The Homer: The Car Built for Homer
Wednesday, January 13th 2010
"The Homer" is a fictional car featured during an early episode of The Simpsons. The episode is from the show's second season, and is entitled "Oh Brother Where Art Thou." It features a number of personal add-ons requested by Homer Simpson. What an interesting piece of automotive fiction! Could you imagine something like this?
- Large beverage holders
- Little ball on top the aerial
- Bowling mascot on the hood
- Horns that play La Cucaracha
- Sound-proof bubble for the kids
- Huge motor
- Big Fins
Homer is reunited with his long lost bother, Herbert Powell, the owner of "Powell Motors." After a brief phone conversation, Herbert invites Homer to visit his home in Detroit. Once in Detroit, Homer and Herb begin to get to know each other better. Herb quickly falls in love with the Simpsons. Uncle Herb spoils his the kids with vacations and gifts. He offers to help the family out with a new car. However, Homer is unable to find a suitable automobile from the Powell Motors line-up. Herb, already frustrated with his board of directors, commissions Homer to design a new car.
Herb's challenge to Homer is to build a car for the everyday person. However, as soon as Homer met with the engineers, his ideas were quickly pushed aside. Luckily though, Herb steps in and forces them to listen to Homer's ideas. They were pretty crazy, I might add. Homer takes over every aspect of the design. He comes up with large beverage holders, a little ball on the aerial, a separate sound-proof dome for the kids, etc.
"...power like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a nerf ball..."At the unveiling, it was presented as "The Homer, The Car Built for Homer." They show a video of Homer driving down the winding road. Then the curtain is dropped, and the car is shown. The final cost of all the features totaled $82,000. Naturally, the car failed, the company went out of business, and Herb left his only brother, saying he wanted nothing to do with poor Homer. Sad story. But what a funny car!
Thoughts about "The Homer"This is one of my favorite episodes for obvious reasons. But I admire the fact that, even though it's a cartoon, it isn't too far off from some of the concepts that international automakers have attempted. I did some research, and found Pontiac's failed concept car "The Stinger." I think this is a fairly good example of a real life version of "The Homer." Not to mention they're both green and have a ton of features that no one could ever fully utilize.
I think "The Homer", reminds me of a cross between a Rolls Royce, the Popemobile and an ice cream truck. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense. But look at it! The grill and front-end look like a Rolls Royce, the second bubble looks like the Popemobile, and the color and wackiness reminds me of an ice cream truck! What are your thoughts on the "The Homer?" Comment and let us know what you think! Stay tuned for more exciting On Screen Cars.
Reference Links:IMDB Simpsons Wiki Wikipedia
Categories: Homer Simpson, Stars, The Simpsons, TV