Michigan resident Steve Braithwaite stopped in Santa Ynez Valley as part of nationwide tour with fruit-shaped vehicle
“Somewhere in the world a huge banana is speeding down a lonesome highway,” is the message on the home page of a website at bigbananacar.com. On the weekend of Feb. 21-22, that “somewhere” was Buellton.
For those who saw the long yellow vehicle traveling around Buellton streets, the banana car is the creation of one Steve Braithwaite, a 65-year-old Manitou Beach, Michigan, resident originally from Oxford, England.
“I’m a hot rodder, but I stopped going to hot rod shows,” said Braithwaite, his British accent still intact despite being in the U.S. for 40 years. “However, I was watching the British version of ‘Top Gear’ and they had the world’s fastest garden shed, and then not too long after, a drivable street-legal couch. So I started to think ‘what can I build that’s ridiculous?'”
Inspiration suddenly struck while waiting in line at a gas-station mini-mart.
“I was in line at checkout and saw a bowl of fruit, and the long banana was in there and I picked it up and started envisioning how it would look on wheels,” Braithwaite recalled. “I got so caught up in that, I didn’t realize the people in front of me already left and the rest were waiting for me to go up and pay for my stuff. But that’s when I got the idea.”
Braithwaite was able to acquire a 1993 F-150 pickup that eventually become the Big Banana Car.
“I built the Big Banana Car over a two-plus-year period starting in 2008 and, with the help of a close group of friends, finished the car in the spring of 2011,” he said.
The result is a vehicle that fits its name: Long, yellow, and a paint job that depicts a real banana, including touches of green that mimics the fruit’s aging process. The driver’s seat is at the very front, with three passenger seats in single file behind it, and the banana “stem” curving upwards in the back.
Braithwaite left his home back in November 2025 and has been making stops at various cities, offering free rides in his unique set of wheels to anyone who asks.
“I’ve been driving around the country and people ask why I do this,” he said. “Once I rode a motorcyle across India, which is a silly thing, but it inspired me to do an ‘RTW,’ which means ’round the world, and do it in the banana car.
“It’s a two-part plan. First, build the car, and I’ve done that, and go around the world, which I haven’t done yet, but I have driven all over this country, and been in every state except Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the Northeast, and Oregon, Washington, and Idaho in the Northwest.”
In his travels, he’s been part of two Christmas parades, and even went south of the border for part of the trip.
“Everyone down there was really nice, even the countless number of cops who pulled me over,” Braithwaite said.
For his stay in Buellton, Braithwaite was able to find a couple in Solvang as “couch-surfing hosts,” and was able to display his car in the parking lot of McDonald’s on McMurray Way. Free rides were available, although Braithwaite admitted things were slow. “I think it might have been because of the recent rainy weather,” he said.
This reporter took Braithwaite up on the offer for a ride and took his seat, which reminded one of a seat on a thrill ride. The five-minute drive to Highway 246 to Avenue of Flags and back to McDonald’s offered plenty of attention from fellow motorists, with honks and positive “thumbs-up” gestures in ample supply.
After leaving Buellton on Feb. 23, Braithwaite headed to Salinas and Monterey County. If you would like to follow his progress, you can go to his Facebook page, where he claims to have 38,000 followers, at www.facebook.com/BigBananaCar/. He said he would like to continue on up to the Pacific Northwest, but that’s dependent on find some more “couch-surfing hosts” up that way.
Braithwaite also has his website, bigbananacar.com/, where you can find his social media links, read up on the history of the car, and even purchases merchandise to support his trip.
While Braithwaite is currently enjoying the “fruits” of his labor in building the banana car, he said he has another vehicle that is “85 percent finished.” He doesn’t offer many details on the new wheels except that its a “diesel punk” vehicle called the Starfield Dragonwing Intergalactic Speedster. So, who knows, we might by seeing it sometime in the future in the Santa Ynez Valley.
