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Welcome to the official Millennium Falcon Spaceship Car Indiegogo campaign! Thank you for joining us!

The Spaceship Car is a futuristic concept vehicle that will run on environmentally friendly biodiesel. Its design is inspired by the Star Wars Millennium Falcon spaceship and will be driven across the country for my new children's book about creative alternative cars and fuels. I hope to inspire an entire generation to begin thinking about the future of cars and alternative fuels. 

My name is Luis Aponte and I'm the author and documentary filmmaker of "Death of a Gas Guzzler" as well as the contributing author of "Dare to Be Authentic: Finding Your Authentic Self." 

The Inspiration:

I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, I thought we'd be driving flying cars and have them all fueled by garbage. What happened???

It may surprise you to learn that the United States consumes one out of every five barrels of oil produced on the planet. There are 194 other countries that have to split the remaining four barrels of oil. When oil eventually runs out, what do you think will happen when all the countries of the world compete for the last resources of petroleum? 

I feel we need to explore as many renewable fuel and energy resources as quickly as possible and I believe our youth are the key to making that possible. 

Based on my research, I discovered how relying on a limited source of fossil fuel, such as petroleum, is dangerous to our economy, national security, environment, and especially our health.

Oil is running out and future depends on our youth (children, teenagers, and college students) getting excited about developing the future of fuel and transportation.

An idea is born...

I thought, what better way to inspire an entire generation to think about alternative cars and fuels than to create a car that looks like the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars and have it run on biodiesel! How cool would that be?

My team:

I am teaming up with legendary car designer, Mike Vetter, who designed the Extra Terrestrial Vehicle (a.k.a. the "ETV") which was featured on the Discovery Channel's "Tech Toys Week" a couple of years ago. He is the one that designed my new car.

"Woah! Is this car real and can it run?"

Well, take a look for yourself! :)

This is where I need your help!

In order to build the car, we are going to need to raise $120,000 in 30 days on Indiegogo.com. 

"Sweet! What is my money being used for?"

Here are the different stages that will be needed in order to build the Millennium Falcon Spaceship Car:

$25,000  Design body of car and cut mold out of foam. 

$4,000  Complete mold set from foam plug parts.

$6,000  Make first body shell from mold and replace foam plug. Begin work on actual vehicle.

$10,000  Donor car.

$6,000  Prep donor car , build metal tubular frame built for strength inside of fiberglass body, test fit body, custom suspension, lower, air adjustable if possible, start exhaust custom work.

$18,000  Build custom doors, power windows, hinges, door jams, hood, hood jam, trunk, trunk jam, design glass areas wheels and tires work to fit, custom frame work, start re-work interior to fit new design. 
 

$5,000  Estimate for DOT glass to be produced all around the car. Cost may include tooling and the first set of glass, if applicable.

$4,000  Lights front and rear, custom made.

$8,000  Turbine Engine purchased used

$2,000  Make turbine engine fit and work
 
$10,000  Body work to prep for paint and show car paint job.  In the case of this specialty design, finishing work will not be a show car shine, but more details like a space craft using stainless steel aircraft fasteners from military jets. 

$10,000  Custom interior built and covered to customer spec, or design, at least 3 monitors with cameras, Ipad dash, lots of custom machined metal.
 
$8,000  Miscellaneous finishing details…rubber trim seals, inner wheel wells, mirrors, remote system door poppers, custom metal trim, exhaust tip final, brakes, black trim painting, stone guards, rear view camera, two more view cameras, touch ups.  Completion of car. (Planet and destroyed moon in the background, not included.)

$4,000  Insurance, permits, registration, and flatbed truck rental.
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= $120,000 Total cost of prototype car. 

*As you can see, with your help, we can inspire this generation to think about alternative cars and fuels by touring the Millennium Falcon Spaceship Car around the country during our children's book tour.

*Our next goal, after the car is built, is funding the actual trip in order to bring the Spaceship Car to every state in the U.S.A.!

"Awesome! Sounds fun. How do I get involved?"

1. Contribute now to any of the pledge levels on the right side of this page, then;

2. Share this campaign like like the mad awesome supporter that you are on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, using the Indiegogo share tools!

3. When this campaign is successfully funded and distributed, we'll begin sending you the rewards and our deepest gratitude for your amazing support!

T-shirt sample:

Other Ways You Can Help!

I understand that some people just can’t contribute money, but you can still help:

• You can still help us get the word out and make some noise about our campaign on blogs about Star Wars, Kit Cars, Alternative Cars Biofuels, Biodiesel, Environmental sites, as well as cool geek sites, such as www.Geekologie.com and www.GeekExchange.com. (I love these sites!)

• If you are friends with: Ellen Degeneres, Oprah, Craig Ferguson, Jay Leno, Philip DeFranco from "The Philip DeFranco Show" on YouTube, or the hosts of NPR, please tell them I'd love to meet them on their show! :)

• Make sure to share this page on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, using the Indiegogo share tools!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for checking out my Indiegogo campaign. I believe, together we can make a positive change in the future of energy and fuel.

Sincerely,
Luis Aponte
Author and filmmaker of "Death of a Gas Guzzler"