back to article Optimus Prime goes under the hammer

Film buffs with deep pockets and a really big garage should consider moseying on down to the forthcoming Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction, where the 1992 Peterbilt 379 Optimus Prime tractor will go under the hammer. The Optimus Prime Peterbilt tractor The custom rig appeared in three Transformers movies playing the …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Off Topic.......Alan Rickman Dies!!!

    What the fuck is happening?????

    1. chivo243 Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Re: Off Topic.......Alan Rickman Dies!!!

      Must be the age, he was 69 just like Bowie.... Is this the new age for the new Logan's Run? You reach 69 and it's time for carousel?

    2. Haku
      Unhappy

      Re: Off Topic.......Alan Rickman Dies!!!

      By Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Warvan, you shall be avenged!

      One of my favourite films he's in is Snow Cake, I highly reccomend it.

    3. A. Coatsworth Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Re: Off Topic.......Alan Rickman Dies!!!

      In my local newspaper: "Alan Rickman, famous for his role of Severus Snape, dies..."

      Fsck off!! He is and always will be Hans Gruber in my heart!

      1. TeeCee Gold badge

        Re: Off Topic.......Alan Rickman Dies!!!

        Has to be The Metatron in "Dogma" for me. I just can't even imagine anyone else getting it that right.

  2. WraithCadmus
    Black Helicopters

    What? This is an outrage!

    You can't buy a transformer, freedom is the right of all sentient beings!

    Icon: Vortex, of the Combaticons

  3. ukgnome

    That is not Optimus Prime!

    1. A. Coatsworth Silver badge
      Mushroom

      Even my 8 year-old self knew Optimus is a stock RED Freightliner, not that "Pimp my Ride" monstrosity.

      May this franchise die in a Michael Bay-grade explosion.

  4. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    Ugh...

    Teenager blue go faster LED lights... Yuck...

    Now the corvette pretending to be a beetle. That would have been interesting. If it was a stick shift :)

  5. Chris King

    Wipe off Michael Bay's autograph...

    ...and the Camaro's value goes up further ?

  6. Roq D. Kasba

    owned and autographed

    >>For those with less space, the Bumblebee GM Camaro from the fourth Transformers outing, currently owned and autographed by Michael Bay himself<<

    Did he autograph it before owning it, or sign it whilst he was driving round in it? Bit of a bizarre one either way ;-)

  7. G R Goslin

    Big?

    How does this compare in size with the Thornycroft Antar, MkIII, of yore. Now that was a BIG machine, and far handsomer than this.. I think the only chrome on the Antar was the large 'T' on the radiator. It sounded nice, too. A cut down version of the Merlin aircraft engine.. If it had only had the howl of the original supercharger.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Big?

      "How does this compare in size with the Thornycroft Antar, MkIII"

      Have a word with the Great Dorset Steam Fair people, Antars are always there (despite not being steam), Peterbilts etc have been there too, maybe they can put the two side by side (or even back to back).

      GDSF: about as many attendees as Glastonbury Festival (not far off two hundred thousand in a good year), around half the ground area, and almost zero media coverage (why?)

      www.gdsf.org.uk

    2. TeeCee Gold badge

      Re: Big?

      That's the one with the walkway round the back of the cab and the engine sat between the two seats, right?

      An ex-tanker once told me a tale of these. They were equipped with a hand throttle that could be locked in place, a bit like a primitive cruise control. Standard drill on long-haul jobs was lock the throttle, one goes over the engine and the other out the door, round the back and in the other. Crews would settle between themselves who did which, but usually it became a well-oiled routine.

      One day, two lads from different crews were paired and were disconcerted to meet behind the cab.........(!)

      Apparently it's a really big job recovering one of those from upside-down in a ditch at the bottom of an embankment and with a Chieftan Tank still securely chained to it.

  8. Frumious Bandersnatch
    WTF?

    Merkins say the darndest things

    But how they decided (I presume) to call the thing in the first two photos a "tractor trailer" just boggles the mind. Not a tractor, not a trailer, so yeah, let's mash it up and call it a "tractor trailer".

    1. Evil Auditor Silver badge

      Re: Merkins say the darndest things

      Just a thought: you need a tractor to pull it, so it becomes a trailer?

      1. Eddy Ito

        Re: Merkins say the darndest things

        Actually we'd call this a tractor. It isn't a tractor trailer without the trailer bit. Then again I know a few folks who drive them who refer to it as a horse.

    2. Darryl

      Re: Merkins say the darndest things

      Actually, that's a mistake on the author's part. It would just be a tractor (Actually the term is 'Tractor Unit' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tractor_unit.) A tractor trailer is the whole shebang with, well, a trailer attached.

      Edit: Eddy beat me to it

      1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

        Re: Re: Merkins say the darndest things

        Yup, my mistake. I've corrected it now, so order is restored.

  9. Ugotta B. Kiddingme

    the auction contains several WAY more interesting vehicles

    such as a 1965 Shelby Cobra Roadster, 1968 Chevrolet Camaro convertible, 1970 Plymouth Barracuda Custom Coupe, 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 fastback and, perhaps the most beautiful of them all, a 1961 Jaguar XKE. Any of these would be infinitely more preferable (to me, at least) than a giant truck/tractor/whatthefuckever or something with Michael Bay's autograph...

  10. Havin_it
    Coat

    >"[...]custom Halo LED yellow headlights", and much, much more.

    ...than meets the eye?

  11. Camilla Smythe

    Are they fitted with crossply tires

    ... and bouncy bouncy suspension?

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    I'll buy it, if when you press the horn it says...

    "Autobots-- transform and roll out!!"

  13. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

    there's no reserve

    "Again, there's no reserve, so it's anyone's guess how much the successful bidder will have to stump to secure the vehicle"

    Well, yeah, that's the very definition of a "no reserve" auction item. It means there's no LOWER limit on the sale price. If no one else bids you could buy it for 10p. A reserve is when the seller places a MINIMUM sale price, not usually disclosed to the bidders, and if the bidding ends before reaching the reserve then it doesn't get sold, but the upper price is still unlimited except by the bidders willingness to keep bidding upwards.

    The article wording seem to imply that "no reserve" is an upper limit and not having one means the possible sale price is unlimited. Unless it's a "dutch" auction or other "non-standard" bidding system that I've nor come across yet.

    1. alan lovedog

      Re: there's no reserve

      at barrett jackson no reserve is normal except in rare exceptions.

      clearly thought, the auctioneer doesn't say 'lets start at 1 dollar'

  14. Cuddles

    Hang on

    These are actually real and not just CGI? Also, I'm not really a hardcore Transformers fan, but didn't Bumblebee used to be yellow?

    1. Lamont Cranston

      Re: Hang on

      More practical effects than one might expect (at least in the first film, I haven't bothered with the rest). But, no, these look nothing like the characters that they're supposed to represent.

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