I saw Vantablack

"Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available" (whoistheleader2) 05/21/2020 at 13:00 • Filed to: vantablack, Vantablack is dumb

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I was driving through metro Atlanta on my way to get a haircut (first in three months, whew) when I saw something that surprised me.

Stopped at a light I saw a Maserati Quattroporte that contained the vastness of the universe.

The body of the car was wrapped or painted in either a sophisticated approximation of Vantablack or the real thing. I could not tell because the only thing telling me there was a car there at all was the visible space to either side of it.

No matter how hard you looked at it, the only thing you could see was that you couldn’t see anything. You could lose yourself in that inky void and never find your way out.

The only way I can think of to describe it is to quote the immortal words of Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy .

“It’s so... black!” said Ford Prefect. “You can hardly make out its shape... light just seems to fall into it!”

The blackness of it was so extreme that it was almost impossible to tell how close you were standing to it.

“Your eyes just slide off it...” said Ford in wonder.

Yes, the only points of reference to determine a wormhole into the 5th dimension had not opened up in front of me were the windows, wheels, and bright chrome.

I actually looked it up to see if I could find an image of it someone else had taken and found many pictures of a Maserati Ghibli (very similar even when not an inky void ) that seems nearly identical down to the wheels. Except the story was from a photo taken in Venice. It could be the same car, but considering how impossible it was to determine exactly where the car was to begin with I couldn’t begin to confirm it was the same. Based on the wheels, I would say it was the same car. I didn’t see the front though so I couldn’t spot a European style plate.

That does beg the question though: what on earth is this car doing here? Even under the show and display law there is no showing and no displaying to be done.

This image shows a small amount of light reflection but in person I saw not even the faintest hint of solid mass on that car.It was breathtakingly stupid because I really would have a hard time telling where it and I was if I were driving next to it.

Tripper > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 13:03

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*me cannonballing into vantablack

“so long, and thanks for all the fish”

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Tripper 05/21/2020 at 13:04

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Hahahaha where you’re going, you don’t need fish. 

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 13:08

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Discerning > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 13:15

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Well, they could have just had it painted. Its theoretically easy enough to do, but it would be super expensive, look kinda dumb, and probably be ruined after a year or so.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 05/21/2020 at 13:15

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None more black. None more black at all. 

MoCamino > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 13:17

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Seriously though, I have to wonder how it’s legal to paint a car with that stuff.  Isn’t visibility to other drivers kind of important?

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Discerning 05/21/2020 at 13:19

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With enough money it would be feasible but just W H Y ? Pictures don’t quite get across how black it was because it can only display the darkest in real life as the darkest it can go. It was disorienting to be around from the sheer concentrated grippiness and stupidity.

Also, one bird crap ruins the effect. I think they should have blacked out the trim.

OhCrikeyTheRozzers > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 13:20

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Am I the only one who thinks that every picture of a Ventablack car looks like somebody just tried to cover it in black using MS Paint?

Ventablack 911 for your consideration.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > MoCamino 05/21/2020 at 13:22

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Seri ously, pictures don’t do it justice because you can see the blackest the screen can go, which makes it just look pretty black, not impossible to see except by seeing where it isn’t.

There isn't a law about leaving sightlines around the space your car occupies but I would not drive next to it for anything but to see the owner's face when I leave some cheerful autumn metallic on his existential dread paint. Haha.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > OhCrikeyTheRozzers 05/21/2020 at 13:25

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The principal of vantablack mean s it can’t be photographed the same way you can go and not  see it. In real life all you see is the space around the inky nothing while photos can only go as black as the medium it uses. Even those fancy new TVs that can not illuminate the blackest pixels can’t be black enough so it just looks kinda black but with features still defined. In person it is the end of existence.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 13:29

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Looks like it is covered with adhesive-backed felt.

Chariotoflove > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 13:30

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Of all the cars whose curves you might hide with vanta black, a Maserati would be the last one.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 05/21/2020 at 13:32

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There was zero texture evident in person. You can’t photograph something well that is blacker than the capabilities of the camera and display media. In person there wasn’t even the slightest hint of a reflection of highlight to outline the surfaces if the car.

It was some windows and some trim being carried through a mobile black hole only outlined by where you were able to see the black hole wasn't. 

Jason Spears > Discerning 05/21/2020 at 13:32

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super expensive, look kinda dumb, and probably be ruined after a year or so

The Atlanta Aesthetic.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Chariotoflove 05/21/2020 at 13:34

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I thought the same. At least those X6s are now invisible to the eye in the popular debut photos but the Maserati is a good looking car upon which you can look no longer. It could have been a Camry with a Maserati badge stuck on it for all I could tell.

Chariotoflove > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 13:35

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If a vantablack Camry has a Camry dent, is that a black hole?

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 13:36

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Ugh.  Sounds like another way to get mysteriously affluent people to part with their likely unearned money. Good job automakers.

Tareim - V8 powered > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 13:39

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Maserati Ghibli (same car, different name)

That’s slightly incorrect , it shares the same underpinnings but it is a different car, the dimension are all different ( height, length, width & wheelbase)

MoCamino > Tareim - V8 powered 05/21/2020 at 13:43

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The important thing is that if they’re both painted Vantablack, you can’t tell the difference between them . :)

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 13:43

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“Jeremy you clot, you’re supposed to put the under seal on the bottom of the car”

- James May

OhCrikeyTheRozzers > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 13:43

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That’s insane. I’ll be counting the days before the first one with blacked out headlights and taillights to match is  hilariously totaled on a moonless night.

Discerning > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 13:59

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It might not have been actual vantablack either. Apparently “ Black 3.0" is cheaper and appears basically as black.

Discerning > Jason Spears 05/21/2020 at 13:59

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Pretty much!

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jason Spears 05/21/2020 at 14:00

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Yes, especially the part about ruining something that had lots of potential and was beautiful to begin with.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 05/21/2020 at 14:01

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Not automakers but some wrap shop with a sophisticated approximation of a black hole.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > OhCrikeyTheRozzers 05/21/2020 at 14:02

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You may have to count backwards because that is sure to have already happened. I would not drive that after dusk.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Chariotoflove 05/21/2020 at 14:02

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Can you dent a black hole?

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Tareim - V8 powered 05/21/2020 at 14:03

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I looked at them together and they looked the same and came out the same year. Were they sold alongside each other?

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > MoCamino 05/21/2020 at 14:03

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I didn't have a chance hahaha

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 14:06

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Yeah, one is much better though. 

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 14:07

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Even better, local small business owner can lighten the wallets of likely regrettable people.

LedRobster > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 14:14

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Looks li ke felt, it’s definitely not Vanta. One of the things about Vanta is because it absorbs so much light, it also absorbs heat. If you actually had a vanta painted car and left it out on a sunny day for more than a few minutes it would be a bad time. Or a fun time if it wasn’t your car and you had popcorn and a good seat. YMMV.  

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 05/21/2020 at 14:21

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Naw I think this guy has no regrets and neither do the small businesses.

Tareim - V8 powered > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 14:21

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Yep, they are both still being sold today (also sharing the same platform for the levante) , one is marketed as an exe cutive car (ghibli) and the other as a full size luxury (quattroporte)

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > LedRobster 05/21/2020 at 14:24

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No it most certainly wasn’t felt. That photo of the Ghibli that may or may not be the car I saw does appear to have a rough texture in the photo but in person it most certainly wasn’t felt. I do wonder about the overheating aspect.

BTW if you want to post to Oppo you can apply here. You then have to move a new post to the Oppo folder in post creation. I saw you have a long comment history but are still in the grays.

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/clubopenings-propaganda-1836633896

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 14:25

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Parting fools from their money is a fundamental tenet of American capitalism. The small business owner should feel no shame in it (other than maybe via the production of visual pollution).

Of course, Maserati driver also likely obtained it by parting fools from their money in one way or another.  Eventually, the chain ends.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Tareim - V8 powered 05/21/2020 at 14:29

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There’s no way I’m telling the difference based on the grille, windows, and wheels, since the body lines are entirely invisible. I also never saw the front so. . . IDK. I think the corporate face has gone too far in this case. I wonder why they are struggling?

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 05/21/2020 at 14:32

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A bunch of fools wanting to stand out in an environment of visual pollution (I like that) are just going to create more visual pollution. It was simultaneously breathtaking and terrible.

I also would have blacked out the chrome and taillights if I was already going there but. . . 

NKato > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 14:43

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It’s not vantablack. It’s a superior analogue developed as a fuck-you to the person who took all the rights to vantablack.

Edit: unless it's Kapoor's car. Then it's vantablack. 

https://www.fastcompany.com/90300113/move-over-vantablack-you-can-now-buy-the-worlds-blackest-black-paint

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 14:43

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Maybe it will be like the matte/chrome wrap thing that started about 10 years ago, but only got a little traction. We can hope.

And definitely, if you’re going to get into this, black out the chrome and tint the lights - chances are the cops aren’t going to do anything, so strive for the full dbag look.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > NKato 05/21/2020 at 14:45

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Yes, it is just a sophisticated equivalent and probably a wrap instead of paint but Vantablack is like Kleenex or Jeep . A brand name stand in for a specific thing.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 05/21/2020 at 14:47

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Maybe they were afraid there would be no reference points at all to see where the car is. Or maybe they tried it and couldn’t find the door handles. That would be pretty funny.

just-a-scratch > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 15:21

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I want to see that comic sketch. “I can’t get in my car! Where are the damn door  handles?”

Chariotoflove > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 15:47

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Dunno. No one’s ever done the experiment, far as I know.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 15:53

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I too like the door handle idea.

Probably shouldn’t be legal to drive something like that night anyway.  

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 05/21/2020 at 15:58

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“sure, I’ll give you a ride. . . if you can get in hahahahahahahahahaha”

**speeds away**

; or,

“sure, I’ll help you move . . . if you can open the trunk hahahahahahahahahaha”

**speeds away**

Nauraushaun > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 19:37

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The Ghibli isn’t quite the same as the QP, it’s smaller.

A car like this says so much about the owner. Maserati is a fancy badge, but he bought the entry level Maserati and one with a horrendous reputation at that. And in that “I swear I’m Batman please believe me” color, my god.

It looks like it’s been covered in cheap black felt.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Nauraushaun 05/21/2020 at 20:20

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In person it most certainly isn’t any sort of felt but the pictures can present a car as dark as they can capture, which isn’t all that dark.

I do agree with the batman wannabe sentiment. It's like a 7 year old thought something would be cool.

I was made aware of how similar but different the QP and Ghibli are but I didn’t change the post. Thank you.

Nauraushaun > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 20:51

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Right on

Old-Busted-Hotness > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/21/2020 at 21:19

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I saw Vanna White one time.