A giant banana car traveling along I-90 near Billings drew the attention of the Montana Highway Patrol. Steve Braithwaite wasn’t surprised when he was pulled over. After more than a decade driving The Big Banana Car, he’s grown accustomed to attracting attention. This time, however, the stop wasn’t just curiosity. Braithwaite was headed west toward Seattle when a trooper noticed that two boxes were partially blocking his license plate, which reads “Split.” No ticket was issued, but the stop gained attention after Montana Highway Patrol shared photos on social media, drawing thousands of reactions and plenty of banana-related jokes from commenters. For Braithwaite, those reactions are part of the experience. The idea for the vehicle came more than 15 years ago while he stood in line at a gas station. He noticed a banana near the register and began studying its shape, imagining how it would roll down a road. He began building the vehicle in 2008, spending weekends working on it, before finishing the 23-foot vehicle in 2011. Underneath the fiberglass fruit is the bones of a 1993 Ford F-150 pickup truck. Over the years, Braithwaite has heard nearly every banana pun imaginable, but one traffic stop in West Virginia remains his favorite and least expected. A police officer pulled him over after a stoplight and approached the car with a serious expression. "The reason I pulled you over," the officer said, "was because back there, you peeled out.” The joke worked so well that Braithwaite nearly missed it.
