A car converted to run only on coffee has completed its showpiece cross-country trip from London to Manchester - though it wasn't exactly an espresso journey.
The 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco - nicknamed the Car-puccino - had been built by the boffins behind BBC1 science show Bang Goes the Theory, to showcase other fuelling options to petrol and diesel.
However the vehicle - chosen because of its supposed resemblance to the time-travelling DeLorean in the Back to the Future films - didn't prove a latte fun for the team, apparently running out of beans on the M1, the Telegraph reports.
Driver and Bang Goes the Theory front-man Jem Stansfield may have had good grounds for cursing his caffeine-fuelled creation. The vehicle allegedly broke down up to four times en route, including a two-hour stint outside Birmingham.
The eccentric engineer, who is no stranger to oddly-conceived contraptions having previously built "boots that walk on water" and "the world's first air-powered motorbike", also had traffic jams to add to his mechanical tribulations. All the delays meant he had to abandon a more involved schedule and press on straight to his destination, The Big Bang fair in Manchester.
However, the plucky presenter took it all in good humour, telling the team that "perseverance is the key, and we've just got to keep going".
Prior to the undertaking, the car was anticipated to make its way through the equivalent of 11,760 espressos during the 210-mile journey.
Team member Francesca Bennett, who was on the road for the attempt, said: "It's not the most reliable form of transport, but we knew that.
"This is the first time this has been done and it wasn't about reliability.
"It was about energy and making people think about how they use it."
