For sale right now in Arizona is a deeply, deeply bizarre machine that is apparently somehow street legal. It’s a 2001 Acura MDX that has been hacked up and outfitted with plywood panels in a way that makes the vehicle look similar to Tesla’s Cybertruck. Here, take a peek at this incredible monstrosity for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $2,600.
There has never been a vehicle whose concept debut has led to as many replicas as the Cybertruck’s. It seems like everyone, especially on YouTube, has built some kind of fake Cybertruck, in part to cash in on the viral nature of Elon Musk’s silly angular pickup, and in part because it’s pretty damn easy to make a replica of something without curves. The fact that this person used plywood says it all:
Actually, I have to admit that this is significantly nicer than what I could have built, especially if I had this to start with:
To pull this off, it’s clear the builder went through quite a few sawzall blades, trimming the corners of the C-pillar, lopping off the D-pillars entirely, slicing much of the rear hatch, and deleting much of the roof skin. Here’s a look at where the rear seats would have been;
[Editor’s Note: At this point, David abandoned this post, ending mid-sentence, a lone semi-colon marking his parting keystroke. So it’s been handed over to me, now, with this message in Slack:
So, now it’s Torch talking, so don’t yell at David when I say something stupid [Editor’s note within an Editor’s Note: Or screw up grammar, which JT is wont to do. -DT], which I likely will.]
If the rear of this “Plybertruck” (I can’t take credit for that, the builders came up with the nickname) looks like a place one could sleep if needed, I suspect that’s because people have slept there, since it seems the Plybertruck was built to run the Gambler 500 rally, which usually includes some amount of vehicle-sleeping, and the seller notes that a Queen-sized mattress will fit back there. Actually, it’s worth seeing all the stuff the seller mentions in the ad copy, because it’s interesting, dammit:
I’m cutting down on some of my hobbies so am selling my one of a kind, world famous “Plybertruck” (Google Plybertruck, #plybertruck). This has been in national and international articles, and a couple car shows. Also has been used as recovery for flipped vehicles in dirt races. Everywhere you go people take pictures and love to talk to you about it (seriously… everywhere – even while driving).
Built for off roading for the Gambler 500, a group who cleans up trash from our public lands. Has a push button awd lock so kind of like 4 wheel drive. I’ve never gotten stuck in this thing. This unique vehicle (2001 Acura base) runs and drives perfect with 140K miles. It’s street legal that does hwy speeds easily. Current registration and insurance so that you can take it for a test drive. Clean, notarized title in hand. Will come with maintenance records. The side windows do not have any glass, but it does come with “wooden” windows to use when parked. The interior is stripped and has rzr seats. The back is also stripped, I was planning on making it into a camper. Fits a queen sized mattress! I installed a pull curtain for privacy, or use to cover up the front seats from dust/weather.
The dash lights remain on (all sensor errors from being stripped), all gauges work except gas (I use the trip meter to keep track and comes with 3/4 tank of gas), radio and window sprayer do not work (wipers do), heater works (you can drive it in winter!), has working lightbar. Tires: Offroading Ironman all country AT 245/75/17 with matching spare. Tire on vehicle have less than 800 miles, spare has 0 miles on it. Custom rear tire mount that has anti theft locks (will come with key). I spent over $800 on tires alone. You’ll also get rights to the custom AZ plate “PLYBRTK” (I’ve already released it so you can immediately get it into your name with the title transfer).
This thing is an interesting mix of clearly careful work and pleasingly janky work. Cutting all of those plywood panels isn’t trivial, and neither is getting everything mounted to the frame sturdily enough so the first trip down the highway doesn’t result in everything flying off like leaves from a tree you stuck out of your sunroof.
I mean, really, it looks good! The crease in the door panels, the angles of the front bumper, this wasn’t some half-assed angular rectangle, this was the work of someone who really looked at the damn thing, not an easy accomplishment, really, because, you know:
What makes this great is that depending on your frame of mind, this could be an affectionate homage or a very funny way to take the piss from a lot of overly-smug and often irritating Tesla cultists. I won’t tell you how you should process this hilarious thing, but I will note that this old Acura slathered in wood like some kind of low-rent cybernetic tortoise has likely had a much more demanding and rewarding life than any prototype Cybertruck has had, and, very likely, may continue to have had a more demanding and rewarding life than the vast majority of production Cybertrucks, once they get built.
And I’m sure they’re going to get started building those any moment now, right? Right?
Anyway, if you want what looks like a pretty good vehicular time and a way to irritate some Tesla fans, it’s only $2,600 away. I bet a half-dozen rattle cans of metallic silver paint could turn this thing into something that fools a lot of people from a 30 feet away, too. Just a thought.
All Plybertruck Images by Seller/Facebook Marketplace
I feel like they missed an opportunity here. They could have used particle board instead of plywood and rebadged it as the Acura MDF.
Funny and interesting for 5 minutes but buy it?Hell no.
Also the ply will look terrible in short order
You say that as if it doesn’t look terrible now
That plywood would last about a week exposed to the elements here in Florida. Maybe you could use them as templates for aluminum sheet.
I’m guessing that plywood window is pretty baseball-proof…
Back when I thought the cybertruck might eventually exist I surmised that they would use a composite substructure for the panels and then skin them in aluminum to get the look needed. I guess they could use plywood too. Someone is a step ahead.
Why get the real thing when you could have this custom beauty. They just don’t make cars covered in wood like they used to.
What i really want to know is how many hours and how much money did the ‘fabricator’ spend to create this. This would take me a 1000 hours, i’d probably loose a few digits on the table saw and it would never look this good.
Musk needs to give this guy a call and hire him. Give him resources and let him come up with greatness. Whoever did this has some incredible attention to detail. Good thing i don’t live anywhere near az. I’d be snapping this thing up in a hot min.
I’d like to see this thing parked at a supercharger please.
You know this guy was top of his class in geometry.
Too bad he didn’t spend a few more hours and bucks on aftermarket headlights and taillights. I don’t see a third brake light anywhere either.
If this was covered in aluminum sheet metal instead of organic materials this thing could actually be something you could rationalize owning.
I’d be a little nervous about the air going under the hood in that gap by the headlights when i’m doing 80 on the highway. But i bet the fastners he used hold it all down just fiiiiine.
The real question is: What is going on with that dog?!