I realize that there are guys out there who love nothing better than to do all kinds of things to their trucks to make the da boss but I think this might be overdoing it just a tad.
Chris Lentz has been wanting to do this since he was a kid. The idea of hooking up a jet engine to a pick-up truck though seems to be a little on the extreme side if you ask me. But then Chris didn’t ask me and as a result he is the proud owner of a Ford F-150 with a Czech built Motorlet M-701 turbojet bolted to its bed.
To install the jet in the truck, Lentz fabricated a sturdy mounting stand, a twenty-gallon kerosene tank, and a control console from aluminum and stainless steel. His decorative touches include a red, white, and blue nose cone and a 2700 HP badge (not divulged is the 516-mph velocity needed to achieve that power level).
To light the burner, the pilot advances a red fuel lever and a blue throttle control while operating a two-stage electric starter. There are snapping sounds as ignitors fire in the combustion chambers followed by a muffled explosion and a whine not unlike a 737 taxiing past the lowered tailgate. Viewing the procedure from the rear of the truck reveals a bright orange ball of flame accompanying the muffled explosion upon ignition. With the jet idling at 3500 rpm and during full-throttle acceleration, there are waves of heat but no external flames.
Source: Automobile Mag :: Jet-Powered 2005 Ford F-150 STX
And just so you don’t think I’m making this up here’s a short video of the truck.
hat tip to Geekologie
