Photo: Ron Patrick
No better year to go all out than the dumpster fire that was (and still is) 2020. You deserve to end the year with a bang – and a giant ball of fire – courtesy of the iconic jet-powered 2000 Volkswagen Beetle.
In recent years, we’ve seen more than a fair share of homemade jet-powered vehicles, some more ridiculous than others but all of them incredibly awesome. Before strapping jet engines to vehicles where they don’t belong was a thing, there was Ron Patrick and his insane VW Beetle.
Ron Patrick has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, and he used his “fancy” engineering degree to deliver a personal take on the most insane yet street-legal car in the world, perhaps the first to be so. To make his build even more spectacular and surprising, he chose a Volkswagen Beetle as the platform for that car.
Thus, the jet-powered Beetle was born, a car that’s been featured widely in the media and at car shows in the two decades that have passed since. It has two engines, the original one in the front and the jet engine in the back, a modified General Electric Model T58-8F, which technically makes it a hybrid. You can drive it like a regular Beetle (though where’s the fun in that?) or turn on the jet engine for some serious fun.
More importantly, the jet-powered Beetle could be yours, having just been listed on Craigslist in San Francisco. Just be willing to part with $550,000 for the chance to own this legendary and absolutely bonkers vehicle.
The listing includes a full description of the modifications done to the Beetle in order to be able to withstand the heat and the force generated by the jet engine, but it’s all stuff that’d already been posted to Patrick’s website. He notes that the car has registration up to date, insists that “this is a real ad,” and highlights that, despite how insane the build comes across as, it is perfectly safe.
“I have no idea how fast the car will go, and probably never will. I built the car in order to thrill me, not kill me. That said, I do enjoy the occasional blast down the highway,” he says. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. The Beetle comes with 3,000 miles (4,828 km) on the odometer.
Rated at 1,350 hp, the jet engine spins at 26,000 RPM and idles at 13,000 RPM. Patrick made sure that, despite the heavy modifications done to the car to be able to run on jet power, the overall design still gives the impression of being built with the jet engine in the back.
Ron Patrick has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, and he used his “fancy” engineering degree to deliver a personal take on the most insane yet street-legal car in the world, perhaps the first to be so. To make his build even more spectacular and surprising, he chose a Volkswagen Beetle as the platform for that car.
Thus, the jet-powered Beetle was born, a car that’s been featured widely in the media and at car shows in the two decades that have passed since. It has two engines, the original one in the front and the jet engine in the back, a modified General Electric Model T58-8F, which technically makes it a hybrid. You can drive it like a regular Beetle (though where’s the fun in that?) or turn on the jet engine for some serious fun.
More importantly, the jet-powered Beetle could be yours, having just been listed on Craigslist in San Francisco. Just be willing to part with $550,000 for the chance to own this legendary and absolutely bonkers vehicle.
The listing includes a full description of the modifications done to the Beetle in order to be able to withstand the heat and the force generated by the jet engine, but it’s all stuff that’d already been posted to Patrick’s website. He notes that the car has registration up to date, insists that “this is a real ad,” and highlights that, despite how insane the build comes across as, it is perfectly safe.
“I have no idea how fast the car will go, and probably never will. I built the car in order to thrill me, not kill me. That said, I do enjoy the occasional blast down the highway,” he says. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. The Beetle comes with 3,000 miles (4,828 km) on the odometer.
Rated at 1,350 hp, the jet engine spins at 26,000 RPM and idles at 13,000 RPM. Patrick made sure that, despite the heavy modifications done to the car to be able to run on jet power, the overall design still gives the impression of being built with the jet engine in the back.
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