What Is The "Permobil CSX500," And What Separates It From Other Prototypes?!

During the early part of the 1960s, Carroll Shelby found himself in the midst of a construction project. That "construction project" would become the legendary A/C Cobra, and it would become America's greatest road car.

But during the very initial stages of that build, Shelby was in a state of limbo, mostly between GM and Ford. Truthfully, Carroll had hoped to stuff a Chevrolet small-block into his first sports car, but GM, always wanting to suffocate the "Shadetree Mechanics" of the world, would have nothing to do with a man who built door-slammers, especially when that door-slammer was one that threatened to undermine the entire, second generation of Corvettes, and with the very small-block V-8 that made GM's sportster into a competitor.

It's understandable why General Motors and the "Big 3" don't want to share their goods; that part of their history repeated itself with Buick in the 1980s, and this is why the turbo Regal lineup never became as advertised as other GM performance makes. That's why the 3.8 motor was so severely underrated, by the time Garrett starting building intercooled turbos. Likewise, this is why Tesla Motors will not just sell running gears, to any "hot rod Harry" who wants to build a Roadster. Believe that, because if that was the case, then literally every performance buff at Supercar Sunday would be shoehorning Tesla's stuff into their Superformance Cobras, and with the way the motoring community is, you better believe that an idea like that would catch on, and quick!

What would that mean for automakers like Buick and Tesla? Go back to Tesla Motors; if their DC motors were truly "open-sourced," then Shelby American, Factory Five, Superformance and every other kit car manufacturer would be using their stuff. Tesla doesn't want people to build hot rods and one-offs from a running gear that they've created, and for good reason; how much of a rebellion would there be, within the luxury-performance market, if Tesla Motors lost money, just because all of these knuckleheads in the rod-and-custom community decided to start doing things their way?!

Think about it: a Mk. III Cobra from Superformance is a ground-up kit car that can be had for $95-100k; a Model S sedan runs for anywhere from $70-125k. You can build a Superformance Daytona or GT40 for anywhere from $90k, all the way up to $150k and over; for 2016, Tesla Motors projects that their Model X crossover will start at a baseline of $80-85k, and that's without the leather interior, roof rack and whatever bottle of champagne Tesla decides to throw-in. Otherwise, you're buying an expensive kit car, and from a store front, so that it gives you that illusion that you really are buying something that's "regular-production," even though Tesla "salon showcases" everything that they do.

Now what about the physically-challenged enthusiast, and I'm not talking about some guy with drool in his mouth, because most developmentally-disabled people are simply not. Actually, there are a great many of us out there, who would love nothing more than to spend $95-150k on a bad-ass kit car. It's not important, but here's what is: being able to get around, and with Uber implementing their "WAV" program this year, they've achieved that!

In addition to Uber WAV, we have Access Paratransit, and that's a service that's been in operation, here in Los Angeles, since 1994. For me, I just feel like it's way more important to build paratransit networks and taxi services for the challenged community, then it is to simply throw everything out that's useful, and try building a "Shelby Cobra" for a guy with mild CP, or a spinal chord injury.

Take for instance, Aaron Baker. Is it important, for a guy like Baker, to be able to make dirt bikes accessible? Not really, because no one needs a dirt bike, just like no one needs a Shelby Cobra and no one needs a "ZL1 Camaro" either!

That's like me saying, "I like women, but I don't 'need to' sleep with the hottest chick in the neighborhood!" Look, personally...I don't need to be sleeping with no "supermodels," especially since I am permanently disabled. But let's face it: I want to hump on a good-looking chick anyway, because I have a penis in-between my legs and I can; we call that, "being human!" In the same way that people with disabilities, who do not share mine and Aaron's "chakra scale," also like to slam tequila, watch porn and blow-up fireworks, and throughout the '90s and early-2000s, our friends and family weren't getting any of this!

Guess what?! They're not going to, my dad and his dad will not and they should not, until I bring home Miranda Cosgrove. Until then, you simply will not be taken seriously, as a man!

For this reason, I am proposing a new variation on an old classic, but the twist is that it has to be accessible. My personal friend and designer, Greg Rainsbarger is currently working, from San Bernardino, California, to design, what we call, the "Permobil CSX500," what would prove to be the market's first legitimate road car, based on a disabled-friendly platform.

While we do not yet know whether the production CSX will be fiberglass or aluminum-bodied, we are guessing that the costs of fiberglass will be significantly-less, and what we're in the process of establishing, is whether or not we will be able to build the platform accessible enough, to where it could accommodate the disabled drivers and their mobility devices.

Each unit should run for about $100-150k, will feature a standard joystick and will be manufactured by Superformance of Irvine, California, and as a licensed-and-certified, Superformance product.

Our initial concept sketch is currently under construction, and as soon as it's dialed-in, Greg and I will be open-sourcing it online. As of right now, there's not a lot that we know for sure, because we are amateurs. But if there's one thing that Greg and I have agreed on, it's that the Permobil CSX500, solely as a prototype, will open the doors for a brand new market of enthusiasts.

Even as I put this document together, a funny thought comes to my mind: "If you're going to argue with a 'stoner' who's educated, you're going to lose!" That's because I went into the whole design with a "cartoon" mindset, not being stupid about it or anything, but just visionary enough to make the very thought molecule into a reality.

People are going to chastise me when I say it, so I'll say it anyway: Whenever you build something that's new, like Shelby's Cobra or Disney's "Magic Kingdom," think like a stoner! I'm not suggesting that people use drugs; I'm suggesting that they keep their heads straight, and think like a professional stoner. Here's what that means: if you think that an attraction like "Star Tours" is too outrageous for Disneyland, then it probably is, and that's why George Lucas made it happen!

If you think that forming a real rock band, based on an inter dimensional being is far-fetched, then form that rock band; it was outrageous in the '70s, it's outrageous even today, and that's why Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley did it anyway. Because the more outrageous that the project becomes, and with the right timing, the more of a "bar" or "standard" that it sets.

We're in America, we're here and we're human; for a project like this, the disabled community has waited long enough!