Everything has an ‘i’ prefix these days. We have Apple to thank for this chronically unimaginative naming convention, which has now infiltrated cars too (we’re looking at you Hyundai and BMW). However before Apple stuck an ‘i’ in front of generic words like ‘phone’, ‘i’ meant something.

Take ‘I-beam’ for example, which featured no marketing-focus-groups to determine its name, and simply meant two wheels attached to a suspended straight beam. Because it was really cheap. And it was the shape of the letter ‘I’.

Modern vehicles use far more sophisticated suspension of course. Except when they don’t, and ‘I-beam’ is renamed ‘Torsion Bar’, because it sounds fancier. Or it did until Apple came along.

Anyway, ‘I-beams are pretty rare at the front of vehicles these days, but Eurobricks’ paave has created a vehicle that kicks it old-school, with brilliantly off-roady I-beam front suspension, live axle rear suspension, HOG steering, a working piston engine, and opening and locking doors.

Building instructions are available and there’s more of paave’s creation to see at the Eurobricks forum at the link above and via the video below, which shows the I-beam suspension in action.

YouTube Video

*Seven hundred TLCB points if you’ve figured out today’s title.