Watch This Racing Rube Goldberg Machine’s Fantastic Twist Ending
It starts with a Corvette Stingray Matchbox car and goes all over.
Marbles, wood, gravity: The inputs of a traditional Rube Goldberg machine are pretty damn simple. But ask anyone who’s stared down a small-block Chevy V8 build project, and they’ll tell you humble inputs must amount to robust output. Same logic applies for Rubes. That marble had better bring the pain, or else we’re flipping back to QVC’s Diamonique showcase.
Fortunately for idle minds and hands, the savants at global supply-chain consultancy Arrow have worked overtime to deliver one of the more staggering mousetraps you’re ever likely to see. Emphasis on one.
It begins simply enough: What appears to be a Corvette Stingray Matchbox car gets shoved off the lip of an engineer’s desk, setting off the chain of micro-events. Piston rings, exhaust plumbing, fluid reservoirs and other bits of garage flotsam are brought into the mix. In a sop to monster-truck fans of a certain vintage, there’s a radio-controlled Grave Digger getting all up in a brake rotor’s business. A washer-fluid reservoir micturates in a fish tank. It goes a bit Fellini here, but stay with Arrow for another 30 seconds. Past the gauntlet of rusted car doors and bounding tires is a 21st-century twist that pushes this stunt into the realm of mass entertainment. Watch below to find out.
But before you do, know that there’s a better one.
It never aired on American TV because America had yet to receive the car—and when it did, it would wear an Acura badge. But this 2003 ad produced for Honda U.K.’s Accord Estate still sets the standard by which all Rube Goldbergs—automotive or otherwise—are measured. Take it in before tossing too many superlatives Arrow’s way.
