It’s part space shuttle and part truck. It’s also available for sale.
Have you heard of Xcor before? The company was founded in 1999 by ex-members of the Rotary Rocket engine development team. Unfortunately, it was forced to cease operations in 2017 when it filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The firm was formed to transport people into space in a “suborbital” spaceplane called the Lynx. It was also designed as a “reusable rocket vehicle”.
Xcor used an old aircraft to test the aerodynamics of the space shuttle. This was to make it more economical and efficient.
Ford modified to carry the panels of the shuttle, and then drive it down the runway at Mojave Air & Space Port. We now have this 1999 Ford F-250 7.3-liter Diesel.
For sale The attached images show that it is indeed a F-250 truck cut into a shape similar to Xcor’s Lynx spaceplane. The pickup’s size is approximately 1/3 of the actual shuttle size, and the cargo bed has been replaced with a spaceship-styled fin. Some of the Xcor stickers can still be seen on the sides.
The engine is a 7.3-liter 16-valve V8 diesel engine with 235 horsepower (175 Kilowatts), at 2,600 RPM, and 500 pound-feet (678 Newton meters) of torque at 1,600 Rpm. The engine is mated to an automatic four-speed transmission.
The rolling wind tunnel test platform for testing wind power is available on eBay. Only one bid is currently available that meets the $2,999 starting price.