Getting into the festive spirit, fabrication specialists Fineline have built a special 10-foot long by 2 feet wide diameter internally illuminated Christmas cracker that can be mounted on top of a London Taxi.
Fineline was contacted by Sexycracker’s Leigh Kulik, who was trying to find a company to realize her idea, "Everybody else I approached just laughed at me," she recalls.
The cracker is part of a promotional campaign for a new range of Christmas crackers containing sex aids. The taxi’s purpose is to raise awareness for the website Sexy Cracker which supports breast cancer research.
Fineline’s Dave Harris jumped at the opportunity of another quirky project!
The cracker had to be manufactured in three parts, so it could be dismantled and stored in the taxi for security and travel, when not in use
The body of the cracker was made by rolling 3mm opaque polycarbonate, around a series of 8mm polycarbonate central support rings before it was glued, plastic welded, and screwed into position.
The truncated cone shaped ends were produced in the same way. It was then covered in vinyl to get a translucent pink finish. All the parts were machined on one of Fineline’s three-axis routers.
It is internally lit with three mains powered fluorescent tubes fitted inside the body (one at 4 feett and two at 2 feet) and mounted on a custom designed suspension system to deal with vibrations, bumps, etc. The tubes are powered from an inverter mounted inside the cab.
The roof mounted “Taxi” sign was replaced with a custom made similar style pink sign, saying “Sexy.”
The cracker is attached to the taxi via the polycarbonate supports which are fixed to the roof, and the whole thing is then secured with cam straps around the body of the cracker and through the supports.
Specific parts of the taxi such as the front grill and hub caps were also sprayed pink by Fineline to continue the theme.
The client is absolutely delighted with the result, and the vehicle is guaranteed to create plenty of attention, although anyone haling it down may get a slightly different experience to the one they were expecting, as it is not actually being used as a taxi.