Anyone who feels uncomfortable in the front seat of a roller coaster can save their money by not buying this car. I mean, check out this crazy contraption! Strap yourself onto the front (!!) of a jet engine and blast off to nearly 300 MPH with nothing but a tin foil cone between you and whatever you’ll smack into if things go pear-shaped… clearly not for everyone. The 1960s-era jet dragster known as “Untouchable” goes to auction here on eBay where one click on Buy It Now makes you the new owner for $28,949, just slightly more than a 2019 Volkswagen GTI. While the GTI’s top speed of 155 MPH seems impressive, it’s a joke compared to the Untouchable. This incredible conveyance resides in Reno, Nevada and bring a truck (the car’s trailer is included!) because roasting unfortunate citizens who get behind you at a stoplight is generally frowned upon by the constabulary.
Drag Strips (in the past as today) often invite crazy vehicles like “Untouchable” to draw spectators. This jet car’s seller is banking on its ability to attract visitors to your place of business, either just to see this insane one-man rocket or maybe even to see it run.
Credit car builder Romeo Palamides for envisioning “Untouchable” and then creating it from aircraft parts, ingenuity, and unbridled bravado.
The General Electric J47 TurboJet engine makes 6,000 lbs of thrust at 7950 RPM. Despite the car’s complete lack of a drive train, the J47 pushes the 5000 lb car to nearly 300 MPH in the quarter mile with a high five-second Elapsed Time. Not shabby! You can spend considerably more on a high five-second Pro-Mod car, making this find not only a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity but also a practical bargain. How can you *not* buy it?
Honestly Honey, you’re going to love it. Completely safe, I had my brother check it out.And it comes with the trailer, for FREE
I saw ROMEO build two of these jet cars in
A oakland Airport hanger I Was 6 years old and Romero and his family lived across the street from me.had alot of kids and his oldest son was Dominic
Worth the price for the history alone, as far as I’m concerned. Also love the shot of the Fremont drags, my brothers and I have programs that Dad saved from visits 50-60 years ago.
Would be interested a program or two from Fremont – my uncle ran from about 1958 to 1963 in A/H roadster class.
I wonder if instructions come with it?
Has great patina too.
Am I missing something? A car at this price and no current photos to show its condition?
I tried to ask the seller about that, but eBay says the inquiry volume is too great, won’t allow for contact.
I wonder how the driver is affected by the negative pressure (vacuum) that exists in front of such an engine? I’d be afraid of having my eardrums pulled out!
Google the Green Monster Jet Car! I was at the first pass this car ever made 1960 in Henderson NV 500 mph, and ended up out in the desert because it didn’t stop soon enough. I even have video of the launch.
Nostaglia is great. The jet dragster looks as safe as the slingshot/rear seat dragster it’s pictured with.
Both are rolling crematories…the jet dragster intake will chop then incinerate the pilot.
The seating position and design of this car is typical of most of the jet dragsters, as well as many of the land speed record cars, raced in the 60’s, and since.
The Cyclops and the various Green Monsters raced by Walt and Art Arfons, Gary Gabelich’s US-1, and other jet dragsters, shared the same design of a small pud for the driver, placed in front of the jet’s inlet. This car, Untouchable was built by Romeo Palamides, who also built many other jet powered dragsters.
Somehow they all seemed to survive years of weekly match races at tracks all across the country.
This car is history! Should be in Petersen Museum. This type of stuff is what made the U.S.A. the great nation that it is. Free thinkers and courage. Romeo Palamides built a lot of great dragsters. This is what we should be showing our younger generations. Thinking outside the box and don’t be afraid to take chances.
How can I *not* buy it, Todd? Because one of my goals is to reach the average life expectancy for a male in the U.S., and I’m too close to quit now.
Jet Drag car operation is not for the meek. Count me out as well, Ikey. Here is another page with some stories about the Untouchable and similar cars. https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCStory.asp?ID=269028
Great articles Todd thank you it was a great read.
Really Ike? If you’re that close what in the heck do you have to lose, for crying out loud?
Would keep up with Chicago expressway traffic.
It’d probably outrun the bullets on the Dan Ryan too!
Perfect for burning man!
lmao!
In the first photo of the story it seems to me the driver is thinking, ‘if I touch these two wires together will it take offffffffffffffff!’
I wonder how much that J47 weighs. Food for thought as it rips loose and rockets forward into your shoulder blades, turning you into a flaming dessert in seconds.
I love it when you find one of these.
Whatever you do smack into if (when?) things go pear-shaped, you’ll probably never have to worry about anything again. “Just scrape the remains off that wall with a putty knife honey and bury them in a mason jar.”
One of my favorite quotes was from a Craig Breedlove Land Speed Record run (successful btw) where he lost his chutes, steering and brakes after he set the record. There exists a recording (reference: Jalopnik) where he says “For my next trick, I set myself a-fire” after coming to rest in some water.
Link to Jalopnik transcript:
https://jalopnik.com/land-speed-record-record-recorded-181861
Agreed, and you probably wouldn’t feel a thing! If what you love is a live rocket strapped to your kiester while blasting along at 250 MPH towards a fixed object in sheer and utter terror, there are plenty of worse ways to check out, IMO.
I think I’ve seen this one, only Wile E. Coyote was driving.
Very cool car saw it run at OCIR and other tracks in so cal when i was a young lad. I have always been a jet car fan. Would like to have it and run it but i don’t think that it would pass tech inspection at any nhra sanctioned track
Did you really use the word “practical” here, Todd?
The noise in front of the supersonic turbine blades must be deafening. Smacking into something at 300 MPH, does it really matter where you are sitting? The sense of speed in this must be off the chart. Nothing in your peripheral vision except the asphalt. I’ve flown planes with a pod out front like that and it heightens the rush dramatically!!! I’d want to see a 5 second 300 mph timeslip though. Looks like a 7 second car to me.
7 Seconds??? Never mind (Closing Wallet).
This jet car would never be permitted on any NHRA track given that there is no roll cage. Under 10 seconds requires a roll cage.
It’s man cave art, or yard art, but it ain’t a workable car for the track.
Bob
Paraphrasing a bit, “Track? We don’t need no stinkin’ track!”
“Where we are going, we don’t need a track!”
For today standards your right, but in 1960 I saw it’s very first pass. then it ran several after that, and at the Salt flats Google the Green Monster car.
I keep thinking about the movie: The Lively Set.
Funny comebacks, I kept laughing the whole time I was reading. It looks like he’s sitting on the end of a pencil heading for a sharpener at 300 mph.
God bless America
End of a pencil–LMAO! Candidate for the Darwin Awards…
Not for me…… bock bock ba bock bock bock…!!
Daily driver?
Sure. Gut the jet engine & hide a small block inside. Calling Jay Leno.
I like it, but it lacks the drama and crowd pleasing of Motz dusting off Shockley.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFavbPEPYWA
So much for the billboard backdrop!
That was pretty spectacular!
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Barn Finds is my favourite Facebook page, and it’s discoveries like this that really make my day. As a huge fan of American culture (especially cars!), the obsession with speed is just fascinating. This must surely be the find of the year.
Crazy. You’re not sitting in front, you are sat inside the intake housing of a J47 rocket.
I wouldn’t be worried about the fit of my goggles, you are not seeing anything after the Roadrunner with a lit match.
How do any of these things still survive?
Suck the skin right off of you, before you even leave the line.
What is going on here? The pictures are showing different body styles. Go to the ebay listing. The painted red/white/blue pictures show a curved underbody and different tail wing things than the bare aluminum pictures. Yes, sure there may have been some mods along the way, but I pulling my bid on it (if I had made a bid).