If you recall the earlier years of The Simpsons, you may remember the episode titled "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?," which introduced Homer's half-brother Herbert Powell (Danny DeVito), a wealthy Detroit auto manufacturer who enlists Homer to help him come up with a design for a car for the average man. That's how Homer comes to develop "The Homer," not to be confused with Homer himself, or Marge's bowling ball. As you can see in the video above, some people went ahead and made The Homer a reality. It really does look powerful like a gorilla, and yet soft and yielding like a nerf ball. And you can even see Bart and Lisa riding safely and comfortably in their bubble up top.
According to Deadline, the guys at Porcubimmer Motors built The Homer to race in the 24 Hours of LeMons north of Bakersfield. The car was built in a home garage "with all the wrong tools," Deadline quotes the builders as saying. But it sounds like their efforts paid off. Of the 150 or so cars that took off in the race, the Simpsons-inspired vehicle finished fifth, and it managed to win a trophy for best theme.
The above photo, which shows The Homer coming in fifth in the big race, comes from the Porcubimmer Motors' "The Homer" Facebook page, which also includes pictures of them working on the car. Bart looks like he's seen better days in this photo, which comes under the caption "We think Bart may be suffering from heat stroke."
Do you think maybe they forgot to put air in the bubble?
In addition to being featured in an early episode of The Simpsons, those who've played The Simpsons Road Rage know that Homer's fail-car is among the vehicles that can be used to zoom through Springfield in the video game. I was never a big fan of that particular car for racing - always went for Lisa's electric car or Apu's speedy sports car, personally - but it's one of the many great nods to the series in the game. And Porcubimmer's version certainly does a fine job in paying tribute to the series as well.
Here's a clip from the episode that inspired it…
In other Springfield news, The Simpsons are headed to Comic-Con! Check out the details on the planned panel here.
