The engine and suspension belonged to a Citroen 2CV – and he has lost count of how many he has ‘cannibalised’ for his wooden vehicles. The engine, electronics, suspension and steering are held in place by a chassis made of box-section timber.
Friend says: ‘The wooden car is three-quarters of the weight of a 2CV. The top book speed for a 2CV is 68mph, but my car will do 101.75mph – and that is simply through reducing losses.’
The aerodynamic shape – the car is more than 13ft long – has reduced the drag drastically, and Friend gets 75mpg with two people on board. Another plus-factor is that because it has only three wheels, it is taxed as a motorbike.
‘All the mechanical stuff in the vehicle is recycled, so the amount of energy involved is tiny,’ he said.
‘When I built the vehicle there wasn’t anything on the market that I wanted – and if there had been I probably wouldn’t have been able to afford it.’
He started driving his wooden car in 1989, since when he has covered more than 62,000 miles. ‘I use it most days and it is bearing up well.’
In real terms a wooden car would cost between £25,000 and £30,000 to make as it requires some 2,000 hours alone. Friend has been asked to make more, but said: ‘To do one job taking that long is too much like putting all your eggs in one basket.’
So his vehicle remains unique – a tribute to Frank Costin but also a tribute to the dedication of Friend.
