Comments on: A jet-powered VW Beetle?

By: ANONYMOUSPSYCHOPATH

ANONYMOUSPSYCHOPATH — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 16:00:37 +0000

HEY WHATEVER IT TAKES TO MERGE ON THE FREEWAY!

By: Ron Patrick

Ron Patrick — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 08:24:47 +0000

Guys,

Here’s a better link: http://www.ecm-co.com/jetbeetle/

I can’t get enough of you disbelievers. I suppose you wouldn’t believe a video either since they can be faked. If you were at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona this January, you would have seen it working – before I was permanently banned from the show and fairgrounds.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 21:25:35 +0000

Everyone’s saying that the bug should have the brake lights on if its producing any thrust… well… How did ya’ll miss the fact that in the first pic they ARE on. lol

The second… I can’t tell.. but I’d bet they are, and the red backlight from the flame just washes them out

By: Jake

Jake — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 20:49:33 +0000

Let me correct a few things people have said:

1) A RAM jet most definately needs air, look it up if you don’t believe me. In fact it won’t even start up without high speed air already flowing through it. In any case a ram jet isn’t suitable for a car but a turbine is.

2) The air intake could easily be on the underside w/ no problem, or could possibly be routed through from the front somehow.

3) It’s real, it’s not photoshopped. No matter how you might have convinced yourself it’s fake, it’s real.

4) A jet engine at idle or slightly above would not create any substantial thrust so the car wouldn’t move, but it sure would look and sound impressive, as you’ve seen on the vid.

5) Yes a jet can too run on gasoline, although it has to be tuned for it. In fact GM was experimenting w/ gas turbine cars for a while but the public didn’t buy into it. Too bad, they were sweet, smooth driving machines.

By: Thing2

Thing2 — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:49:15 +0000

its fake, the flames are photoshoped. The top one is asymmetrical when they were going for a tear drop shape. Plus its the same effect i’ve seen used to make lightsabers glow haha. The second one is also fake. White-hot flames are only very controled and would have blue AROUND the white section. Tell me, its ALL WHITE (which would be melting everything in its path) yet the next hottest color, Blue, is not surrounding it? Instead, it was photoshoped with an orange edge..

By: Big_Rush

Big_Rush — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 18:57:03 +0000

Here is the link of this AMAZING video http://videos.streetfire.net/video/936BE777-D0B8-4766-A290-FF0555E2849E.htm GREAT SOUND an BIG FLAMMES !

By: WHUT

WHUT — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 16:12:41 +0000

So much for “keeping it down on the engineering, ya’ll”.

By: Derek

Derek — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 10:36:31 +0000

To be honest, i couldn’t say whether this is real or not, it’s definitely possible and as mo says above, in the first pic i don’t think it is on full throttle at all… as far as i know if it were on full throttle the “thrust” coming out the back would be almost invisible. You can get these kind of flaming effects from a jet engine just for show, which i imagine is what the car would be for judging by the tiny fuel tank. However, one thing that does concern me, and point to maybe it being a fake, is if you were to take this thing down a strip at a show you’d most likely want a parachute mounted under the back somewhere, otherwise how the hell are you gonna slow it down? Also those tyres look pretty standard to me, so they’ll disintegtrate once u hit about 160mph or so perhaps. Giving a car tons of power isn’t hard, it’s controlling the power and velocity that’s a real engineering challenge. So perhaps, even if it is real, u couldn’t use the full potential of the engine at all. Oh, and btw, John… people really do cut holes and stick mdf to their car etc., just for looks lol, so don’t be too surprised if it is a fake. Sry… that’s a long post

By: mo

mo — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 09:33:50 +0000

some of you are defenitly to stupid for this comments. Yesssss, a turbine needs air – but please have a look at the pictures absolutly no prob to suck the air from the ground. Who told anybody that the turbine is on full blast on the fist picture??? Before writing such kind of comments know how a turbine works!!

By: Hasse

Hasse — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 08:11:38 +0000

lol

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 07:17:32 +0000

It looks like the fuel would come from a tank mounted in the spare tire cavity. I still think it is fake, but if it isn’t I wish it were.

By: michael

michael — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 06:30:54 +0000

Fake. Where’s the extra fuel tank because a jet cant run off of gasoline. It would need kerosene or jet fuel. Wheres the air intake? It cant feed from the passenger compartment. Also, as mentioned, the jet is going and the vehicle is at a dead stop not even hunched forward against the brakes? No way.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 04:03:35 +0000

If it was real the car wouldnt be sitting still with the brake lights on while it was on full blast like in the picture

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 03:44:58 +0000

What I wanna know is why the car is standing perfectly still in those pictures where that jet engine is blasting/thrusting away?

By: Chad Christenson

Chad Christenson — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 03:43:47 +0000

I can tell you that it is physically legit. I don’t know if it runs or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me. It was at the Autorama show here at the Cobo Center in Michigan last weekend, so I got to see it in person.

By: John

John — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 03:24:59 +0000

Who would cut a hole in their car just for looks? It has to be real, right? Who would do such a thing?

By: JD

JD — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 01:34:20 +0000

If it’s a Ram Jet engine it wouldn’t need air. Only turbine engines have spinning fans for intaking air…..and humans.

By: Maranello

Maranello — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 01:20:53 +0000

I heard that it’s not hooked up to anything so it doesn’t make it go anyfaster, it’s just for looks

By: Nuno

Nuno — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 01:09:18 +0000

I’ve been seeing this making the rounds on several websites and am skeptical, but I’ll hold out judgement until a video is posted.

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 00:41:37 +0000

It looks like the air-intake is inside the car cabin. Whoever is inside is probably going to either get sucked in or have the engine overheat. I’m guessing fake.

By: Jerry Mahoney

Jerry Mahoney — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 00:39:36 +0000

Must be a fake. there might be a barrel or so worth of fancy looking metal in the trunk but I am sure it’s al just pyro.

By: Thing2

Thing2 — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 00:23:04 +0000

…is it a “lightning bug” now? HAHAHAHAHA….bad joke for an even worse idea..