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It’s been hovering on Kijiji for nearly two months.
But so far, demand has been underwhelming for an authentic steel model of the Avrocar flying saucer, built in 1959 for the U.S. air force and army by Avro Co. in Malton, Ont.
Bruce Mitchell, a New Age composer in Grand Bend, Ont., inherited the model from his late father, Frederick Mitchell, an aeronautical engineer who worked on the Avro Arrow in the 1950s.
The model, which is about 23 centimetres wide and weighs about 1.6 kilograms, is in “absolutely original condition” with only a few minor defects in the wind turbine and plastic cover, according to Mitchell’s Kijiji ad.
He decided to put the family heirloom up for sale as part of a downsizing effort. “I’m getting into my retirement years,” he said. “I’m just getting rid of things I really don’t use that much. So I decided to throw the flying saucer in there with them.”
Mitchell’s original asking price was $48,000, reduced this week to $34,000, a number he admitted he pulled “out of thin air.” So far, he’s had only one offer — for $200. “I politely declined.
“I really have no idea what it’s worth,” he said. “It’s worth whatever someone’s willing to pay for it.”
The Avrocar — once a top-secret military project — was designed by Avro’s Special Projects Group, headed by famed British designer Jack Frost.
Initially conceived as an attack craft capable of flying at 2,400 kilometres an hour at altitudes of 30,000 metres or higher, the Avrocar was plagued by stability problems and was repeatedly scaled back during its development.
Avro built two working Avrocar prototypes for its U.S. military clients in 1959, each about 5.5 metres in diameter and just under a metre thick. They were never able to rise much more than a metre above the ground with a top speed of about 50 kilometres an hour.
The Pentagon cancelled the program in December 1961. One of the prototypes is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The other is under restoration at the U.S. Army Transportation Museum in Fort Eustis, Virginia.
Mitchell, whose lush music can be heard at his website, newearthgoddess.net, isn’t entirely sure how his father, who never worked on the Avrocar project, came into possession of the steel model.
“He was one of the higher-up engineers (at Avro), so I guess they all got one,” he said. “I don’t know how many there were. I would guess maybe a dozen, but I don’t know that for a fact.”
There definitely are a few others out there. Mitchell spotted one for sale a couple of years ago, though he doesn’t remember the asking price. “He was really like me, sort of fishing for a price, because it is very rare.”
Mitchell hasn’t approached the Canada Aviation and Space Museum to see if it might want to acquire the model. “It’s a bit of a drive to Ottawa,” he explained. “I could show up there with the model, but they’d probably expect me to give it to them.”
He’s not discouraged by the lack of response so far.
“Word spreads slowly about things like this. It’s probably a very tiny niche market. And the price is probably still too high.”
dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon
查看原文...
But so far, demand has been underwhelming for an authentic steel model of the Avrocar flying saucer, built in 1959 for the U.S. air force and army by Avro Co. in Malton, Ont.
Bruce Mitchell, a New Age composer in Grand Bend, Ont., inherited the model from his late father, Frederick Mitchell, an aeronautical engineer who worked on the Avro Arrow in the 1950s.
The model, which is about 23 centimetres wide and weighs about 1.6 kilograms, is in “absolutely original condition” with only a few minor defects in the wind turbine and plastic cover, according to Mitchell’s Kijiji ad.
He decided to put the family heirloom up for sale as part of a downsizing effort. “I’m getting into my retirement years,” he said. “I’m just getting rid of things I really don’t use that much. So I decided to throw the flying saucer in there with them.”
Mitchell’s original asking price was $48,000, reduced this week to $34,000, a number he admitted he pulled “out of thin air.” So far, he’s had only one offer — for $200. “I politely declined.
“I really have no idea what it’s worth,” he said. “It’s worth whatever someone’s willing to pay for it.”
The Avrocar — once a top-secret military project — was designed by Avro’s Special Projects Group, headed by famed British designer Jack Frost.
Initially conceived as an attack craft capable of flying at 2,400 kilometres an hour at altitudes of 30,000 metres or higher, the Avrocar was plagued by stability problems and was repeatedly scaled back during its development.
Avro built two working Avrocar prototypes for its U.S. military clients in 1959, each about 5.5 metres in diameter and just under a metre thick. They were never able to rise much more than a metre above the ground with a top speed of about 50 kilometres an hour.
The Pentagon cancelled the program in December 1961. One of the prototypes is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The other is under restoration at the U.S. Army Transportation Museum in Fort Eustis, Virginia.
Mitchell, whose lush music can be heard at his website, newearthgoddess.net, isn’t entirely sure how his father, who never worked on the Avrocar project, came into possession of the steel model.
“He was one of the higher-up engineers (at Avro), so I guess they all got one,” he said. “I don’t know how many there were. I would guess maybe a dozen, but I don’t know that for a fact.”
There definitely are a few others out there. Mitchell spotted one for sale a couple of years ago, though he doesn’t remember the asking price. “He was really like me, sort of fishing for a price, because it is very rare.”
Mitchell hasn’t approached the Canada Aviation and Space Museum to see if it might want to acquire the model. “It’s a bit of a drive to Ottawa,” he explained. “I could show up there with the model, but they’d probably expect me to give it to them.”
He’s not discouraged by the lack of response so far.
“Word spreads slowly about things like this. It’s probably a very tiny niche market. And the price is probably still too high.”
dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon
查看原文...
