Have you ever seen something so incredible that it could have happened only because of a superhero or as the result of a computer rendering? You’ve watched the event happen (or at least read about it), but your brain can’t comprehend how in the world that happened. Maybe it was the work of some crafty camera and computer work. This is how conspiracy theories are born.
This week, David published the finale of his epic Australia adventure. He achieved what some readers thought was impossible. Hell, even I thought that there was no way he was going to convert a pile of rusty parts into something that could pass inspection. But David–along with the wonderful friends that he made along the way–pulled off something that you might see only on a scripted television show. In doing so, the team saved a piece of automotive history from going to the scrapper.
I’ve known that David pulled it off for a while, but until I read that grand finish, I had no idea how on Earth he pulled it off. I like to think that if I started off with the same parts he did, I would have either failed or given up and bought a motorcycle. Now that David has achieved this, I’m not sure there is a vehicle that he couldn’t rescue!
Clearly, not everyone is convinced. Fellow lighting site alum Mate Petrány had this to say, winning today’s COTD:
Hi David,
Clearly, this hasn’t been documented well enough. The whole process is just not as transparent as it could be, so my brain can’t verify it at all. Were you even in Australia, or is that also just a lie? That Torchinsky guy (is that his real name? Sounds fishy) is very good with computers and CGI, and I’ve been tricked before. So no dime, but I like the concept, and hope Hollywood will bite.
Crap, he got us! We thought California would look close enough. I guess we better pull Project Cactus out of the same stage NASA used to film the Moon landing. And next time we’ll use a more powerful computer, like one of those “never obsolete” eMachines 566ir towers.
On a more serious note about David’s trip, he discovered something wonderful. Sometimes, as car enthusiasts, we look at the things that we love and ask ourselves why we do what we do. It’s easy to look at the negatives and write cars off or question car enthusiasm. Why champion the car? As David and I have discovered in our travels, cars are far more than just vehicles.
In David’s journeys around the world, he’s made friends with all kinds of people that he’d normally not have much in common with. But he cut through it because they had at least one thing in common: a love for cars. Loving cars, planes, trains, and motorcycles can transcend language barriers, cultural differences, and even political differences.
In my own travels around the United States, it’s been much of the same. I’ve made more friends simply by driving and off-roading a Smart Fortwo than I have doing almost anything else. Those people have come from all walks of life and had I met them some other way perhaps we would not have been friends. But through cars, we found a common ground and grew from there.
Unfortunately, we have a long way to go. As we learned earlier this year at the King of the Hammers (and as reader LTDScott pointed out) there are still places where you’ll find shocking amounts of toxicity.
I filmed some races and then just never uploaded them because the sounds of racing engines were largely drowned out by spectators doing a political chant. I’m still not entirely sure why you’d chant like that at a random race in the desert. And around the campsites around Hammertown, people even flew some extreme flags. After traveling across the country and experiencing all kinds of car and off-roading culture, it was shocking.
So, for people like David and me, our missions are not complete. There are still places where car enthusiasm can still be improved and become a positive thing, and not something that will send people running. Have a great evening, everyone!
[Ed note: Am I posting this at 7:30 am? I am posting this at 7:30 am. – MH]
You guys need to cover Wasteland Weekend.
“I filmed some races and then just never uploaded them because the sounds of racing engines were largely drowned out by spectators doing a political chant. I’m still not entirely sure why you’d chant like that at a random race in the desert.”
It’s the same type of people who chanted “fuck Joe Biden” at the NASCAR Infinity race a few years ago and got upset when the network refused to acknowledge their chant… which spawned the equally dumb “Let’s Go Brandon”. They will never get it, shame isn’t a word that exists within their vocabulary.
Also, Mercedes, any chance I can go back to my other username? This was just a joke placeholder when I signed up months ago…
The thing here is David spent so much time thinking if he could accomplish this feat he never asked himself if he should do it.
Don’t get anyone who reads this amazing site wbo hasn’t picked up the ethos here. Leave the politics for some place else. It ain’t welcome here, a’tall. “You be you” some where far, far away.
I was suspicious all along. He doesn’t drink beer but they let him in Australia? Puh-leese!
I mean, it’s common knowledge now that Australia doesn’t exist.
If you’re reading this, it means I finally figured out how to beat the sys-
TRANSMISSION ENDED
“That Torchinsky guy (is that his real name? Sounds fishy) is very good with computers and CGI, and I’ve been tricked before.”
Well the reason for that is because that guy is actually an alien. Here’s the proof where he admits that HE’S FROM THE PLANET MARS!!!!
https://youtu.be/tZW3KNVZZ5c?t=373
Of course he wasn’t in Australia, Australia is a lie created by the British to cover up their mass murder of convicted criminals to save money on prisons, and the hoax has been perpetuated by NATO to cover up the existence of the former Russo-Tartarian Empire that ruled the world until 1910
If you guys as automotive and automotive-culture writers believe your “mission is not complete” until you’ve “improved” corners you find to be uncomfortable with your particular social message, I’m out.
In case we don’t see you again, Good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
k bye
Thank God.
Cool story bro
Right, how dare we try to make car culture more welcoming to people that it has historically, and continues to, push out or at the very least make feel unwelcome. The “particular social message” here is just don’t be a dick. That’s literally it. If you have a problem with that, then yeah, please leave.
So. Cal off-road culture tends to run conservative (I see your mouths open), the complained-about political chant was probably after many beers, about the president and used a bad word that he himself likes to use, and yes kids I’m sure you think they’re all “dicks” who need your schooling. My point would be that while Gawker/Jalopnik writers tended to slip in opinions that belonged more on Jezebel when they could, it’s been a relief to not see that here so far but hey maybe I just needed to wait for that end to catch up. Yeah I’ll still read (peace!) but in such event don’t pass the offering plate.
The people that think any of this saga was fake, simply couldn’t have accomplished it on their own.
eMachines?!?!!? T.R.I.G.G.E.R.E.D.
Ha. Nary a Gorn nor the Vasquez Rocks was to be seen in any of the photographs & videos so it stands to reason that Project Cactus did indeed take place in Australia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_productions_using_the_Vasquez_Rocks_as_a_filming_location
I agree if this had been a fake the quality of the pictures would have been better. But the writing was spot on terrific.
I don’t recall how we nominate a COTD, but this one deserves one: https://www.theautopian.com/sometimes-its-ok-just-to-be-cold-start/comment-page-1/#comment-92919
Love wins. There are more of us with good in our hearts than bad, the bad just shouts the loudest as they become more and more obsolete.
The trick is to create the fake image and then process it through a flip phone, and this is what you get.
It’s a shame we can’t just relax and enjoy the Project Cactus saga for what it is: A better love story than Twilight.
With a bit of tinkering and a bit of mind-altering substances in the writers’ room, it’d be a modern retelling of The Wizard of Oz. Hopefully the Hollywood adaptation will be sure to cast a few former Farscape castmembers.
Like the clowns who deny the moon landing, those who are skeptical about David’s adventures in Oz overlook one key item that nails down it’s authenticity. If this were all a cgi production, and totally fabricated, project cactus would have looked a lot better. The scruffy, “feral” look of the resurrected junker ( and, David, that’s junker not Junker) is the stamp of authenticity. There is no “uncanny valley” look here. Everything looks as rough as it would in real life. Not so sure about those spiders, though…
Ah, but are you sure the real David came back? Or is it several spiders in a David trenchcoat/Edgar-suit?