Collision Works - Norman

The Iconic Scorpion Burning Man Vehicle is Up for Sale!

Burning Man is the world-renowned free-spirit gathering that takes place in the middle of the Nevada desert every year. Tens of thousands of people celebrate art and self-expression at Burning Man, which features some of the world’s most bizarre vehicles and surely nothing we've ever seen here in  Norman , OK . One of the more amazing and peculiar of these is the 55-foot Scorpion art car, that is  now listed on eBay Motors for sale.

To get a glimpse at this iconic art car and to learn its back story, here is a recap, brought to you by  Collision Works - Norman .

The flame-throwing Scorpion-mobile is constructed on the chassis of a '91 International 4900 boom truck. This retrofitted high-tech vehicle was meticulously produced in 2011 as a large-scale reproduction of a female emperor scorpion. With a total of 21 hydraulic arms, legs, tail, and claws that allow the vehicle to crawl along, the Scorpion Burning Man Vehicle gets oohs and aahs wherever it goes.

Designing and building the Scorpion was an enormous undertaking and some of the engineering was pure genius. To control the Scorpion’s 16-foot arms as they to extend up in the air as if in assault mode--while preventing them from snapping off over irregular terrain--its creators had to dampen the vibration by utilizing 8,000-pound industrial airbags.

A 50-gallon supply of propane, in addition to 35 gallons of accumulator tanks, provide sufficient power for the vehicle's seven-point computer-controlled flame effects emanating from the tail. The Burning Man Scorpion vehicle is clearly not street legal and requires the use of a semi-truck to carry the oversized load of this 11.5-foot wide vehicle. So, whoever is the lucky (and wealthy) person that buys it, won't be able to just take it out of the garage and go out for a pleasure ride!

Once it has been delivered, the Scorpion can be put together in just 24 hours by a crew of 6-8 people, depending on their individual skills and dexterity. The sale of the Scorpion art car also includes all of the training needed to set up and operate the vehicle, so that the new owners can use it at Burning Man and/or other events in the future. After each appearance, they can transport the Scorpion to their home or to the next party, music festival or gathering.

Roughly $225,000 was invested into the original Scorpion and all of the added customization that followed. The starting bid on eBay for this turnkey art car is set at $50,000, but who knows what this one-of-a-kind vehicle will fetch? The final bid might come with a little sting!

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Sources: eBay Motors, Wikipedia and Maxim.com