John DeFlorian has built his share of odd vehicles, but of them all, it's the one phone call his boss Jerry Haas handed over to him with a project that went to the top of the list.

On the other end of the phone was a student from Principia College, a private liberal arts college in Elsah, Illinois.

The student wanted an aluminum frame built for a specific car, and his explanation wasn't connecting with Haas, who has built championship race cars for decades.

So what kind of race car did this student in his early-20s want?

Principia College wanted to build a solar car to compete against other colleges.

"This kid's 19, 20 years old, and he doesn't really know what he's talking about other than they got to build a frame for this thing," DeFlorian, who is the Jerry Haas Race Cars shop foreman, said. "So we're talking to him and I'm like, 'Well, what is the frame?"

"He's like, "Well, it's got to be made out of aluminum."

"And I'm like, 'Aluminum? Okay."

Just as DeFlorian was about to write the conversation off with the student by the "We don't do aluminum frames" response. The student piped up and revealed it was for a solar car.

"He mentioned solar car, and when he did that, I'm aware of the solar car program and it got my attention," DeFlorian recalled. "I'm like, 'Whoa, whoa, what are you talking about? What do you mean solar car?"

The whole project had DeFlorian scratching his head because he knew Principia was not an engineering school.

"When he mentioned a solar car, then I got intrigued and I started asking him questions," DeFlorian said. "Once we realized that this is a solar car that they're wanting to build, then I'm like, 'Yeah, I'm interested. Let's discuss."

Little did the student know, DeFlorian had already been exposed to solar car technology, thanks to legendary drag racing chassis builder Don Ness.

"I didn't even find this out until after he died," DeFlorian confirmed. "When he passed away, we went to his funeral, and as we're up there, I'm looking around, and here's a fricking picture of a solar car with Don by it. I'm like, 'What the hell is this?"

"Then I started investigating and asking questions, come to find out that Don had been involved in a solar car program many years ago. I would've never known. Don and I were pretty good friends. We talked a lot. I learned a lot from Don. I really admired the man. He was wild and crazy and all that, but he thought so far ahead of the rest of us. It was just ridiculous."

Now, the ridiculousness was at his doorstep with the Principia College discussion.

The bulk of the discussion, DeFlorian said, was in convincing the student, whom he referred to as Kevin, that a frame made of steel would be lighter and durable.

"So that just kind of opened the door and it took off from there," DeFlorian admitted.

So, exactly where does one start in building a solar car frame?

Then Kevin revealed the car would be made from blueprints.

"I worked in the tool and dye industry years ago, so I'm familiar with reading blueprints," DeFlorian said. "However, once we got them, they were nowhere near what a normal blueprint would be that would be done from an engineer because, in engineering, they measure from different spots. And these guys don't really know.

"So they measured from completely different spots. So it was like two people trying to speak that both spoke different languages, and neither one of them spoke the other one's language. So it was pretty interesting."

DeFlorian said there was enough information to work off of despite the technical language barrier.

"By this point in time, we were engaged enough where we had them come to the shop and show us more specifics about what they were doing," DeFlorian said. "Then we kind of were able to steer them down the path of how to build this that would make it strong and light with all the geometry as far as steering and suspension and all that was right."

The first car to come off the jig at JHRC was a three-wheeler.

"It was a lot of fun and was a very fun, interesting project to do," DeFlorian said. "It was completely accidental and never went back. I guess we've done three of these things for them now."

DeFlorian built relationships with both the students and the class instructor.

So, how much did the project end up costing?

"This was early on. I said, 'Listen, there's only one stipulation that we do this project," DeFlorian explained. "And they're like, 'Oh, what? What? Anything. What do you want?"

"I said, 'It's got to have a Jerry Haas decal on it."

The solar car program participates primarily in the American Solar Challenge, which is a competition to design, build, and drive solar-powered cars in a cross-country time/distance rally event. Teams compete over a 1,500-2,000 mile course between multiple cities across the country. The event has had over two decades of organized events in North America.

But, there is one thing that sets the car apart from the right, DeFlorian said.

"It's the only one out there that has Jerry Haas' sticker on it," DeFlorian said.