Do you remember the kinds of things you drew when you were small lad/lass? Robots and ponies, I reckon. Probably cars too, ones that would fail, spectacularly, if they existed in reality. Not that such a trifling detail stopped BMW from producing a 3D concept of a small boy’s out-there design.
It all started with a low-key request for some car sketches on automotive blog Jalopnik. A reader by the name of Ben asked the site if it could help translate his four-year-old son’s ideal vehicle into picture form.
Here are the specifications Ben’s son provided:
- It’s a BMW
- 42 wheels, and of course 42-wheel drive
- It is powered by 19 Porsche engines, each producing 459 horsepower. I think they will need to be water-cooled turbocharged boxer 6s. This was entirely his own idea, but I commended his choice of using boxer engines for a multi-engine setup since they will stack so well.
- The engines are all linked to a single transmission. He didn’t specify, but I think viscous couplings for the inputs would probably be a good idea.
- Power output is subdivided to all those wheels via a series of limited-slip differentials
- There are seats and three steering wheels, and all three can drive the car at the same time.
- The trunk is full of toys and you can play in it
- The model name that I came up with is “4219ELi” – 42 wheels, 19 engines, an Extra Long wheelbase, and fuel injection.
I don’t think anyone expected BMW itself to see the post and those that did would not have predicted the company would come up with a concept. But, it did and the image was pushed out via its Facebook page a few days ago.
The final product is indeed more tank than car and any attempts to turn would probably result in the untimely demise of the driver, other passengers and any unfortunate toys stuffed in the boot.
Not that any of this matters — as far as one kid is concerned, it’s the ultimate automotive ever to be devised by humans.
Image: BMW