Peter's Design

Wood Roadster was a one-off Romanian wooden-bodied roadster developed in the mid-2010s by carpenter and singer Péter Szabó in Corunca near Târgu Mureș. Nicknamed “Julia,” the four-seat car used an adapted Ford Taunus chassis and a 2.3-liter Ford V6, while its body, dashboard, steering wheel and numerous trim pieces were hand-carved from ash. The project aimed to combine classic styling with simple modern features—most notably a tablet-based interface controlling functions such as lighting—while remaining fully driveable and road-legal in Romania. Julia appeared publicly at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show and drew international attention as a functioning wood-bodied special rather than a static design exercise.

According to period accounts, the car took roughly three to four years and over 4,500 hours to complete, with out-of-pocket costs reported around €18,000–20,000. Components were sourced pragmatically: reports consistently cited a Mercedes-sourced windshield and Ford Taunus powertrain, while sources differed on the seats (reworked Mercedes seats versus Ford Probe seats). No series production followed, and Wood Roadster remained a single-vehicle endeavor.