So what’s he cooked up now? We’ll tell you: A $500 Boring Company flamethrower that’s “guaranteed to liven up any party,” according to its description. Rather wisely, it’s being offered alongside a Boring Company fire extinguisher priced at $30.
Looking a lot like a modified Airsoft rifle, interested buyers can pre-order the flamethrower now for international shipping in the spring. Prior to receiving their very own Boring Company-branded fire spitter, “aspiring flamethrower aficionados will be sent a terms and conditions rhyme for review and acceptance,” the product notes explain, adding that the device “may not be used on Boring Company decorative lacquered hay bales or Boring Company dockside munitions warehouses.”
Musk quipped that the flamethrower will be ideal for the “zombie apocalypse,” promising it’ll wipe out “hordes of the undead or your money back.”
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
Need some background to this whole lot of oddness? Well, Elon Musk, aside from being the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is also the man behind The Boring Company, an early-stage project that wants to build vast networks of tunnels containing high-speed electric sleds for carrying cars across cities, with the aim of helping to ease traffic congestion at street level.
To raise funds for the venture, which has already started some experimental digging beneath SpaceX’s base in Hawthorne, California, Musk recently sold a bunch of Boring Company-branded caps at $20 apiece. In December 2017, Musk tweeted that when the hats sold out, “we will start selling The Boring Company flamethrower.” All 50,000 caps were snapped up a few weeks ago and, true to his word, the hot new device landed on the company’s website on Saturday, together with a video showing it in action.
While the caps look to have been an easy sell for The Boring Company, it’s not so clear if there’s a market for its flamethrowers. We can only think of busy chefs who might want to toast a very large tray of brûléed Key lime tarts in a single flash, or die-hard Musk fans who’re keen on collecting every one of his proffered items. Or that zombie apocalypse.
Updated on January 27, 2018: Added information about the price and shipping details for the flamethrower.
