A renegade form of alternative transportation was outlawed in Toronto when the driver of a pedal-powered car was pulled over by local police. (According to the cop, “The safety factor [of the vehicle] is….unsafe.”) The car, which uses muscle power in lieu of a motor, is propelled by four independent pedal and gear systems that are set inside of its metal body.
The alterna-car, a 1986 Buick Regal, was designed by artist Michel de Broin and was being displayed as part of a touring gallery exhibit in Toronto. Broin removed the engine, suspension, transmission and electrical system in the car – all of which the artist calls “superfluous devices,” and replaced these motorized mechanisms with the human-powered pedals and gears.
Fred Flinstone would be proud.