Holy Toledo Batman! That’s wrong
We have never hidden that The Good Oil is a Batmobile fan, but this week we have found an example that even we can’t like.
Spotted for sale on US website Craigslist, this “Batmobile” is actually a cunningly disguised Geo Tracker, otherwise known as a Suzuki Vitara in countries that drive on the proper side of the road. No, we don’t think it was a particularly good base to start from for a Batmobile either.
Clearly inspired by the classic 1960s TV show’s Batmobile, it fails miserably, mainly because it is a Suzuki Vitara.
According to the listing it took a year to complete, has 125,000 miles on the clock (201,168km) and can be yours for just US$5850 ($8387). That may seem like a bargain, but there are cheaper ways of getting people to point and laugh at you.
We are the world
■The small United States newspaper the Springfield News-Leader reports that “four ambulances, three Greene County Sheriff’s deputies, a couple of Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers, a fire truck and a few more emergency vehicles descended on a farm just east of Springfield on Monday afternoon. Authorities had received a report of a possible plane crash in the area, so dispatchers — fearing the worst — sent a lot of emergency responders”. Fortunately, it wasn’t a plane crash, it was actually the owners of “Shockwave” — a monstrous jet-powered drag truck — firing up the engines for a bit of maintenance. Probably something they should warn the authorities about, after all when the average person hears screaming jet engines followed by a few explosions, they don’t tend to think “drag truck maintenance”.
■A scarecrow in a small village near Glasgow in Scotland has caused a stir. The problem? The scarecrow is dressed as a police officer, apparently unsettling passing motorists who often speed through the village. Pamela Johnston didn’t even make the scarecrow to slow motorists down, she did it to win Best Scarecrow at the local gala. “He started out as a bit of a joke but he seems to have caused a bit of a rumpus in the village,” Johnston says. “I didn’t
even think it would be that effective since I crudely wrote ‘police’ on the back of it in crayon.”
OMG: papa got a brand new badge
MGB Abingdon Edition. Picture / Supplied
Have you ever wanted a classic British roadster, but found yourself constrained by common sense and unwilling to watch your bank account drip away into a dark, oily puddle on your driveway?
Well, good news: you can now have yourself a brand new MGB created with the original factory tooling and powered by a modern 2.5-litre Mazda engine that will propel the little car to 100km/h in 3.8 seconds.
The MG Abingdon Edition (as it is known) is built by British outfit Frontline Developments, which started out as a garage that became known as the place to go when you wanted your elderly MG fixed.
The Good Oil presumes it eventually became cheaper and easier to make new ones than fix old ones.
The Abingdon Edition’s body is brand new and manufactured using the original MG tooling from 1962 by British Motor Heritage, while the Mazda-sourced engine produces 227kW and is hooked up to a six-speed manual transmission. A limited slip differential is also fitted. Nice.
The Abingdon Edition’s price starts at a rather colossal NZ$178,040, but if that is too much for you (or you prefer the coupe), then the Mazda 2-litre powered MG LE50 can be yours from just NZ$122,195.
Actually, you are really better off just buying a Mazda MX-5 instead. Or even several of them ...
‘Mini’ has a monster price
Monster truckin’ kid edition.
Want to teach your kids the value of money? Then, for pity’s sake, don’t buy them one of these.
Hammacher Schlemmer in the US is selling a kid-sized Mini Monster Truck. Now, before you think “pedal-powered” or even “electric”, think again. This puppy is roughly half scale and is powered by a Ford four-cylinder engine that will push it to a top speed of 40km/h.
It features a two-inch steel tube frame, is 4WD with a two-speed transmission, includes hydraulic steering, nitrogen-filled shock absorbers, a winch, a set of 40-inch off-road tyres and — get this — a nitrous system for cooler jumps.
There is also a GoPro camera mounted inside the cab, presumably to keep track of the damage your kid could do with this thing.
The pint-sized bigfoot has a less-than-pint-sized price of US$125,000 ($179,205), plus whatever the cost will be of cleaning all the poor people off it that your spawn has run over.
Halo Sandcat — hit play button please
The Ford F-150 Sandcat has an Xbox One installed in the rear.
While The Good Oil is always a fan of movie and video game-promotional cars, even we have to admit that Ford has done something that other manufacturers rarely manage — to make a promotional car that we not only love, but also one we desperately want!
The Ford F-150 Halo Sandcat is that vehicle. It was built by Galpin Auto Sports in the USA to promote the new Xbox One game Halo 5: Guardians, and it is utterly awesome.
The Sandcat started life as a standard F-150 Lariat SuperCrew 4x4 packing a 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6 and a FX4 ore-road pack.
Galpin added an “arsenal of modifications” to give it a United Nations Space Command militaristic style it says Halo fans will instantly recognise.
That starts with an Addictive Desert Designs’ Baja XTR off-road conversion kit, which includes custom FOX Racing shocks, Deaver leaf springs, a Currie full floater rear axle, ADD fenders, side steps, a chase rack and 17-inch wheels with off-road tyres to go along with a full custom Halo body wrap.
Adding a slightly meta twist to proceedings is the Xbox One installed in the rear, which is hooked up to the twin rear screens, so you can play Halo while pretending to be in Halo.
The Sandcat is exciting nerds and geeks at the LA Convention Centre, where it is on display during the E3 video game expo.
Number Crunching
67 YEARS
The length of time the Ford F series has been in production.
44 NEWTON METERS
Of extra torque made by the V6 Ecoboost F-150 over the V8.
13 GENERATIONS
Of Ford F series trucks since 1948.
1 MILLION
The number of F-150 trucks Ford expects to sell this year.