Slashdot Mirror
Real Working Mach5 On eBay
Taper writes "Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer... now you too can drive Speed Racer's car, the powerful Mach 5. Complete with saw blades, jumping ability, and robot homing pigeon. The entry price looks to be over $150k though part goes to charity and the winner gets delivery with a Speed Racer party featuring the voice cast!
"
i looked all through the galleries on mymach5.com and alas no more pictures :-(
"Oh, you!" <giggle>
--
but it is generating replies, so someone must notice it.
See my reply to your anonymous friend.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
"Child Safety Network appreciates the enthusiastic interest in the Mach 5 prototype."
"Additional Features: 18" McCulla retractable pneumatic saw blades."
Anybody else find this insanely funny?
Observe, reason, and experiment.
Observe, reason, and experiment.
(if you're too dumb, just pray)
(nt)
--
+&x
thanks a lot.
now i can't get that tune out of my head.
go speed racer! go speed racer!
go speed racer, GO!
Fight Spammers!
The homing pigeon is to watch out for accidents up ahead.
Fight Spammers!
'Cause you need to have been involved in an actual auction with the person you're giving negative feedback (you need the auction number). Recently I think they changed it so that you have to have an auction number for any feedback, which is probably why there is no recent feedback on that account.
And, yes, there's prolly a grammar or spelling error up there someplace (or down here), but you didn't pay me $61,000 for this comment, now, did you?
You think the judge would throw it out?
Fight Spammers!
So I question whether the pigeon is there.
-m
I like the new Mustang styling, it gives a nice homage to the original, especially the side air intakes.
George
Bah, street legal is overrated. I'll just drive it in my driveway. At 185MPH (discounting time for acceleration and whatnot) I can go from one end of my driveway to the other in just 0.37 seconds!
For more information, click here.
if you don't like ./ don't read it. simple as that...
"Leave the gun, take the canoli."
this is just a placeholder till i send back my real sig from the future.
Corvairs never came with a SBC. They were all 6 cylinder, though some were turbocharged. What I find interesting is that the production cars they are making are based on factory five cobra kit cars! Never mind these kit cars start at about 10K for body, frame and suspension. 302 Ford engine, 5 speed . . . . Does look like it's based on the prototype too much. John
i remember there was a contest right after the movie (batman, 1988) came out where the winner got a non-running batmobile. i had a picture of it and all i could think of was how was he going to get it home.
"Leave the gun, take the canoli."
this is just a placeholder till i send back my real sig from the future.
Those cool tires (C button?) that allow it to go up vertical cliffs?
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
I'd really like to see how the saw blades work on this car. From the picture, it looks a bit like they were drawn on, and how the heck do they fit under the hood?
And where's the gearshift knob? I don't see it near that beautiful woman's curvy leg... wait, what were we talking about?
I just thought of an idea. Get an old, unrusted white Datsun, paint it white, add some stripes, etc, and sell it as a real-life sized Transformer PROWL! You just know you'd get top bidding from that.
That's true, Leno is the biggest car-freak I've ever heard of. Think I remember him doing a bit part on 'Home Improvement' and there was a background story on ET or one of those flyffy shobiz shows about how Leno was a big buff.
But somehow I get the impression that he wouldn't want something like this because a) it is not an original/andor/vintage car and b) cause he wouldn't be able to take it for a spin on Topanga Canyon road.
There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.
Go George Clooney,Go George Clooney,Go George Clooney GOOOOOOOOO... Sorry i couldn't resist :)
screw the Pheonix Hawk - give me a Marauder lance with an Overlord Dropship. Long Live House Davion!
WTF? OK, now I know this has got to be some kind of sick joke!
Refrag
I have a website. It's about Macs.
... That was from a Saturday night live 'real audio' cartoon parody of speed racer :)
People would probably notice you too if you cut your head off. So since you seem to crave attention, why don't you do that?
Who CARES if it is not street legal. Technically, *MY* car isn't street legal. :)
Dead cow interior looks nice, but is too hard to maintain and too hot in the summer. My dead cow is going to be replaced w/ nice high quality cloth. Breathes much better.
And for $300K? The only thing I'd pay that much for would be the Yamoto and its Wave Particle Gun.
Last night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know.
It would certainly be possible to make it street legal. The description even mentions the possibility of modifications.
Homing pigeon? Oh, right: that mechanical thing.
Okay, first of all, the 327 is probably a small-block Chevy. Saginaw is a GM plant; these days they make tilt-wheels for obese Caddy owners.
It looks like someone took the engine, drivetrain, and brakes from a Corvair and stuck it in a tube frame covered with plastic. Drum brakes in the rear? Sixties tech, along with the air suspension.
I think I remember seeing this at an auto show back in the '60s, along with the Muenstermobile, the Batmobile, and other George Barris Kalifornia Kustom Kar Kreations.
Hell, throw in the girl, the kid, and the chimp, and it's a deal.
k., who wants the Jaguar hearse from Harold and Maude
--
"In spite of everything, I still believe that people
are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
I remember reading someplace on the net, I think it was the page that discusses all the many different kinds of religions, anyway, it even had listed that some people had started a religion based on that Elian brat. It shouldn't suprise me, but I STILL get amazed at the ignorance of the Human Race....
I noticed that too. The car on eBay, 'built for CSN', apparently cost 350k to build. However, the pics are hte same as for the 61k car? It's far less cool if everyone gets to be Speed Racer... I mean, who gets Trixie?
-- "Is this death or is this Ohio?"
dude, I have had it with slashdot. I have been reading the comments, the articles, etc for over a year. during this time I have had to endure some good stories and some really poor ones, like this one about the speed racer car, that promote the yuppie lifestyle. fuck that shit. the quality of the stories and the quality of the posts has been getting worse since Slashdot got "purchased" by VA Linux.
anyway, a threehundred thousand dollar car that has saws? what the fuck does that have to do with geeks? speed racer? maybe. speed racer is poor quality anime that lacks creativity if you ask me. i need information. not advertisements for yuppie luxury items that so called geeks should lust after. i don't know what has gotten into slashdot, but i feel that it has sunken to a level of mediocrity that befuddles. i might as well be "surfing" msn.com.
what do you think?
Easy. The hope is, people will assume that the reserve is ridiculously high, and bid over the reserve price, thus starting things off with a higher price, and ending up with much more money than would have been gotten otherwise.
My emphasis...
Hello. Does anyone know if any of the batmobiles used in Tim Burton's Batman films was ever sold or auctioned? If not, does anyone know which company built it? I recall reading an interview with the designers back in 1992 (Batman Returns) and the stuff they went through to get it designed and built for the film but I lost the magazine.
Thanks in advance!
Ehttp://eugeneciurana.com | http://ciurana.eu
THIS is what I want... The most beautiful car ever made... *Swoon*
-- Dr. Eldarion --
How ironic that the is being used to promote child safety.
The woman in the picture is not a child, is she? Clearly a child's head would be well below the decapitation point.
Not only to you get to blow $300k on the thing.... but they won't even let you play with it for 8 friggin months...
The high bidder has to agree to loan it out for 8 months so it can finish its current campaign..
Why didn't they just wait until 8 months to auction in it off.... so the lucky dude yu buys it can drive it home and have something to show for his $300k... jeezz
You never know though... this speed racer hype could all be gone in 8 months...
But since you asked, they got rid of the lawyers who filed the countersuit, and replaced them with the one who persecuted the CPHack case.
Fight Spammers!
is she oem, or aftermarket add-ons?
-- 100% MS-Free as of 4-4-1999, 11:47:38 PST. "The lapdance is always better when the stripper is cryin'" Free Kevin,
After Usenet and email, even Slashdot is now spammed with auction pointers...
Claus
I'll glady pay you Tuesday for a Mach5 today.
As of this posting, the bid price on the car is a mere $150,000. This has exceeded the sellers reserve price.
-S
Scott Ruttencutter
We Apprentice Developers and Designers
Is the chick on the picture included?
;)
if so, not too bad of a price.
That is really ludicrously stupid. Why did anyone waste their time building such a thing? Who would be dumb enough to buy it?
I don't share the overwhelming hatred of MS that some on Slashdot express. But Ebay violating their own EULA is an important blow against consumer rights. Acceptance of this policy is a bad precident for the online marketplace.
Boycotting Ebay until they change their policy can be a worthy action. Nerds like us still make up the majority of the population that are making internet purchases. Our boycot would be felt.
Besides, does anybody really need more garage-sale junk? :-)
My understanding is that it was commissioned for some promotional use that required the purchase of a license from whoever holds the rights to the 'Speed Racer' thing. They say if you are going to use it for commercial purposes, you have to negotiate a separate license agreement. I would imagine if you started using the 'Mach 5' in commercials, the owners of 'Speed Racer' would come after you with C&D.
It's not street legal, so personal use seems to be limited to keeping it in your garage to impress visitors and towing it to the local track and paying $100/hr to drive in ovals. Not very practical, but I guess if you had gobs of cash and had already built your own petting zoo, amusement park and whatever else... MJ, anyone?
There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.
That cockpit looks a lot more uncomfortable than sitting in, say, a Triumph TR-3.
Of course, the Mach 5 doesn't have a monster steering wheel that rubs against your thighs like a Triumph TR-3 does.
Why bid when you can have your very own Mach 5 for $31.95 (WITH REMOVABLE SAW BLADES!)?
| Ceci n'est pas une pipe.
On the website, one of the listed features is a 5 point seatbelt, so IIRC, if you wrecked it you wouldn't go forward all that much if you kept the seatbelt nice and tight.
This Sig Intentionally left blank
Starting at a base price of $61,000, you can order one of the Mach 5's from here. Of course, you have to put down a $35,000 deposit, and you aren't guaranteed a Mach 5. On a side note, they're going to build a Racer X car too.
BAM!
but it does have a 400 HP 327 engine. whee! too bad it's lined with birght red DEAD COW. top estimated speed is 185 mph, clocked at 135 in third gear, etc, ad nauseum.
don't moderate this.
thanks.
i browse at -1 because they're funnier than you are.
Really! If I was going to pay $300k for a car, it'd be a Porsche 550A Spyder. *DROOL*
Refrag
I have a website. It's about Macs.
...a helmet and a red bandana.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
I've got a Real Working Mach64 right here with me.
sup
Looking over the ad, I waxed a bit nostalgic... for a moment. Then my senses came back and I realized that if I had lots of money to throw away, this would possibly be one of the things I would buy. Sorry, while this is neat and kinda cool, I just don't see it as having any kind of value. I especially would NOT pay the kind of money that they are looking for! (125K and STILL not made minimum bid!!) For that kind of money, I could rent a decent room in someone's partitioned garage here in the San Jose area! Gots better things to buy...
Actually, it looks to have pretty good clearance up front. Besides, thats typically not too big a problem, just watch out for curbs.
:-(
I'm lower than that (See?) and have no problems up front w/ speed bumps, my exhaust is another story.
it's actually legally licensed, so, in some stupid way, it does 'officially' relate to the cartoon.
they claim it cost em $350,000.
(insert long rant about stupid americans making a fuss over elian while making an equal fuss over there being 'too many' immigrants.. sigh)
--
blue
i browse at -1 because they're funnier than you are.
.. but you have to wait 8 months after your give them your money for suppsoed delivery?
Thats a hell of a long time to disappear and cover your tracks with. Given the vauge "robotic homing piegon", pardon me if I'm thinking thsi may be the con of the decade in progress...
I also haven't heard anwywhere of this 'child safety tour', which seems odd for a PR event. has anyone else? (Though even if the tour IS legit, the listing still could be a con. It would just mean the pcitures are real rather then rednered.)
Call me overly suspicious, but it's covneient that it isn't street legal, as well. This means there is no registration to authenticate ownership...
I don't know - I guess many of you guys haven't seen the car mags covers in the supermarkets. Now, they've got accessories (chicks) more worthy of a $350k car! [besides - the Racer X beats the sh*t out of the Mach5.]
If you're in your late 50's/early 60's, then yes, you have something to look forward to. :)
Yes, it does come with Trixie. The auction says that both the actors who played Speed and Trixie will be there when the keys are given to the auction winner.
"That's right, Trixie and Speed Racer will be there. Peter Fernandez, the original voice of Speed Racer and Racer X can't wait to turn over the keys to help support his favorite charity, Child Safety Network. Corinne Orr is the voice of Trixie, Mom Racer, Chim Chim and all the female voices used on the show."
So there you have it.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Making fun of something is a lot different than ripping it off.
You must be a lifetime member of PETA, judging by your attitude.
And you most likely did not even read it.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
I see a condition is personal use only. Can they enforce that I wonder? If you own it you own it.
You know, I've seen porno flicks that started like this
Also, did anyone else notice the rearv iew mirror?
Hammer of Truth
If I had money coming out my butt, I'd buy it in a second. I loved speed racer.
P.S. Legally the girl may not come with it, but if you have that much money, she'll come. Trust me.
- I like pudding.
Check the specs of the $61k car vs. the one being auctioned on ebay. The one on ebay is a one-off boxed aluminum chassis with a mid-engine/transaxle setup. The $61k car that you can order is based on a front engine/rear wheel drive kit chassis. Which in my mind is way less cool. The only really unique thing about the $61k car is that it is apparently officially licensed and has a fiberglass body that's made from what is probably the same molds as the prototype.
Actually, I just started using the mach 3. Very happy with it so far, but it has trouble getting the highest mustache hairs (by the bottom of the nose. The space between the front edge and the actual blade is almost double that of my previous blade (Sensor XL).
You could always just slather your face in Nair, too... not quite as bad for the rest of your health as chemo...
"It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
A bit offtopic, but I just thought I'd pass this along:
e m&item=364088805
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt
Some moron is trying to sell a Williamette (Intel's next-generation Pentium) on Ebay. These things aren't available to the public yet. He even took the opportunity to illegally benchmark it. Little does he know that his story has been circulating faster than the ILOVEYOU virus thru Intel and pretty much everyone over there is familiar with it. He's screwed.
And what about Sprital and Chim Chim? Are they still hiding in the trunk?
Is the chick on the picture included?
Sadly, my first reaction on seeing the article on the front page was "Does Trixie included?"
Don't waste your time guys, according to the seller, Trixie is now a 50 year-old lap dancer in Kansas City, site of the Slashdot Anti-PETA BBQ. He did try to offer me a deal on a slightly used Chim-Chim, but I didn't want to know what 'slightly used' entailed.
If you can go to bed, knowing you did a valuable thing today, you're very lucky. If you can't... it's not bedtime
I wonder what the RESERVE PRICE on an item like this is?
It would be kewler with a real Chim Chim to go with it.
On a lighter note, anyone ever seen the Dexter's Lab episode with the speed racer parody? Now that was funny.
Or you could just use the giant retractable sawblades.
----
Oh my god, Bear is driving! How can this be?
ADVENTURERS! - ANTIHERO FOR HIRE - CARDMASTER CONFLICT
Reminds me of the auctions that were selling bottles of air from that little eilian kids neighborhood down in Florida. They were getting bids for upwards of a hundred bucks just for Air that Eilian may have breathed.
Just seems silly.
"Using patented 5-razor technology, the Mach 5 is able to shave your face with 3 easy strokes! And now with ultra-small razors, it actually fits in your mustache area, unlike its bulky predecessor, the mach 3!"
Mike Roberto (roberto@soul.apk.net) -GAIM: MicroBerto
Berto
I don't see a relationship between cutting off my own head, and writing a dumb story. I wasn't craving anything as I wrote it.
Seems that people missed the point, (or lack thereof.)
I tried to make it stupid, but I guess I did that too well. Time to give up. Obviously I'm not one of the 1337 trolls, nor do I make fun of their ramblings well.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
Racerboy won't win any awards for ethics anytime soon. I have to admit it, though, I'd love to see the reaction of a Texas Highway Patrolman who took a, um, direct Saw Blade hit to the front driver-side radial.
I submitted a story two whole friggin' months ago about this project, and it didn't get accepted. Now, only when it's been put up on eBay does Slashdot run anything on it. Grrr!
I would've thought that the very existence of a working replica of the Mach 5 would be "News for Nerds", if not stuff that matters. The eBay sale was already planned when I submitted the story too!
Grumble grumble mutter mutter
---
Zardoz has spoken!
Oper on the Nightstar
But, do we really want to support Ebay while they continue removing valid auctions of Microsoft products?
What auctions have they removed lately? There hasn't been any feedback for msoft in about four months. Does microsoft have a new ebay userid?
you must have a very fat upper lip. my mach 3 fits nicely in my mustache area, thankyouverymuch.
You know, however, nothing beats chemotherapy for the nice, smooth, all-around shave...
Observe, reason, and experiment.
Observe, reason, and experiment.
(if you're too dumb, just pray)
Why are all of those scathing feedbacks rated as "neutral" - even those which say "negative" in the review? Wow.
---
Remember, this is a capitalist country first, and a democratic one second - that means that voting with your wallet is more powerful than voting at the ballot box.
What is the robbing of a bank, compared to the founding of a bank? -- Bertolt Brecht
That should probibly be called a Remote Controlled/Homing Pidgeon. In the cartoon, you hit the "G" button, and a little robotic pidgeon would fly out of the car. It could hold things like tapes, secrete codes, etc. It could be flown with a remote control, or if you hit the "H" button (near where the radio is, as opposed to on the stearing wheel) the robot would go home. I think that home was speed racer's house, but it could also be the car. While it may be computer controlled, I doubt that it has a file system, so fsck will have no effect. ;-)
--Josh
There are exactly 42,935,718 letter sized sheets in a square mile.
no no no...you dont use the pneumatic pistons to jump over the tree. you use the saws to cut through the tree silly.
... it hasn't been regestered with the DMV or whatever.
What the fsck is a Remote Controlled Homing Pidgeon!?
----
Oh my god, Bear is driving! How can this be?
ADVENTURERS! - ANTIHERO FOR HIRE - CARDMASTER CONFLICT
Our Volvo is lined with burgundy dead cow, sitting in it is like being swaddled in the loving embrace of bovines, who gave their lives so that you and I could sit comfortably, and have steak. What more could you ask?
George
Go to jetex.org and scroll down about 2/3rd of the (long) page.
The "Speed Racer" mark applied to a car, in 1952 (I'm having a trademark paranoia week)
>>But Ebay violating their own EULA is an important blow against consumer rights...
Well, yeah, but it's also par for the course. Remember that Ebay stomped all over gun sellers, capriciously changing their EULA to make it all seem all right.
Removing auctions on whatever pretense holds sway at the moment is business as usual for them.
Notice the picture of the woman in the car. The windshield is at about head level. If there were an accident, the driver would be sent head first against the edge of the glass.
It would likely decapitate the driver.
How ironic that the is being used to promote child safety.
6 walking, 9 running, 6 units of jump movement!
2 machine guns, 2 med lasers, 1 Large laser!
oh hell, just bill me for the enterprise while we're at it.
I wonder if the sawblades could slash some pig tires?
I mod an email joke list. This 'news' item went across our joke list 2 days ago. Had I realized that what we find trifling and amusing was NEWS, I would have submitted it!
In light of this discovery, I'd like to submit that STILE SUX and JapScat will revolutionize the web.
-Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music.
And you are unclear of the point.
(A) I was bored, and the current stories lack substance
(B) I wrote it in under 10 minutes
(C) I was making fun of osm and other trolls, not trying to be like them.
Go ahead and keep up the endless replies, it doesn't matter to me. I might care if I had put more effort into it. I didn't even bother to correct the 25+ spelling errors.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.