MANUFACTURING OF THE MIDNIGHT RIDER

The production of a vehicle like The Midnight Rider is no easy task, and while people speculate on its reproduction there is good reason why no one has ever before built such a vehicle, as we found out.  The Midnight Rider employs the best technology available in the automotive world, designs never before used creating an elegant appearance and appeal like to that of the finest railroads long since gone from modern transportation.  It is one thing to build a bus, car, truck or rail car, but it is quite another to take the best of all these and create the most talked about and most photographed vehicle in the world.

It took seven years to build the prototype, “The Midnight Rider”.  This was mostly due to the fact that there had never been anything like it ever built before, nothing to copy, no shell to start with, and there were not many parts available that could be employed.  More than 90% of its parts were fabricated in house.  Even parts that could be purchased from other sources needed to be modified to our specifications by our engineers; such as the windows, which were manufactured by Hehr International Inc., who specializes in windows for railroad, air and heat systems from The Dometic Corporation, axels from Nu-Way Products, and electric power from Cummins.  In all there are approximately 250 pages of prints, 540 hand drawings, 320 pages of specification and logic, 276 assemblies, and 4,200 parts, which make up the design & blueprinting of The Midnight Rider.  Other interesting facts would be the 921, 15/17 stainless steel rivets, 136 exterior lights, which produce about 3.2 million candlepower and consume approximately 12,000 watts.  The Midnight Rider has more than 1,400 welded joints requiring yield from 130,000 psi down to 39,000 psi with fillets to aircraft specifications for both steel and aluminum.

The Midnight Rider is not easy on maintenance either.  It takes 250 gallons of water to wash The Midnight Rider and four 16 oz bottles of wax to polish its exterior each time it returns from an event.  It holds thirteen gallons of oil, has eight filters and costs about $800.00 for an oil change.  Tire replacement is just short of $10,000.00 for its twenty-two wheels, plus it will cost you approximately one thousand dollars to fill her 300-gallon fuel tanks.

For those who might like to own one, we can custom build one for you so long as you intend its use to be private and not in competition with The Midnight Rider, or the interests of Irontree Management Company.  Production cost start at 2.5 million dollars and rise according to your requirements.  As you can imagine there are so many options with a vehicle this size, and yes you can be in the trailer portion of the vehicle while traveling so long as you have the proper security. You will need a crew to operate it and of course a very large garage to house it.  The nice thing about it is you will not need special operating licenses when not using it for commercial purposes.  The only special license required is that of your driver.

If you are interested in a custom built vehicle of this kind, our estimated construction schedule depending on your requirements would be approximately eighteen to thirty-two months.

For more information please contact:             Email:              Mike@themidnightrider.com

                                                                                  Phone:             (951)  763-4347

                                                                                  Address:          P.O. Box 390111
                                                                                                             Anza, CA 92539