Wood Turning

Fred Flintstones Car

The Flintmobile is Fred Flintstone’s car on the classic TV show. I made this model of the car that is 9” long by 7 1/2” tall using maple, walnut, and bocote hardwood, plus some leather accents.

The wheels are turned from a maple spindle. Not so much “wheels” as they are large cylinders, you’ll only need two of these. I started with a 2” square piece at 9” long, turned it round, added finish, and drilled it out while it was still on the lathe. Then I cut it in half.

The axles are made from a contrasting wood (Bocote in this case). These do not go all the way through the wheels, but instead cap each end and join them to the frame. It helps to turn a small knob on each end to act as a sort of hubcap. Make four of these.Check the size of the through hole on the wheels, then make the axle slightly smaller. It’s a good idea to start too large and keep reducing the size until they fits tight.

For the canopy, I turned 4 Bocote spindles the top ones I made a small bead at one end. The bead will be used to connect them to the two uprights. You’ll need to drill a 1/8″ hole in each bead, and a small 1/16″ hole in each end of all 4 spindles for threading on the canopy. These are simple sticks that fit to holes drilled in the frame and hold up the canopy leather.

The sides are supposed to look like logs. I drew a rough log shape onto the wood, then cut it on the bandsaw and refined the edge with a spindle sander. Make sure the notches in each end are large enough to accept the hub caps. The exact dimensions aren’t important as long as everything fits together well. Mine are 8 1/4″

I used a piece of burl for the seats and dashboard to approximate the look of the stone slabs from the cartoon. The seat backs are simply flat pieces cut to size on the bandsaw. The burl at the top gives it some character. I cut a small tenon on to the bottom so I could join them to the seats.For the seats themselves, I cut another flat piece, then added a small mortise by drilling out the desired area. This makes it very easy to join the seats and seat backs.

Fred needs a way to steer, so I used a scrap of Bocote to create a bone-shaped steering wheel and glued it to the dashboard.

That’s it for the wooden pieces. Join everything together with wood glue, being careful not to use too much. Apply clamps to hold the pieces together as they dry.

The last detail is the leather for the canopy. Simply cut a piece of craft leather to fit, then use a sewing needle to roughly stitch it to the frame. Remember, you’re approximating the work of a cartoon caveman — not everything has to be perfect.Cut a hole for the rear window and this part is finished.

I used Howard beeswax for the finish.

That’s it!

I had fun making this project, even if it is a little silly. Silly isn’t a bad thing. Woodworking should be fun.If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section. Thanks!