The Latvian Madmen At DARTZ Are Building A Car From GTA In Real Life And It Has A Real Ejector Seat

I can’t believe how long I have known Leonard Yankelovich, the delightfully unhinged force behind DARTZ, the world’s premier builder of gleefully overdone and absurdly opulent SUVs. Seriously, if you know of a better place to go to get a massive armored SUV slathered in gold and with integrated grille sculptures and bottles of the world’s most expensive vodka as standard equipment, then by all means, get your next armored mobile off-road-capable palace there. But I’m going to say you won’t find anyone else, because, well, DARTZ is DARTZ.

Our pals at DARTZ have a new commission, and it’s an interesting one for a few reasons, some weirder than others, and I’ve got some fun exclusive information about the car as well, so, you know, make sure you’re sitting over a drop cloth and prepare yourself accordingly.

Let’s start by talking about what this car actually is: it’s a private commission from a wealthy fan of armored SUVs and the video game series Grand Theft Auto. (Presumably wealthy, as this thing is going to cost seven figures. Of money.) In the game, which has long been known for its strange, alternate-universe adaptations of real-world cars, there is a vehicle you can get in the game, if you progress far enough, called the HVY Nightshark, which you can see in action here, right from the game:

Now, here’s where things get fun. That SUV, the Nightshark, was actually based on the real-world DARTZ Prombron armored SUV, which was, perhaps most famously, seen in the 2012 Sacha Baron Cohen movie The Dictator. So, what this means is that DARTZ is now in the process of building a car from a video game that was itself based on a car that they had built earlier. So, is DARTZ bringing a car to life from a video game, or just reclaiming their own car from that video game? It’s kind of a mind-scrambler.

Also, here’s a fun little bit of trivia that Leonard told me about: see how the A-pillar is unusually thick in the GTA car?

That’s a little strange, right? Especially because that only appears on one of the actual DARTZ Prombron cars:

So what’s going on with that? Was it just a change the GTA modelers made to differentiate the car a bit from the real one? Actually, no! Leonard filled me in on the real deal:

“Story about A-Pillar which was born just because glass cracked during The Dictator filming and we can’t replace it, then we wrapped glasses. And Nightshark creators copied exact THIS car, as such pillar was only on one car. Btw – exact this car was presented to HRH Monaco Prince Albert The Second.”

So, the car the GTA artists and developers copied for the game happened to be the only one with the glass covered in the A-pillar area, which was only covered because of damage to the glass while shooting the movie. But, since that’s how the car looks in the game, Leonard told me that the real-world Nightshark that they’re building will have glass there for better visibility, but the glass will be covered with a transparent material that looks opaque and matches the car’s body color, but will still allow visibility.

The version of the Nightshark that DARTZ is building – and the official name for the SUV won’t be revealed until November 19, in Miami, when Grand Theft Auto VI is set to be released – is based on a GMT 825 frame (that’s the one that underpins GM trucks like the Silverado), but lengthened by 15.75″ inches to accommodate the fully DARTZ-built body, which is a bit longer.

That body uses carbon fiber for most exterior body panels and is still armored. Leonard was telling me how a door that used to weigh 400 kg can now weigh about 10 kg and still deliver the same amount of protection, so things have come a long way in the armored SUV world.

The whole thing is powered by an AMG M156 6.2-liter V8 engine, likely making somewhere north of 500 horsepower. All of this is pretty much in line with how Prombrons have been built before, but this one is different, and this is the other exciting exclusive bit of information. This one only seats three.

That may seem like a strangely small number for such a large vehicle, but there’s a good reason why: the entire rear of the car is a one-person gaming lounge, designed around an actual ejector seat from a fighter plane.

It’s not done just yet, but Leonard was nice enough to share the design renders with me so you can see what it’s going to look like:

Well, damn, look at that! Leonard told me the ejector seat is from Lockheed Martin and so far still retains its ejection functionality. I asked Leonard what would actually happen if the person in the seat were to eject, and I have to admire the candor of his answer:

…so, maybe it’s not a great idea to try that out, if you ever find yourself sitting back there. There’s also a full five-point harness on that seat, and the buckle is something special, too:

Look at that! That’s the “weapon wheel” from the GTA interface! That’s fun.

What is that, alligator skin that they re-upholstered that ejector seat with? It looks like it. Probably from an albino crocodile that was raised in the basement of the Kremlin, or something like that. The seat, Leonard was sure to let me know, meets all the necessary car seat safety standards, too. I assume he means unless you try to actually eject.

There’s also some other fun details, like the inclusion of this sculpture from audio-sculpture artist Kostas Metaxas, which seems to be employed as a stand for those fancy headphones:

I’m not really sure what it says about the person who wants to make their million-plus-dollar armored SUV into a mobile one-person gaming lounge, but I suspect that whomever this is for, this is meeting some extremely specific dream they’ve had, and DARTZ is determined to make that dream a reality.

This is all absolutely bonkers, of course, which is why I’m so fond of DARTZ in the first place. I’m very curious to see the real thing in November! Oh, and I suppose I should mention that this project has no actual support or input from Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive, so there’s no need to send any lawyers after anyone, okay? Great.

All photos: DARTZ