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Tell us about yourself: "I'm a big first generation Dodge fan. I love my truck (a '91 W250 with a 12-valve Cummins engine) and have a list a mile long of what I'd like to do with it. I've had it on the road about 3 years now and have basically taken every bolt apart myself. I've done a cab swap, custom built a flatbed, rebuilt the transmission and tons more. I go to Princess Auto multiple times a month to get things for the truck or other projects. Over the last 4 to 5 years I've been very interested in welding. I bought a basic little 120V stick welder and can't get enough of it."
Collin certainly has the knack for building things; who would have thought of taking a discarded fridge and turn it into something fun? We can imagine the number of double-takes Collin and his girlfriend get at the sight of these amusing vehicles. Just goes to show you that creativity knows no boundaries!
Great project, Collin! Thanks for sharing it with us!
See it in actionhere and here
Q: What is it used for?
A: FUN! Just cruising around. I built the rusty one and my girlfriend wanted one too, so she got one in purple. I eventually sold both of them, as I needed the room in the garage for other projects.
Q: Where did you get such a cool and wacky idea?
A: The idea came from boredom actually. It was Christmas Eve and I was looking for something to do. I was in need of a drill press for another project and found a nice old one on Kijiji. I went to the guy's house, interrupting Christmas Eve dinner (oops!). His garage was filled with stuff and I saw a go-kart frame packed away and asked if it was also for sale. After making a deal for the drill press and go kart frame, I was heading home more than thrilled. It was still early enough to make noise, so I started tinkering. I had the first fridge in my garage for a few months. It was a project I intended to fix up and sell, maybe paint in a sports theme. Having never worked on a fridge before, I didn't know how expensive it would be to refill the Freon. I cut the lines so I could properly clean and paint: after doing some research, I found that was a big mistake. Now had a really cool looking fridge that no longer worked, and I didn't want to waste it. I'm not really sure how I got the idea to put the fridge on the go-kart frame... but after a few hours, I had the start to a little car. I already had a 5 HP Honda GX160 sitting around and got that installed. A few days later (on New Year's Day) I brought the semi-complete car to my family get-together. My cousins, some uncles and I ripped it around the street. I spent the next few weeks finishing the build. I took the body off the frame and left it in the back yard to rust until early spring. During this time, I was spraying the bare metal down with vinegar, salt water and a few other things to encourage rust. Once it warmed up enough outside, I wiped and cleaned it all off and clear coated over the rust. I then painted the gold areas, placed stickers, built the front and back windows, mirrors and everything else. After the build was done I got a lot of interest when ripping around my neighborhood. My girlfriend also liked it and joked that she would like one too. I figured since it was so much fun to build, I'd do it again. This time I had to go looking for a fridge. I found most people where asking way too much, considering I didn't want one in good running shape. I found a guy running a salvage yard (a few hour's drive away) so I made the trip out. I ended up buying two fridges from him because I got a good deal. I then needed another go-kart frame, so this time I bought a go-kart that already ran. It had brakes, wheels and a motor, so it was ready to go. I just cut the fridge and made it fit the frame. I spent more time trying to make this one look better (more of a hot rod then rat rod); I actually used some Bondo and tried to make it look clean. After a few weeks of work, I had two complete go-karts. The other fridge I bought was in great shape, so I sold it as is to a guy who painted it really nice and gave it to his best man for his wedding.
Q: What is the main power source for your project? (e.g. electric motor, gas engine etc.)
A: Two Honda gas engines: a GX160 5.5 HP and GC 160 5 HP, both from Princess Auto.
Q: What components are used to perform the work for your project? (e.g. hydraulic cylinder(s), hydraulic motor(s), sprockets, pulleys etc.)
A: Clutches, both belt and chain driven. The purple go-kart has a torque convertor as well. The head lights use an electrical switch.
Q: How long did it take you to finish one of these go-karts, start to finish?
A: From start to finish they took about a month each, but the first one took longer (Christmas to May) just because it had to rust.
Q: What design/build challenges were overcome?
A: One challenge I faced building the go-karts would be the cold. My garage is just a car port with built walls. It was a long cold Canadian winter trying to use tools, paint, Bondo and other things in -10°C or colder. There was a lot of trial and error, too. Getting the fridge from a large rectangle into the "wedge" shape of the rat rod was interesting... a lot of lifting the body off and making adjustments, reinstalling, taking it off again. This was hard to do by myself, especially when it got closer to the end and everything was getting heavy. Like I said, my garage is very small so trying to build two go karts took a lot of moving things around and back and forth to make room to work. The windows were also a challenge. The fronts are plexiglass and were ok to cut. The rear was glass and I had the one on the purple car end up cracking on me. Making the interior with enough room to get in/out and steer was a challenge too, I had to make the front end of the purple car open a bit just so there was foot space. The rusty car also has working head lights, which were pretty basic to install, but still something I've never done before.
Q: If you had to build it again, what would you do differently?
A: The only thing I would do is budget a little better and try to make them cheaper. In the end, they cost me more to make then I would have liked. I was in a bit of a rush to sell, and only posted on Kijiji. If I took the time to bring them to car shows (or something like that), I think I would have done a better job selling them.
Q: Which Princess Auto location do you visit most?
A: Mississauga, Ontario