Big Banana Car Makes Its World Debut at Coopersburg Diner

If you happen to see a big yellow banana car around town, don’t be surprised. The unusual fruit-shaped vehicle made its official debut April 16 at the Coopersburg Diner on Rt. 309, for those who were tough enough to brave the rain that day.

For the past two years, Steve Braithwaite, an Oxford, England native, has made it his mission to create the most outlandish hotrod he could imagine.

Ever since seeing the film “American Graffiti” when he was 14, Braithwaite said he has had a great appreciation for American hotrod cars and wanted to build something “ridiculous.” 

“I was just in a gas station one day, and there was a bowl of fruit there. I was looking at the bananas realizing the bananas at the front of the bunch curve to the back and then run fairly straight. And I was thinking, I could build a car version of that,” Braithwaite recalled.

His ultimate goal is to successfuly drive the “big banana car” (aka “BBC”) around the globe in support of a cause that is important to him: awareness of the life-threatening medical condition deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

DVT is caused by the formation of a blood clot in a deep vein, and it claimed the life of Braithwaite's mother several years ago.

Ironically, she had just won a battle with breast cancer and was traveling from England to the U.S. to celebrate with her sons when she was stricken.

Braithwaite and his brother both felt that an international big banana car adventure could be an attention-grabbing way of spreading awareness of the medical condition, which is said to occur in 1 in 1,000 persons per year.

“We’d like to give people rides for part of the trip and have them make a donation of whatever they’d like per mile. Half the money will go toward DVT awareness and half will go toward the 'Big Banana' trip," Braithwaite explained. "We’re also going to be selling t-shirts. Our website is bigbananacar.com and you can buy t-shirts and all sorts of other things."

Braithwaite said he decided to kick off plans for the world tour in Coopersburg because of his friendship with borough resident Liz O’Neill, who offered him the use of her four-car workshop for the completion of the car.

“She was so helpful and enthusiastic about the whole project that she’s coming along (on the trip),” Braithwaite said.

O’Neill hopes to photograph the entire journey and plans to write several children’s books about it upon her return.

Local business owner Ron Kutt has assisted Braithwaite with the technical requirements of the build. Kutt, a third generation part-time welder originally from Coopersburg, now lives in Sellersville, where he owns a business called RK Services.

Kutt first heard of Braithwaite’s idea through a mutual friend. From the description of the project, he thought he would be working on a dune buggy of sorts. Upon his arrival at the workshop, he realized his assumption was drastically incorrect.

“Much to my surprise when I came to look at it, it wasn’t a dune buggy at all. He (Braithwaite) asked me what I thought, and I was reluctant to tell him it looked like a big banana, thinking who in their right mind would build a big banana? Well, low and behold here we are with a big banana, so it kind of took off from there,” Kutt said.

The BBC is built on the frame of a 1993 Ford F-150 pickup truck, which gives it four-wheel drive capabilities. The seats were taken from an old Pontiac Fiero. With a 302 cubic-inch V8 engine under the ‘peel,’ this banana has some power.

Braithwaite and Kutt both agreed that the car is safe and capable enough to make the journey across seas.

“We’ve made really good strong-mounted seat belts and crash cages for each passenger, so it should be fine,” Braithwaite said.

The body of the car was made via a method used to make props for movies, in which a skeleton is built out of rebar, covered with chicken wire, sprayed with urethane foam, sculpted in the desired shape, and then finished with a fiberglass overlay.

“There’s structural steel in there in the unlikely event of an accident. We designed with safety in mind as much as possible," Kutt explained. "Since this thing is going around the world, we don’t want any issues. We want to make sure it’s durable and going to hold up for the long haul."

The big banana car will have just enough cargo space for each of its four passengers to bring along a tent and backpack. Neoprene covers will prevent damp seats, although the passengers will rely on “rain slickers” to stay as dry as possible during the ride.

Even with the slickers, “we’re gonna get wet,” Braithwaite confessed.

Rick Willens, a local airbrush artist, completed the finishing touches to the car on April 15, just one day before it made its debut at the diner. It took him five hours to transform the elongated hotrod into an "a-peeling" looking banana.

While the car was being completed, Steve's brother Spade accepted a management position at a resort in Costa Rica, which means he is currently unable to embark on the three to four month around-the-world trip.

Braithwaite is planning to fill Spade's seat with a “qualified” passenger who can apply to join the trip via the big banana car website. A videographer who will document the journey with plans to create a film about the trip will occupy the fourth seat.

Braithwaite plans to blog and keep a journal throughout their travels. He’s also hoping a film crew will follow them in a chase vehicle to document the expedition.

“If you drive a big banana around the world, it has to end up on TV," he reasoned. "However, if that turns out to be true or not, we’ll see.”

Braithwaite remarked that somebody once asked him why he would want to drive around the world. “My answer was the same answer the mountain climbers give. Because it’s there. If the world wasn’t there, then we’d have to find somewhere else to drive.”

When asked what he is most looking forward to encountering during his upcoming travels in the big banana car, Braithwaite replied, “Border guards."

To learn more about the Big Banana Car's journey, visit www.bigbananacar.com or follow them on Facebook.