This boy from Ghana took DIY to a whole other level by making his own Car from scratch. He discovered his passion for building and machines at the age of 10. Everyone made fun of him when he started his journey of making his very own car. Well, nine years later, Kelvin Odartei Cruickshank proved everyone wrong by building his own car that he calls the Kelvin Mobile. Cool name.
Kelvin lives in the neighborhood of Accra in Ghana. He came from a low-income family and his neighborhood was the same. Still, when he discovered his passion for machines, not even poverty could stop him, let alone the criticism of his peers. Kelvin said that “From the beginning, when I started with the project, many people thought l was going mad. They were saying how can a young Ghanaian boy build a car, this was madness to them”.
Kelvin further said that “I decided to make my own car because I realized l had the passion for creating machines and I wanted to make something beyond what I had done before”. In order to come up with the pieces he needed, Kelvin had to take many odd jobs over the year. He worked as a street hawker, sold drinks on the roadside, and regularly collected scrap materials from local dust bins and the scrap yards.
According to Kelvin, “The hardest parts of the car [to build] were the frame, the chassis, and the engine seat. These parts were made from iron rods, square pipes, and round pipes. They were made to provide the vehicle with good strength to prevent accidents”. The engine was the most expensive part. Kelvin put in a 300hp engine, housed at the front of his Kelvin Mobile. Kelvin estimated that the car almost cost him around $3000.
You can check the video below to see one of many test drives Kelvin made with his car.
Kelvin has now been compared to the likes of Elon Musk and Jack Lee. Kelvin claims that his dream was to become a renowned engineer as well as a car manufacturer in the future. He said that he also aims to build “a new [car] from scratch that will be more advanced than the previous one”.
Kelvin has already set up Airfunding campaigns to help him raise money. So far the campaign has reached $1,193 of its $2,000 goal.
And here I was busy playing Call of Duty when I was 15.