A friend of mine just sent me a link to an eBay auction that ought to have plenty of crossover appeal for both the geek and motorhead demographics: somebody is selling was selling one of the three Lexus concept cars built for the movie Minority Report.
[Update: The eBay listing has been removed since this morning. Interesting. Oh, well, the rest of the entry still stands. I’ve added a link below so you can see what the Lexus looks like.]
As much as I love science fiction flicks, I’ve got to be honest: most futuristic movie cars leave me cold. They’re inevitably just bubbles or boxes on wheels, without any attempt to make them look “real-world.” This Lexus, though, impressed me in the movie as something that (a) might actually evolve from current automotive design, and (b) would be a design that people might actually want to own. I know I would. The opening bid on this one is a perfectly reasonable $88,000. Mere pocket change. I ought to have enough left over to pick up a Blade Runner spinner, too.
Oh, and speaking of flying cars (which the spinner is, if you don’t know), it seems they might not be so far off after all: according to this article, an Israeli engineer is working on a flying utility vehicle that he hopes to have on the market by 2010. Rafi Yoeli’s X-Hawk is designed to perform like a helicopter but without a chopper’s big exposed rotor blades that get in the way of snuggling up alongside a cliff or a building. The X-Hawk would instead have two enclosed fans at the front and rear with a cockpit and modular cabin that could be swapped out for different missions. It’ll supposedly be quieter than a chopper, too, which has obvious advantages for the military and, I suppose, for anyone bothered by that “whop-whop” sound. (Personally, I’ve always rather liked the sound of choppers; I was bummed when the Army stopped using Hueys, because I grew up hearing them off in the distance every day in the summertime.)
Yoeli has gotten a prototype to lift off (a mere three feet, but still, it did take off), and it looks much more practical to my admittedly ignorant eyes than a lot of the flying car designs I’ve seen. I’ll be watching further developments on this project closely.
If you’re interested, too, here’s Yoeli’s company web site, which includes conceptual information and a decent technical overview.
Amazingly enough, this is one futuristic car I’d love to own. Too bad the auction was cancelled. I wasn’t aware however that Lexus even let these out to private individuals to sell. I thought they were either scrapped or stuck in a large warehouse with an unnamed religious artifact taken from the Nazis.
I’m greedy. I don’t just want a flying car. I want a flying car that makes that “boop…boop…boop” sound that George Jetson’s car made…
Cheno, according to the auction description (a very reliable source, I’m sure) there were three of these babies built (three functional ones, anyway), and they’re all in private hands now.
And Brian, I’d like to have George Jetson’s car, too, but my big motivator is that it folds into a briefcase. No more parking tickets!