Ever since Elon Musk introduced the radical-looking electric Tesla Cybertruck late last year by smashing its windows in front of a crowd, one thing has been certain: Tesla will have to build them if they want to sell them. I did the maths, it’s true. Tesla is planning on building the Cybertruck in an all-new Cybertruck Gigafactory, the location of which seems to have been narrowed to two candidates: Austin, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. In an effort to entice Tesla, Tulsa has dressed up their most famous landmark as Elon Musk, and it’s, um, interesting.
right now they’re trying to get a Tesla factory, so they…painted Elon Musk’s ugly face on the statue??? pic.twitter.com/7lh5qrKTTD
— pierre menard (@PierreMenard) May 20, 2020
The landmark in question is a 23 metre tall statue of an oil worker known as the Golden Driller, which, in its current form, dates from 1966, and was originally built for a 1953 trade show at the Tulsa State Fairgrounds by a company called Mid-Continent Supply Company of Fort Worth, Texas.
After a couple of revisions, the final, stoic-looking version was permanently installed in front of the Tulsa Expo Centre, now able to withstand 320 km/h winds while looking ripped and pissed off.
The Golden Driller has this inscription on its base:
The Golden Driller, a symbol of the International Petroleum Exposition. Dedicated to the men of the petroleum industry who by their vision and daring have created from God’s abundance a better life for mankind.
It is, of course, pretty ironic to see a literal golden idol of petroleum being used to entice construction of an electric car factory.
While the Golden Driller has been used in advertising before, being dressed up with shirts and ties and perhaps a colossal ascot or two over the years, the transformation into a much-more-buff Elon Musk represents the first time that the Driller’s face has been altered, with something workers called “Elon Musk’s face skin.”
Even worse lol pic.twitter.com/C1fnH2Pzwv
— matt (@taquitoroller) May 20, 2020
I don’t feel so good.
Is this the kind of thing that’s likely to sway the opinion of Elon Musk? By making a colossal golden statue of him, lording over all creation?
Eh, I could see it working.