Follow-up file: Book tracks ‘garage team’s’ electric car saga

In 2010, a team of volunteers, using their own time and money, finished building an electric car from scratch in a converted pole barn near Divernon. They placed second in the mainstream class of the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive XPRIZE competition, the aim of which was to build a 100 mpg-equivalent (MPGe) vehicle.

A clutch malfunction kept the garage team called Illuminati Motor Works and their car, Seven, from possible fame and riches. The car has since been rated at 207 MPGe during testing at Chryslers proving grounds in Michigan.

Whats new?

Now the team and their electric car are among four featured in a new book, Ingenious: A True Story of Invention, Automotive Daring, and the Race to Revive America, by Philadelphia-based Jason Fagone and printed by Crown Publishing.

The book, published last week, was No. 2 in both the automotive racing and automotive technology categories at Amazon.com.

Kevin Smith, Illuminati Motor Works team leader, said Fagone started following the team in late 2009 or early 2010.

Its really cool, that out of all the teams (more than 100 started the competition) hed choose us as one to follow, Smith said. Its exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time because now theres a portion of your life out there that you never thought would be public.

People love the handmade nature of the Illuminati car, said Fagone. The steel that was forged in the wood-burning stove. The welds and the foam and the custom fiberglass body. It kind of blows their mind, like it blew my mind when I first saw the car back in 2010.

Theyre surprised that, one, you can actually make a car this way, completely from scratch, and two, that the car performed as well as it did. ... And when I explain how little money it cost, and how much of it was scavenged from scrap yards, people are like: Why isnt this a real car? Theyre frustrated, I think, but also inspired, because they see whats possible, Fagone said.

Smith will accompany Fagone on an East Coast book-signing tour Dec. 8 to Dec. 16 and anticipates a similar area event in late spring or early summer 2014.

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Follow-up file: Book tracks ‘garage team’s’ electric car saga