Anyone who knows Elon Musk by now knows that with him anything can be possible. The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is also a co-founder of The Boring Company, an excavation company that sold 20,000 flamethrowers four years ago at a price of $500 and sold out in a matter of hours.
The inspiration for this object comes from Spaceballs (in Spain La loca historia de las galaxies), a movie that parodies Star Wars, and the object is not really his creation, but he put the sticker of the startup that he created from a anger over traffic jams in Los Angeles. So how did this success come about?
The $500 Flamethrower
The story about how this flamethrower came up for sale is curious to say the least. Elon Musk posted a message on Twitter stating that if 50,000 hats with The Boring Company logo were sold (a play on words, since in English boring can be boring or excavation), he would create a flamethrower and put it on the market. sale .
After 50k hats, we will start selling The Boring Company flamethrower
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2017
We already know by now that the co-founder of PayPal can sell us sand in the desert, so said and done. On December 24, 2017, the number of caps marked was sold and it was transferred to the flamethrower project.
Montage of Elon Musk with his flamethrower
On January 28, 2018, the sale of these 20,000 units began, which in just 24 hours had already placed 4,000 units. Finally, the “out of stock” sign was hung, reporting revenue of 10 million dollars for the company.
It is not an illegal weapon
Part of the controversy regarding the release of this product had to do with concerns about the safety of this weapon . At first, Musk responded sarcastically to these messages, announcing that each shipment of his flamethrower would also have a fire extinguisher in the same package for $30 more.
All flamethrowers will ship with a complimentary boring fire extinguisher
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 1, 2018
Actually, said flamethrower really is not such. It is still a modified Airsoft rifle (the CSI STAR XR-5 FG-1508, to be more exact) to include a flame emitting system. The ATF, Agency for Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of the Department of Justice of the United States, allows the sale of these objects as long as their flame is shorter than 10 feet in length (about 3 meters away). ).
ATF says any flamethrower with a flame shorter than 10 ft is A-ok. Our design is max fun for least danger. I’d be way more scared of a steak knife.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2018
Will it be sold again?
Once those 20,000 units ran out of stock, Elon Musk flirted with the idea of putting a second print run up for sale, but it never happened.
Current status of the product sheet
The idea was intended to give visibility to Elon Musk’s startup which, at the time, was quite unknown. Things haven’t changed much since then, and The Boring Company isn’t currently Musk’s most profitable business.
Considering the unpredictability of the character, you can never say never with him, but it is difficult to think that the flamethrower will be sold again considering that it is not the main line of business and that campaign has already been amortized.
When the zombie apocalypse happens, you’ll be glad you bought a flamethrower. Works against hordes of the undead or your money back!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2018
Of course, in 2021 Musk published a video showing that he kept a unit, perhaps in case the zombie apocalypse with which he has made so many jokes on social networks arrives.