The V90 Barbie Vette

This is the V90 Barbie Vette, used by Net Surfer Barbie. In it she can cruise the information superhighway in comfort. Notice the books Barbie is referencing: "The Internet for Blondies" and "101 Chatrooms for the Single and Desperate, An AOL Guide".

Construction Staff
Design Engineer/Builder: Adam W. Christopher (me)
Assistant: Michele E. Christopher (my daughter age 9)
Artist/Designer: Easter P. Christopher (my wife)

The purpose of our team was to have fun together while building/modifying a vehicle to carry computer mice. Michele donated her Barbie Corvette to the project with the stipulation that it not be irreperably damaged. We then set out to power the Vette up with mousetraps. After attaching a holding rack at the back of the vehicle (allowing for quick and easy mousetrap "engine" changeouts) we put together a 2-trap and a 3-trap "engine" for the car.
On our best run, the car carried 7 computer mice with the legal 2-trap engine. (The 3-trap engine carried a 17-mouse equivalent brick.)
7 was the most that would fit without falling out as soon as the vehicle started moving. See them all spilling out onto the hood.

To modify this project to carry more mice would have required starting with a different vehicle from scratch, or severely altering/modifying the existing vehicle. We could have put ball-bearings on our wheels, reduced the vehicle mass, or geared our power transmission differently.

Price Sheet
Barbie Corvette (approximately) $12.00
Mousetraps (bag of four) $0.80
Glue, String, Coathangers, Lockwire, etc. $0.00

Total = $12.80
(which is considerably less than the $20.00 dollar spending cap)

To make this a better contest, the number of mice to be carried for maximum points would need to be changed to 20 or 25.