Swiss Man Put a Wood-Burning Stove in His Car Heater

When Pascal Prokop's 1990 Volvo 240 station wagon lost its heating during a brutal Swiss winter, he didn't take it to a mechanic. He ripped out the passenger seat and bolted in an antique wood-burning stove.

And somehow, Swiss authorities approved it. In August 2011, his stove-mobile became officially registered as a "sedan with wood stove," making it possibly the only street-legal firewood-powered vehicle in Europe.

Why a Wood Stove Instead of Fixing the Heater?

Prokop, from Mettmenstetten near Zurich, had practical reasons beyond eccentricity. Unlike electric heaters or a repaired car system, the wood stove keeps burning after the engine shuts off. This meant he could sleep in the car on cold nights—or park somewhere after a few drinks and stay warm without idling the engine.

The stove wasn't just functional; it was more functional than a conventional heater for his lifestyle. Plus, firewood is cheaper than gas when you're heating a parked car for hours.

How It Actually Worked

The installation required gutting the front passenger area entirely. Prokop built a platform for the antique stove, complete with a chimney pipe venting through the roof. He could feed logs into it while driving, keeping the cabin toasty on mountain roads.

The biggest safety concern? Carbon monoxide. If the flue clogged, he'd risk asphyxiation—a danger Prokop acknowledged but apparently found acceptable compared to freezing.

The stove had other quirks:

• No passenger seat meant solo driving only
• Logs and kindling had to be stored in the back
• Sparks occasionally flew out when opening the door mid-drive
• Starting a fire before driving added 15 minutes to his commute

The Legal Oddity

Switzerland's vehicle regulations are notoriously strict, yet inspectors signed off on this modification. The approval process likely involved demonstrating proper ventilation, structural integrity, and fire safety measures—proving Prokop's engineering was more sophisticated than it looked.

His Volvo became a minor celebrity during the harsh 2011-2012 European winter, featured in German magazine Stern and picked up by automotive press worldwide. Locals in Mettmenstetten grew accustomed to seeing smoke pouring from a moving station wagon.

It's unclear how long Prokop drove the wood-stove Volvo or whether it's still on the road. But for at least one winter, a Swiss commuter proved that when modern heating fails, 19th-century technology still works just fine—as long as you don't mind sacrificing a seat and explaining yourself at every stoplight.