unobtanium

[Randy Webb]

Anybody know where this term originated?

I always thought the Mtn. Biker set picked it up from Star Trek or something.

But, in the book "Porsche Chronicle", p. 207, they quote Mark Donohue answering a question from R&T about what the 917/10K was made of and saying "unobtanium."

It was actually a tubular space frame of Mg alloy.

[Paulporsche]

Mark Donahue's is the first use of the term that I know of.

Paul

[Bill Verburg]

Back in the late '60s when I was road racing bikes the term was used to describe the materials used to build Gary Nixons Triumph triples. At that time they were as dominant in that arena as Porsche has been in auto racing

[Rob Channell]

Unobtainium is infinitely strong, weighs practically nothing, and is impossible to get and is extremely expensive.

We coined a phrase locally for a more reasonable material for the rest of us. We call it Hard-to-getium. It weighs a little more, is a little less strong, is a little easier to come by, and the cost only ranges from moderately expensive to very expensive.

[Wayne 962]

On the other end, there's crapium, which is heavy, rusts profusely, and can't be given away. Examples would include old 914 trailing arms, old torsion bars, and early 1965-era, 911 exhaust systems.

-Wayne

[Rob Channell]

Wayne's comment:
"On the other end, there's crapium,...."

Thanks Wayne.
I love it!

[A Quiet Boom]

I swear I saw some sunglasses at sunglass hut that said the frames where made of unobtainium with a TM or R after it. I suppose the info offered here could be used to challenge that trademark.

[Unobtanium-inc]

The earliest reference I have heard was from an early Bell Helicopter Engineer who was working on making helicopters in the 50s. He said, and these are his words not mine,
"The limp-wristed artists would come in with these fanciful drawings of helicopter ideas and ask us to build it, I would say that picture is Unobtanium!"

I bought a cool A coupe from the guy that he parked in the 70s when the clutch was slipping, not often you get a gold 356!

[4flyboy]

A Gold 356 garage find?

.....picture in the dictionary next to Unobtanium

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

On the other end, there's crapium, which is heavy, rusts profusely, and can't be given away. Examples would include old 914 trailing arms, old torsion bars, and early 1965-era, 911 exhaust systems.

-Wayne

Nice!
FWIW, I'm pretty sure I had a 2002 Ford Explorer Limited that was built exclusively with crapium.

As for Unobtanium, I had never seen the term used outside of Oakley sunglasses until I became a Pelican. I think Unobtanium was what they called the material used to make their bike handle grips and the stuff that made their sunglasses stay on your head.

[porterdog]

Some of the better parts of our cars are made of Badassnium.

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts

On the other end, there's crapium...

Canadian Tire is a big car & tool store (now selling everything including food...) North of the 49 parallel.

They do sell a lot of crap, so it did not take too long for someone to have a Crappy Tire website to which Cdn Tire try to take control of...

Canadian Tire loses fight for www.crappytire.com - Business - CBC News

[tirwin]

The first cultural reference to it I remember was in the movie Avatar.

[82 SC]

Unobtainium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia seems to be a late 50's aerospace engineers have used the term "unobtainium" when referring to unusual or costly materials, or when theoretically considering a material perfect for their needs in all respects, except that it does not exist.

[NICE 69 S]

Unobtanium must be just a little harder to find than Cantgetium.
Bob B

[theclaw]

It's a derivative of Balonium which is similar except Balonium is stronger than steel, lighter than air and cheaper than dog doodoo.

I tried to incorporate Balonium into a college aerospace design project. Except I ran out of time and couldn't complete the Materials section. I opted for Balonium. Professor was not amused.

[wayner]

In the late 70s Mad Magazine (or was it cracked magazine) contained an article about a new explosive substance known as card-boardium...

[chrismorse]

My first hearing was from Mark Donahue, (not personally), referring to the structure of the 917 frame being built from unobtanium and nowateium.

Moving forward a few years, Verell Boan, an ingenious engineer, (and nice guy) established a company called Unobtanium Supply, to provide "unobtainable" parts to the Ferrari community, like triple chrome plated, cnc machined bezels for the ventilation system - formerly made from plastic.

He also makes cis fuel line repair kits for the cis Ferraris and porsches, as well.

chris

[65rsr]

While not as rare as Wishalloy, which Mercedes AMG F1 is using this year in their F1 W05 engine, Unobtainium is still rather hard to come by.

Before Mark Donohue used some Unobtainium that Roger Penske had kicking around the old shop to gain "An Unfair Advantage", Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird engineers said they were using it, but it turned out it was actually stolen Russian titanium. Silly Cold War games.

Oddly enough, around the same time, Looney Tunes villain, Marvin Martian tried to use a "Eludium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator" to blow up the Earth, and the Cat in the Hat had some invisible VOOM, another useful form of unobtainium. Freaky cat.

Isn't it a little weird that in the late 50's all of this unobtainium just shows up, then cassette tapes, Area 51, RAM chips, Astroturf, the Superball, Etch A Sketch, Frank Zappa, the Kennedy assassinations, Apollo 11, etc... I'm just saying.... Coincidences? No way!



Director and blatant fabricator, James Cameron, merely plagiarized an existing term. Everyone knows you can't mine unobtainium, on any planet. Jerk.





...then there's usedtogetthisstuffinjunkyardsandathersheyium and nowitsimpossibletofindanwhereatanypriceium.

[Bill Douglas]

Still, I'd rather it was made of unobtanium than adamantium.