We’ve been tracking lots of creative projects using crowdsourced funding models, but this one puts a new spin on things. Wikispeed, an open-source project developing a 100 mile-per-gallon vehicle, announced this morning that it’s aiming to raise $52,500 over the next two months to take its modular vehicles from prototype to production.

The initiative, led by Seattle-based software developer Joe Justice, has been building upon the technology from its previous entry in the Progressive Automotive X-Prize competition. The group says it will use the money to fund crash tests, fuel-efficiency tests, prototyping and testing materials, expert reviews, fabrication and additional tools.

The car, dubbed the C3, will be sold in finished form for about $18,000 and as a kit for $10,000. Contributions to the project on the funding site indiegogo include various levels of recognition and involvement, but the cars will be sold separately.

I’ve visited Wikispeed’s Seattle operations in the past, and it’s an impressively lean operation, applying the principles of agile software development to automotive design and prototyping.

More background on the Wikispeed project available here.