The stupendous General Electric Partio

President Dwight D. Eisenhower called it "the most fantastic thing you ever saw." Are you going to argue with the man who foretold the takeover of the USA by the military industrial complex?

President Eisenhower's Partio Kitchen/BBQ Cart

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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PhosPhorious

Partio?

More like Par-TAY-0.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefan_e_jones/ Stefan Jones

That’s actually a pretty neat gadget. The utility of a patio kitchen w/o the expense of weatherizing.

You could bring it to a family get-together to temporarily expand the host’s kitchen.
- novium
  
  and 100% fewer spiders and other creepy crawlies, too. (My family has a patio kitchen that we maybe used a handful of times after we first moved in- the damn thing was always full of bugs, and the burners smelled awful when they got hot).
Grey Devil

Add a boombox and its set to go.
- 10xor01
  
  And also a blender. Can’t have a Partio without drinks that include tiny umbrellas.
  
  And since we’re tricking it out, maybe a Tiki head on top…that can breathe real flames to notify you when the burgers are ready.
Donald Petersen

Now more than ever, I Like Ike.
chaoskittenii

Ah, the two great streams of 1950s technological aspiration, reunited at last. Nice work Mark :)
The Hamster King

A boombox and a bicycle in back so your can peddle around town and serve people pancakes.
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefan_e_jones/ Stefan Jones
  
  If Mr. Jalopy (who hosted the link) wins the auction, I bet he’d do just that.
  
  It wouldn’t be THAT hard to knock together one of these, maybe using propane so it’s more portable.
- M Carlson
  
  Mmmmmmm, paaaaaaancaaaaaakes.
http://twitter.com/michaelsayyes michael b

That is indeed, the most fantastic thing I have ever seen.
Antinous / Moderator

It would have been useless to Ike if his predecessor hadn’t created a place to park it.
- zombienietzsche
  
  THE MORE YOU KNOW
  - flosofl
    
    No kidding. At times Atinous’s (is that right? I never remember the rule) comments are like PSA’s dropping little nuggets of information in our heads.
    - MythicalMe
      
      Apostrophe goes after the “s”. Antinous’ comments are also the moderator’s.
      - dnebdal
        
        Both are acceptable, depending on how you prefer to pronounce it. It’s not like s-apostrophe-s is utterly illegal; the s-dropping rule is most strongly associated with classical and biblical names.
        
        So Emperor Antonius’ clothes … but possibly Antonius’s comments.
littlebone

I couldn’t find a large enough image of what this reminded me of…
http://www.youtube.com/user/ziccup akbar56

Convert it to gas and I am sold.
Bevatron Repairman

“The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: It is two fine, fully equipped outdoor kitchens. It is some fifty miles of formica countertop. We pay for a single fighter plane with a forty million bottles of cold, refreshing Schiltz beer. We pay for a single destroyer with outdoor pools with slides and diving boards that could have bathed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of recreation to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense.”
Bucket

I did not realize until just this moment that I need a pancake griddle in my back yard. Now I do.
And my life will never be the same.
Vanwall Green

It’s more fun with the Lone Wolf and Cub options. The knife set is awesome.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Daigoro!
  - Vanwall Green
    
    Hai!
http://imcravingpresidency.tumblr.com/ SedanChair

Holy crap, it’s like America on wheels
Hubris Sonic

What, no blood trough? details people, details.
sam1148

Pretty typical of the boom of the 50-60′s.

Middle class had wealth, corporation and the ‘rich’ had wealth. Suburbs became common, interstate roads supported by what would be outstanding taxes for rich and corporations was common. 60 plus percent for the top corporations and income earners—outstandingly weird today.

But guess what, everyone profited. From GE to the middle class, to the poor–who for the first time had mandated TVA power, and telephone services…and purchased appliances, cars, etc..etc. The interstate system moved goods to small towns, and moved people living the suburbs to cites to sell their work.
Everyone profited in that golden age.
That was trickle up economics…create a infer-structure and people will purchase stuff from your corporation.
- mccrum
  
  60% for the top earners? No, that was the 70′s. From 1951 until 1964, the top tax bracket was 91%. Ninety-one. Niney. One. Just let that roll through your head for a while, think about how many interstates got built and how we seemed to be kicking the world’s ass in production and consumption. Ninety-one percent.
  
  If those are truly America’s glory years that everyone claims they want to return to, there’s a little matter of some fifty-sixty percent that we need to add to the top tax bracket. I’m not saying your philosophy is wrong, it’s that if you think 60% would be weird, 91% would be seen as heresy by today’s “standards”.
  Source: http://top-federal-tax-rates.findthebest.com/q/45/1003/What-was-the-Top-Federal-Income-Tax-Rate-in-1960
  - sam1148
    
    TOP tax was 91..and the top was very minor in population.in people. And yes those where glory years. Even with the taxes for ‘rich’ and to a lesser extent the middle class.
    Take a walk outside…which society would like to live in?
    In my day in the 60′s..we had a housekeeper, a stay at home mom, and a gardener..and we were ‘middle class’ by today’s standards. Not upper-class in income and most of our neighbors had can could afford a stay at home mom, mortgage, and even domestic help.
    Science and industury was booming, the space program was offering hope of a great future. ..etc..etc.
    
    Those interstates built in those days, and those FAA airways paved the way for the top earners to make even more money..and yes those got built in those days; to say other wise is ignoring reality. GE and corporations in those days despite the higher tax rates made more profits than ever from the USA market because people could purchase their goods and they could be shipped. Television and media fed the consumerism of the 60′s—as seen in this post…which is great IMHO.
    As it was balanced….large taxes for corporation, consumer streams for goods, and those that profited more paid more in taxes for common structure such as roads, airways, shipping, and even protectionism from off shore competition. (which is a another issue).
pjcamp

An Easy Bake Air Conditioner on wheels?
http://imcravingpresidency.tumblr.com/ SedanChair

“Look upon it, child. This is the freedom I’m sworn to defend.”
Nash Rambler

They see me rollin’, they hatin’.
http://twitter.com/writebastard Ian Wood

Can’t sleep Partio will eat me
Can’t sleep Partio will eat me
Can’t sleep Partio will eat me
Can’t sleep Partio will eat me