# All-time coolest SF vehicle ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 13, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553 "2006-08-13T15:32:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/101 "2006-08-15T11:56:39Z")
Whoops, I see **harrylentil** got there first. Anyway, to make it up, Wikipedia has a fairly comprehensive [list of Banks’ shipnames](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Culture_ships) . Most apropos? _You May Not Be The Coolest Person Here_. Personal favourites? _Now Look What You’ve Made Me Do_ _God Told Me To Do It_ GSV _What Are The Civilian Applications?_ GSV _Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall_ (see the bottom of the list for why) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/102 "2006-08-15T12:22:17Z")
[QUOTE=Noel Prosequi] With **Bosca** on Thunderbird 2. Hideously ugly, but best example of Form follows Function philosphy bestowing Cool that I can remember. But… At the other end of the spectrum… Lady Penelope’s Roller, FAB1. Gotta have it! Downside is, it’s a tad, um, Faaaabulous for a straight bloke. (So give it a paint job. Get over it. Any man brave enough to drive Pink gotta be secure.) But.. the sloping grill. Perpex canopy. Water compatibility. Machine gun behind the grill (and how among us hasn’t wanted one of _those_ in heavy traffic?). And SIX wheels!! And it could (but for the water thing) actually exist! I am willing to forgive the high LQ (Lavender Quotient) for the sheer style. I’d even bung on Parker’s cap so it looked like I _had_ to drive it, if necessary. [/QUOTE] Bosca, huh? :dubious: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/103 "2006-08-15T13:06:07Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Bosca, huh? :dubious: 😛 [/QUOTE] Careful, that’s the command to open the Rancor pit in Jabba’s Palace! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/104 "2006-08-15T13:47:47Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] My vote is for [SheVA nine](http://johnringo.com/Books/LegacyOfAldenata/Hellsfaire/default.asp). Bun-Bun who kicks Posleen ass and doesn’t bother to take names. [/QUOTE] Nah, it’s just a tank on steroids. Even with the MetalStorm tanks attached to its deck. And it’s a very lightly armored tank to boot. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/105 "2006-08-15T14:36:11Z")
**Ukulele Ike** writes: > [@](#): > > I’d also rather take a ride in the Albatross, the original Clipper of the Clouds, than the Nautilus. Not to mention the coolest thing about the **Albatross** – it’s built of lightweight _composites_, fer cryin’ out loud. Not canvas and wood. Not aluminum (which Verne knew as a good strong lightweight metal – he built his lunar spaceship out of it). Composites, using fibers for strength, a filler for body, and a binder for strength, all assembled and cemented together under high pressure to produce ultra-stronmg and ultra-light structure. It’s one of Verne’s most impressive predictions. I don’t know anyone else who proposed composites for aircraft construction that far back (Verne drew on examples used for _railway wheel; hubs_, which is pretty amazing in itself). Even aas late as the 1960s reviewers didn’t realize what he was talking about (one calling it “a kind of plastic”), because it still wasn’t commonly known. I’ve looked in books on Aeronautical engineering, and none of them acknowledge Verne or anything as early as this for the first proposals for composite aircraft structures. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/106 "2006-08-15T15:53:52Z")
The limo/jet from _Team America_. Yeah it doesn’t shoot anything or go into space. But it’s a limo and it turns into a jet! ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/107 "2006-08-15T16:12:55Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] BTW, speaking of vessels with pipe organs [/QUOTE] Hey, the ship I mentioned has organs. Boobs! ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/108 "2006-08-15T17:17:03Z")
My first thought was Thunderbird Two … Of course, Gerry Anderson had dozens of them, from _Supercar_ onwards. How about the SkyDiver from _UFO_? A submarine whose front end flies off and turns into a supersonic jet fighter … that’s what I call style. Someone else already mentioned the Hooded Swan, too … a starship nimble enough to fly through a maze at 1,000 c. _Blake’s Seven_’s Liberator had a certain style, a certain grace, and stonking enormous neutron blasters. At the other end of the scale, the _least_ cool SF vehicles, I think, have to be the moon rovers in _Moonbase 3_, grey, shaped like potting sheds, with dinky little wheels … the science fictional equivalent of a second-hand Morris Minor. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/109 "2006-08-15T18:04:02Z")
Well, many of the vehicles I was going to name have already been taken. So instead I will nominate the _Argo_ from Star Blazers. I mean, that ship could get seriously messed up and still would kick ass. Besides, it had a Wave Motion Gun. And very retro styling. Runner up: the SDF-1 from Robotech: Macross. It also had a super gun, and it had an entire complement of veritechs. But for some reason I like the look of the _Argo_ more. And SDF-1 is just a bleh name. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/110 "2006-08-16T05:41:41Z")
[QUOTE=Carl Corey] Well, many of the vehicles I was going to name have already been taken. So instead I will nominate the _Argo_ from Star Blazers. I mean, that ship could get seriously messed up and still would kick ass. Besides, it had a Wave Motion Gun. And very retro styling. Runner up: the SDF-1 from Robotech: Macross. It also had a super gun, and it had an entire complement of veritechs. But for some reason I like the look of the _Argo_ more. And SDF-1 is just a bleh name. [/QUOTE] The ARGO isn’t just a retro design: is is in fact the original Imperial Japanese Battleship Yamato, sunk towards the end of WWII, sitting at the bottom of the ocean until Desslok bombed earth and the water dried up, so thisship was refurbished inside and out to be a spaceworthy battlecruiser. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2006, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/111 "2006-08-16T06:34:38Z")
[QUOTE=Enola Straight] The ARGO isn’t just a retro design: is is in fact the original Imperial Japanese Battleship Yamato, sunk towards the end of WWII, sitting at the bottom of the ocean until Desslok bombed earth and the water dried up, so thisship was refurbished inside and out to be a spaceworthy battlecruiser. [/QUOTE] I think it was the Argo that also shows up (or at least, what’s left of it shows up, as a shipwreck on a distant planet) in the movie Galaxy Express 999, which had crossovers with two or three other series that the guy who made them was responsible for. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/112 "2006-08-17T02:05:12Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] Gay Deceiver was an old term for Bra stuffings. As in a happy deceit. Here is a decent cached link from Google: [http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:Dtay0jwc-ncJ:www.gaydeceiver.com/what.html+Gay+Deceiver&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1](http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:Dtay0jwc-ncJ:www.gaydeceiver.com/what.html+Gay+Deceiver&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1) Jim [/QUOTE] Also meant other things. There’s an old folk song I once heard on a Kingston Trio (or maybe Chad Mitchell Trio) album, “The Unfortunate Miss Bailey”: A captain bold in Halifax Who dwelt in country quarters Seduced a maid who hanged herself One Monday in her garters His wicked conscience spited him He lost his stomach daily He took to drinking rataffia [sp?] And thought upon Miss Bailey CHORUS: Oh, Miss Bailey! Unfortunate Miss Bailey! One night betimes he went to bed For he had caught a fever Said he, "I am a handsome man “And I’m a gay deceiver!” The candle just at twelve o’clock Began to burn quite palely A ghost stepped up to his bedside And said, “Behold Miss Bailey!” CHORUS: Oh, Miss Bailey! Unfortunate Miss Bailey! ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/113 "2006-08-17T02:42:27Z")
_“All’s well that ends well, I suppose…”_ Kingston Trio, **Here We Go Again** , 1959. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/114 "2006-08-17T02:46:49Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Also meant other things. There’s an old folk song I once heard on a Kingston Trio (or maybe Chad Mitchell Trio) album, “The Unfortunate Miss Bailey”: [/QUOTE] That looks like an even older version of Gay Deceiver that meant a Cad or “Love 'em and Leave 'em” type guy. I think Heinlein meant the Bra Stuffings as I think it related to Hilda. Besides can you imagine a Heinlein hero taking pride in being a “Love 'em and Leave 'em” type guy. Jim ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/115 "2006-08-17T04:05:53Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] Besides can you imagine a Heinlein hero taking pride in being a “Love 'em and Leave 'em” type guy. [/QUOTE] :dubious: Yes. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/116 "2006-08-17T04:11:11Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] :dubious: Yes. [/QUOTE] Cite please, I am drawing a blank apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/117 "2006-08-17T05:11:36Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] Whoops, I see **harrylentil** got there first. [/QUOTE] I beg to differ. Check out post #33 in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/118 "2006-08-17T11:37:16Z")
Sorry. Heinlein heroes are more of the “Love 'em and they are so enthralled with his manly virtues that they hang around forever and freely share him with every other female that comes within the same planetary system, because he is so manly and all.” ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/119 "2006-08-17T12:26:46Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] I beg to differ. Check out post #33 in this thread. [/QUOTE] I meant specifically about the _Sleeper Service_. But now that you’ve redirected me to that post, I’d have to pick the nit that Orbitals aren’t really vehicles - they are in stable orbits and nothing in the books I remember seems to indicate that they move out of them (although, being the Culture, I’m sure it’s technically possible for them to) ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553/120 "2006-08-17T12:27:59Z")
My take: Gay Deceiver was so named because of how cars sometimes show an aspect of their owner’s personalities. Zeb was a most wanted, but a most ‘not gonna be tied down,’ bachelor until he met Deety (and stereotypically fell head over heels for her). Zeb was a Gay Deceiver, so he named his car that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-coolest-sf-vehicle-ever/368553.md?page=7)