Jeff Goldblum perhaps said it best; "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
'Can I marry a jet engine to an old early-'90s Holden Commodore' is a question that urges anyone who knows how to hold a spanner correctly to take up the challenge, without really ticking off the element of whether it's a good idea in the first place.
Nonetheless, someone in Adelaide did it. And the result is ... startling.
The car itself is for sale at the moment on eBay, with the auction ending in just a few hours. Whether the sale of the car is entrepreneurial or desperation, we cannot say. If this 'yeah, why not' engineering is your cup of tea, bidding sits at AUD$10,000 (basically the same in New Zealand Dollars). And yes, someone has bidded. It's sold.
While the description of the car doesn't explain the whole thing of how someone got their hands on a jet engine, it is full of luscious facts and figures.
The Commodore — VN or VP in nature — is powered by a Rolls-Royce Bristol Siddeley Viper 201 Turbojet engine, as more commonly used in planes. It develops 2800 pounds of thrust, which the seller says is the equivalent of just over 3000hp (2237kW). It also completely fills the cabin, barely leaving enough room for the driver's tiny racing seat. Personal space well and truly violated.
And for those who don't think 3000hp is quite enough boogie, the auction includes parts to help build an afterburner that boosts the output to 5000 points of thrust — enough to put this silly thing in the ballpark of making between 5500hp and 6000hp.
And, though there's no footage as such, the whole thing is said to work. Apart from, you know, the donor vehicle, the builder appears to have built this monster to necessary spec.
It comes with full instrumentation, analogue and digital RPM gauges, oil gauges, igniter box, and all sorts of other bits and pieces. Buyers will also be clued in on full engine procedure when they pick it up.
The body is "straight and rust free" too, which I guess is highly relevant here.
It might not be quite as luxurious and well rounded as the new ZB Commodore, but ... I don't know where I'm going with this. When performing LS-swaps on old cars becomes old hat, perhaps this will be the future.
Wonder what Jeff Goldblum would reckon.
