The Silver Lightning drew heavy inspiration from the 1930s Silver Arrow race cars, most notably the Mercedes-Benz W125 driven by Rudolf Caracciola that won the 1937 Grand Prix, as well as the famous 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut.[1] The design theme was also influenced by some sci-fi movies, such as Star Trek, Tron: Legacy and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.[3]
The car's sleek, futuristic appearance also comes with innovative features as well. Its roof is constructed of several pieces of small, lightweight magnetic squares, and uses Mag-Tech technology that allows them to either combine to form a hardtop, or retracted to convert the car into a roadster. The omni-directional wheels allow the Silver Lightning to be able to steer freely in any direction, and are enclosed in rings integrated within the car's main body.[3]
To comply with the competition's theme of designing "Hollywood’s Hottest New Movie Car", it was accompanied by a short film called Silver Lightning, which features two crash test dummies called Hans05 and Franz02 attempting and eventually succeeding in the rescue of their prized stolen Silver Lightning from Dr. Crash-Barrier, the main antagonist of the movie.[1]
