When you think about your next off-road camping vehicle setup, what do you think of?
There are a number of answers to this question. But I'm guessing that most of us probably don't think Honda Gold Wing. And also, that even fewer of us think that a wooden buggy from the 1800s is what we want to haul behind said Gold Wing.
If you've never seen a Matt Spears video Gold Wing video before, you're in for a treat. It's not quite as nuts as his enduro riding on the bike, which he's very appropriately nicknamed Piggy. But really, you probably don't get too nuts when you're hauling something behind you, either.
In this case, Piggy is hauling Spears' latest Facebook Marketplace find, which is a wooden buggy made sometime in the 1800s. According to him, the seller wanted $500, mainly because the rather cushy leather seat had recently been reupholstered. The main issues with it were some wheel slop, particularly in the front wheels, but he was soon able to solve it by carving up some new leather washers (!) to fit into place inside the hubs.
He's also brought his girlfriend along for this camping adventure. The goal: See if they can make it 100 miles with the buggy still remaining in one piece.
As you can see in the still, even before you watch the video, it's a spindly-looking affair. So, your first instinct might be to doubt whether it's truly up to the task, especially since we don't know what the dirt roads they're traveling on will be like as they get further along.
But both Spears and his girlfriend seem thoroughly unfazed. Maybe it's because they know these roads well, or maybe it's just their nature to be supremely unbothered. Still, if you think about it, dirt roads were totally normal when this carriage would have been new. It's what the thing was built for, most likely.
Have manufacturing and materials changed significantly since it was built? Sure, but talk to anyone who's used vintage tools and newer tools and they'll probably tell you at least one story about how some older stuff is, in fact, more built to last than some things are now. That for all our technological advances, planned obsolescence may not necessarily have been baked in when this carriage was built.
I can't say that for sure, of course. But the thing holds up surprisingly well, and there are points where the confluence of things in this video almost feels like some sort of strange fever dream, where all these things that wouldn't normally go together are happening at once and forming some type of narrative. There's a camping trip with a Gold Wing hauling a 19th-century buggy! And then, someone has to go to work, so they leave! And then, there's a fire and it's RIGHT THERE!
Nowhere in this video's description does it mention the name "David Lynch," but you might just wonder about that by the end.
