6 ms·

Street Legal Jet Powered Beetle (2006)

76 points by jmonegro 17y ago

Adam503 17y ago
I still prefer the engineer who lights a charcoal grill in 30 seconds with a piece of flaming paper and 4 quarts of liquid oxygen. http://gizmodo.com/5360234/lighting-a-grill-with-liquid-oxygen-is-the-opposite-of-safe http://gizmodo.com/5360234/lighting-a-grill-with-liquid-oxyg...
- pvg 17y ago
  Both are neat to look at but lighting the charcoal grill is a cool chemistry demonstration, not really 'engineering'. Putting a working jet engine on your VW beetle is pretty serious engineering.
alex_c 17y ago
The sloppy layout made me think "blog spam"... quick Google search turned this up. http://www.ronpatrickstuff.com/ http://www.ronpatrickstuff.com/
- jmonegro 17y ago
  Nevertheless, it's pretty amazing.
  - alex_c 17y ago
    Oh I agree, that didn't stop me from reading the entire thing :)
dfischer 17y ago
This is so full of epic win. The scooter is better than the VW. lol
dryicerx 17y ago
I think a face-off is needed between this, and the Jet powered Minivan http://hackedgadgets.com/2008/03/03/jet-turbine-van/ http://hackedgadgets.com/2008/03/03/jet-turbine-van/
dfranke 17y ago
I was thinking of putting it into an import car show but the promoter told me that it looked too plain and recommended that I put some decals on it, lower it, and put on some aftermarket wheels. /me boggles. This is either a joke or an incredibly sad commentary. "I built a jet car!" "Yawn. Where's the bling?"
movix 17y ago
I'm thinking interesting project, but beauty of design points = fail. For the ultimate in elegant, jet powered simplicity, I think Mr. Maddox and his pulse jet bicycle is leagues ahead: http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2009/06/02/pulsejet-bicycle-continues-to-evolve/ http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2009/06/02/pulsejet-bicycl...
- billswift 17y ago
  I didn't vote on your comment - your fail claim I would have downvoted, but I loved your link. Maybe you should have commented them separately if you wanted better feedback.
  - movix 17y ago
    The point I was making was about beauty of design, not on the technology, which is where I think the Beetle/jet combo fails, and the handmade, beautifully crafted bicycle/pulse jet excels. Although you could propose that the Beetle follows the Corbusian 'form follows function' ethos, the end result taking it's shape from it's purpose so elegantly illustrated by the original Beetle itself, strapping a whopping great jet to it does not. The bicycle on the other hand, has obviously been lovingly crafted to be an aesthetic whole, even though two disparate technologies have been employed - therefore = win. You could of course argue that Corbusier didn't follow his own ethos and 'fie rules' either though. I actually think that the Beetle/jet combination is a very appropriate metaphor for many types of technology we use. "Here's thing A, which only does X, if we add thing B to it, it now does XYZ, just not very efficiently, and it looks awful"
    - derefr 17y ago
      It's a lot easier to industrially design/engineer a bike than a car. The work you're suggesting probably would have dwarfed the actual jet-engineering. However, unlike jet bikes, we see real jet cars all the time—being raced for the land speed record. The fact that it's possible to add this after-the-fact to a car you own was the novel property here, not the combination of jet engine with car.
jrwoodruff 17y ago
I just want to see this thing pass me, full after-burner on.
PStamatiou 17y ago
This guy was on David Letterman some time ago. He did a test run and I believe caught some of the grass near the track on fire. :-) edit: found it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJyAA0oPAwE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJyAA0oPAwE
Hexstream 17y ago
This really puts the Bat-mobile to shame.
onreact-com 17y ago
It's a penis!
- pbhjpbhj 17y ago
  I have to say the shot of him in his Hawaiian shirt with the huge phallic turgidity of the engine held erect against him does look rather like an example from a Freudian textbook.
  - onreact-com 17y ago
    So you agree that it's a penis? ;-)
    - rbanffy 17y ago
      You know, sometimes a jet engine is just a jet engine
_ivan 17y ago
Sooo many photos and no video? Weird :)
- I_got_fifty 17y ago
  http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=831375 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=831375
I_got_fifty 17y ago
I'd like to have that scooter. That one looks cool.
gscott 17y ago
Jet Powered Porche on Ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-928-Boeing-Gas-Turbine-Engine-Jet-Powered-PORSCHE-928_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem3a5304b45aQQitemZ250500920410QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-928-Boeing-Gas-Turbin...

76 points by jmonegro 17y ago

I still prefer the engineer who lights a charcoal grill in 30 seconds with a piece of flaming paper and 4 quarts of liquid oxygen. http://gizmodo.com/5360234/lighting-a-grill-with-liquid-oxygen-is-the-opposite-of-safe http://gizmodo.com/5360234/lighting-a-grill-with-liquid-oxyg...

pvg 17y ago
Both are neat to look at but lighting the charcoal grill is a cool chemistry demonstration, not really 'engineering'. Putting a working jet engine on your VW beetle is pretty serious engineering.

alex_c 17y ago

The sloppy layout made me think "blog spam"... quick Google search turned this up. http://www.ronpatrickstuff.com/ http://www.ronpatrickstuff.com/

jmonegro 17y ago
Nevertheless, it's pretty amazing.
- alex_c 17y ago
  Oh I agree, that didn't stop me from reading the entire thing :)

dfischer 17y ago

This is so full of epic win. The scooter is better than the VW. lol

dryicerx 17y ago

I think a face-off is needed between this, and the Jet powered Minivan http://hackedgadgets.com/2008/03/03/jet-turbine-van/ http://hackedgadgets.com/2008/03/03/jet-turbine-van/

dfranke 17y ago

I was thinking of putting it into an import car show but the promoter told me that it looked too plain and recommended that I put some decals on it, lower it, and put on some aftermarket wheels. /me boggles. This is either a joke or an incredibly sad commentary. "I built a jet car!" "Yawn. Where's the bling?"

movix 17y ago

I'm thinking interesting project, but beauty of design points = fail. For the ultimate in elegant, jet powered simplicity, I think Mr. Maddox and his pulse jet bicycle is leagues ahead: http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2009/06/02/pulsejet-bicycle-continues-to-evolve/ http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2009/06/02/pulsejet-bicycl...

billswift 17y ago
I didn't vote on your comment - your fail claim I would have downvoted, but I loved your link. Maybe you should have commented them separately if you wanted better feedback.
- movix 17y ago
  The point I was making was about beauty of design, not on the technology, which is where I think the Beetle/jet combo fails, and the handmade, beautifully crafted bicycle/pulse jet excels. Although you could propose that the Beetle follows the Corbusian 'form follows function' ethos, the end result taking it's shape from it's purpose so elegantly illustrated by the original Beetle itself, strapping a whopping great jet to it does not. The bicycle on the other hand, has obviously been lovingly crafted to be an aesthetic whole, even though two disparate technologies have been employed - therefore = win. You could of course argue that Corbusier didn't follow his own ethos and 'fie rules' either though. I actually think that the Beetle/jet combination is a very appropriate metaphor for many types of technology we use. "Here's thing A, which only does X, if we add thing B to it, it now does XYZ, just not very efficiently, and it looks awful"
  - derefr 17y ago
    It's a lot easier to industrially design/engineer a bike than a car. The work you're suggesting probably would have dwarfed the actual jet-engineering. However, unlike jet bikes, we see real jet cars all the time—being raced for the land speed record. The fact that it's possible to add this after-the-fact to a car you own was the novel property here, not the combination of jet engine with car.

jrwoodruff 17y ago

I just want to see this thing pass me, full after-burner on.

PStamatiou 17y ago

This guy was on David Letterman some time ago. He did a test run and I believe caught some of the grass near the track on fire. :-) edit: found it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJyAA0oPAwE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJyAA0oPAwE

Hexstream 17y ago

This really puts the Bat-mobile to shame.

onreact-com 17y ago

It's a penis!

pbhjpbhj 17y ago
I have to say the shot of him in his Hawaiian shirt with the huge phallic turgidity of the engine held erect against him does look rather like an example from a Freudian textbook.
- onreact-com 17y ago
  So you agree that it's a penis? ;-)
  - rbanffy 17y ago
    You know, sometimes a jet engine is just a jet engine

_ivan 17y ago

Sooo many photos and no video? Weird :)

I_got_fifty 17y ago
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=831375 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=831375

I_got_fifty 17y ago

I'd like to have that scooter. That one looks cool.

gscott 17y ago

Jet Powered Porche on Ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-928-Boeing-Gas-Turbine-Engine-Jet-Powered-PORSCHE-928_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem3a5304b45aQQitemZ250500920410QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-928-Boeing-Gas-Turbin...