Jalopnik
Jalopnik still loves flying cars — it may still be part of our masthead, we can't remember — but here's a perfect example. It's the $100,000 Panoz Esperante converted by Jesse James of Monster Garage into an airborne vehicle whose first flight matched the success of the Wright Brothers. Seriously — they took it to Kitty Hawk where it actually flew in a straight line and then hit the ground just as hard as the Wright plane did. Here's the full description of the "Flying Car" from Barrett-Jackson, which just sold for a steal of a price at $45,000 (just under $55,000 with the auction fees):
Ever since "Monster Garage" premiered on Discovery Channel in June 2002, Jesse James led teams to build vehicles that make beer, do wheelies, shake trees, even transport gorillas. But all the while, Jesse was turning his thoughts and his dreams to the sky. Everyone said he couldn't do it, and the lawyers begged him not to do it, but Jesse James and his 9 man team managed to take a $100,000 Panoz Esperante sports car and create an airborne vehicle whose first flight matched the success of the Wright Brothers'. After the team tore out the Panoz's plush interior to make room for a roll cage, installed a used propeller engine in the trunk, mounted 36' handmade wings to the car's exact center and secured a rear tail with a 15" fuselage, the flying car was taken to Kitty Hawk, NC, home of the Wright Brothers' first flight. Under the power of the original Panoz engine, Jesse taxied the flying car onto the runway, started the propeller engine and, after hitting 80mph, guided the automobile off the ground for 280 feet, landing safely without even a scratch to the Red Baron paint job. THE DESIGNERS: Jesse James, custom-bike builder/designer, West Coast Choppers, Long Beach, CA, Fireball Tim, artist and car designer, Malibu, CA, Dan Panoz, founder and owner, Panoz Auto Development Company, Braselton, GA, Ed Sweeney, aircraft mechanic, Black Forest, CO, and Neal Willford, engineer, new product development, Cessna Aviation, Andover, KS. THE BUILDERS: Jesse James, custom-bike builder/designer, West Coast Choppers, Long Beach, CA, Jason Barnes, vehicle engineer, Panoz Auto Development Company, Flowery Branch, GA, Niclas Jancic, Panoz Auto expert, GA, Mark Palmer, aircraft-design engineer, Peru, KS, Ronnie Powers, airplane builder and owner, Atlanta Air Salvage, Griffith, GA, Johan Ragnarsson, custom-car builder, Beuford, GA, Chris Rusch, fabricator, Two Rivers, WI, Andre Stowe, welder and metal-shop owner, San Diego, CA, Ed Sweeney, aircraft mechanic, Black Forest, CO, JD Terry, avionics/electrical engineer, Cessna Aviation, Wichita, KS, and Neal Willford, aircraft engineer, Cessna Aviation, Andover, KS. VEHICLE SPECS: Height: 80"; Width: 38'; Length With Parts Extended: 26'; Ground Clearance: 2.5". **SOLD ON A BILL OF SALE ONLY. SPECIAL CONDITIONS APPLY**
Comments
Wonder what the "special conditions" are-- IQ test and Rabies check?
Okay, so what happens when Snoopy arrives piloting his Sopwith Camel doghouse and shoots down the Red Baron in his Panoz Esperante...? Will Barrett-Jackson offer a refund...? Can we all go out for root beer...?
I thought Jesse's 10 minutes of fame were over years ago.
I saw this thing on tv a few hours agom still don't believe it.
I highly doubt this thing will actually fly.
I hope Snoopy doesn't get hurt.
I think controlled flight as we perceive it is not really possible. But flight as in a literal interpretation was accomplished. But the landing could be considered controlled flight into terrain.
loving that they took $100k car, threw another probably $100k at it and ended up with $45k. that's a sub-prime investment right there.
@camp6ell: I guess they should have gone with a shelby product instead of a Panoz. Ron Pratte probably would have bought it up for half a mil if today's purchases are any indication.
@Novaload: Probably something like the conditions on the batmobile from a while back. Namely, that it not be driven on public roads or operated anywhere, etc, as a legal shield to Discovery et al.
Oof. Why would someone BUY this? Monster Garage and that motorcycle show are the 2 most overrated tv shows in history. The new Knight Rider notwithstanding.
@GizFanAlpha: i seem to remember it flew, but only in a straight line... but this was after i stopped watching monster agare regularly, so i'm not sure.
Hummm....45K for this one off car/puddle jumper is chump change, the price of a fully dressed mid line Infinity or Lexus. Couldn't take that long to unbolt the wings and tail section, make them into lawn furniture and have a WW1 German painted Panoz.
If that DIY project fails and goes horribly wrong, slap a Shelby badge on the hood, and call Ron Pratte, then you will make ten times you money and still have some pretty hot looking lawn chairs as souvenirs.
@smokyburnout: rtfa!
@smart42: Personal-PCH fishing at BJ? Classy.
Man, the guy who picked up the Trophy Truck got an asinine deal! Just under 40k for a truck that costs well over 150-200k to build.
"Converted by Jesse James and Monster Garage" is code speak for "converted by people with no engineering knowledge and nobody qualified to do anything of the sort. Drive/fly/sail at your own risk." Seriously, Monster Garage is the biggest hack show I've ever seen, and Jesse James should be ashamed of himself for perpetuating the kind of shoddy design and construction that takes place there. Just because you can lay a nice weld bead doesn't mean you're qualified to design anything, especially not something that someone's life may depend on\.
@elwood:
This particular monster garage creation WAS converted by a group of engineers...who were invited onto the show to build up and make a car fly.
@elwood: Little do you know, on the crew of many shows where something like this came up, they had an engineer or two on hand. If you can design and build something better on their budget and time, then go ahead.
I got the impression that the barrett-jackson people really were not impressed with the monster garage cars.
The best part was when they were selling the swamp buggy that the show had made out of an old corvette zr-1. They were going on about how you take a car that could be restored and give a bunch of guys a week to turn it into something like this and I guess it makes for some pretty interesting tv. Then later in the bidding for it the floor guy was going over the car and assuring everyone that the car was a rat, and was completely unrestorable.
The monster garage cars are cool, and probably have a market, but Barrett-Jackson was not the right event for them. If they had sold them at an auction that wasn't mostly based on classic cars. The price that the resto-mods go for should have been enough to clue them in.
The more modifications a car has in the Barrett-Jackson auction, the less it goes for.
Where's Scaramanga?
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