There are custom cars that make you stop and stare, and then there are builds that make you pause, squint, and ask yourself if someone accidentally mixed their Saturday night space binge with a blend of fiberglass and hubris.
Enter this 2018 Polaris Slingshot S that’s been converted into a weird, wild tribute to the USS Discovery from Star Trek: Discovery.
We guess this mod was supposed to be fun, flashy, and memorable. But there’s no shame in saying it ended up being so bizarre that people at auction seemed to want anything but.
The Weird Machine They Started With
Before we get into the spaceship cosplay, let’s talk about the base car. The Polaris Slingshot already occupies its own corner of automotive weirdness.
This open-cockpit, three-wheeled road machine is technically classified as a motorcycle in many places. It seats two side by side, has no roof or doors to speak of, and puts all of its power to a single rear wheel.
Many reviewers have described its handling as unpredictable and its ergonomics as odd, with seat belts that wrap around you like a hug from a confused robot. Some drivers even found their fitness trackers spiked with stress while piloting one on city streets.
And, oh, we hear Congress currently has a problem with the Polaris’ motorcycle status. The government is actually working on a legislation (H.R. 3385) that would strip vehicles like the Polaris Slingshot of their motorcycle classification by redefining what counts as a motorcycle. If passed, three-wheelers with steering wheels and bucket seats would no longer qualify.
That’d leave the Slingshot, Vanderhall Carmel, and Morgan 3-Wheeler in a pretty awkward position besides getting left in regulatory limbo. Owners would have a harder time with licensing, insurance, and resale if their vehicles are no longer recognized as motorcycles.
Back to our fascination for today.
On its own, the Slingshot S is far from a rocket ship, but it does have some pep. A 2.4-liter DOHC Ecotec inline-four churns out around 173 horsepower and 166 lb-ft of torque, which is enough to scoot from zero to 60 mph in just under five seconds.
Transmission duties are handled by a fairly conventional five-speed manual that sends all that twist to the lone rear wheel. Traction control, cruise control, and speed-sensitive steering are part of the package. Sure, it’s more grunt than you’d expect for something that looks like a three-wheeled go-kart.
When West Coast Customs Met Star Trek
But no one we know ever built a Star Trek-inspired space car to showcase practicality or subtle performance upgrades.
The Polaris in question was reimagined by West Coast Customs, which struck us as royally odd considering the shop’s reputation for turning out larger-than-life builds that sometimes delight and sometimes make enthusiasts howl.
For this Slingshot, they grafted on a fiberglass saucer section and nacelles to echo the look of the USS Discovery, complete with gold paint and flashy LED lighting that begs to be admired under neon signs and streetlamps.
If you walked past this thing at a car meet, you WOULD stop on your tracks. It looks not so much like a road vehicle as it does like a fan art spaceship you might see in an art gallery curated by trekkies. The extra bits of bodywork sit awkwardly atop an already unusual platform.
The mix of the Slingshot’s angular, aggressive stance with the rounded, space cruiser motifs leave you with a strong, haunting feeling that someone tried to combine a Batmobile with a carnival ride.
And that’s before you think about trying to actually drive it down a public road with oncoming traffic.
That haunting theme continues in the interior. The bolstered bucket seats are trimmed in black vinyl with copper-colored inserts and gold Starfleet emblems stitched proudly into the upholstery.
There are two cupholders, storage behind the seats, and a glove box, all of which somehow make this fantasy hot rod feel even more like a mashup of sci-fi and a weekend toy. With only 209 miles on the clock (I mean, they gotta test drive it, right?), this custom build was essentially brand new and screaming for someone to have at it.
The Auction Bid That Went Nowhere
Yet when it hit the auction block, the reaction was, well, unremarkable at best. The highest bid topped out at $17,777, which disappointed the seller enough that they chose not to part with it. That reserve must have been set somewhere beyond the edge of the neutral zone.
It seems that not even a Star Trek theme could tempt bidders into committing to what many saw as a novelty rather than a collectible.
At the end of the day, this custom Polaris Slingshot S, dubbed “Star Trek Discovery Slingshot,” will likely go down in automotive lore not as a cherished tribute but as a cautionary tale about where enthusiasm meets reality.
It may have had lights, unique bodywork, and a concept that sounds cool inside a fan’s head, but in actual practice, it reminded buyers that sometimes, space really is the final frontier for a reason.