My Doctor Who Tardis Soapbox Car
I’m not what you’d call “handy” or “crafty” or generally “a maker” of any sort. So I’m not sure what inspired me to try to build a soapbox car other than how much fun The 2nd Annual Madison Soapbox Derby here in Decatur, Ga., looked in this video. So I signed my three kids up for the 3rd annual race this past weekend.
We chose the Doctor Who Tardis, partly because I love Doctor Who and partly because building a box seemed easier than, say, this Star Wars fighter:
Some quick online research found plenty of people who had built a replica Tardis, but no one who’d tried to make it roll down a hill with their child inside.
I started by buying a whole lot of lumber on my first of many trips to Home Depot, Lowe’s, Ace Hardware and Hancock Fabircs—all of whom should sponsor next year’s race. (This year’s race raised more than $10,000 for the local Boys and Girls Club). Building the box and attaching wheels and axels (threaded 1/2” pipes) was fairly straightforward, but I still had no idea who to give this thing breaks and steering.