As adults, we’re quick to say things were so much cooler when we were kids. They just don’t make toys, cartoons and games like they used to. But then we never had a ride as sweet as 5-year-old Evan Burgess.
When Evan wore out the tires on his three-year-old Fisher-Price Power Wheels car, based on Cars character Lightning McQueen, his father didn’t toss it to the side. Instead, Sean Burgess, co-owner of FFTec Motorsports located just off of Whipple Road on the Hayward-Union City border, gave the car a jaw-dropping overhaul, converting it into a tiny electric race car that mashes up to 10 mph.
“We like to push the boundaries on just about every car we work with,” read a blog post on the FFTec website about the toy’s upgrade. “We build cars to make the most horsepower, reliability, with high quality and great attention to detail. This project is pushing boundaries in more ways than one. We believe the electric vehicles are the wave of the future, and this project falls directly in line with ‘future tuning’. You won't find a build like this anywhere else.”
Evan’s rebooted Lightning McQueen is now equipped with steel rims and rubber tires, a 500-watt .66 horsepower electric motor, an aluminum subframe and 24-volt electric batteries, among other modifications.
A video showing the car cruising “before” at a snail pace and gunning “after” on a race track made its rounds online last week, earning it a feature on Yahoo!’s homepage and a segment on a popular TV show.
On Monday morning, TV newsmagazine Right This Minute featured an interview with the local father and son duo, touting Sean as the “father of the year.”
“It was a lot of fun. He’s always wanted to play with cars at the shop,” Sean told the Right This Minute crew when asked about building the car with his son.
As for Evan, asked if he wanted to be a race car driver, the 5-year-old responded: “A TV star.” He's already there.
Watch the original YouTube clip of Evan’s Power Wheels above.
See Evan and Sean Burgess on Right This Minute here.
Check out photos from the modification process here.
For more information, visit www.FFTec.com.
