(CNN) — You’ve probably heard of a snowmobile, but a ski car? Not so much.
A Canadian mechanic added skis to his 2006 Mercedes smart car and created a new invention.
The diesel-fueled ski car allows a driver to jet across the snow on skis at up to 44 miles per hour while staying warm. The invention was a local secret until someone snapped a photo and posted it on Reddit, where the picture went viral.
“It’s just a thought that came to me and it seemed like the right thing to do,” inventor Tod Anderson said. “It’s a rear-drive, rear-engine car, so it’s ideal for this sort of thing. The whole point of this exercise was to see if it could be done.”
Anderson said the snow car cost him about $7,000, and it took him about a month to build it. He said it only takes about an hour to put the wheels back on.
Unfortunately, you probably won’t see Anderson’s invention for sale — it’s not street legal.