The next time you're stuck in an airport struggling to get your shoes back on so you can wait for a commercial airline flight to get you somewhere, remember this:

The rich and super-rich don't have to struggle with you. They can fly on their own luxury jets.

Soon they'll be able to drive one to the airport, too, assuming they have a spare $1 million or so to spend on Dan Harris' brainstorm.

Harris owns Jetmousine, a Bend company that's deep into the process of converting three private jet carcasses into some of the world's most luxurious - and most expensive - limousines.

By the time the first project is done - Harris figures it will take another two months to 10 weeks to finish - the cherry red jet fuselage will sport a plasma TV, at least four flat-screen high definition TVs, an 8,000-watt sound system, fine leather upholstery and maybe an electronically projected sky on its interior ceiling.
The Basics

It will stand 11 feet high from the base of its 28-inch chrome wheels and tires to the top of its tail. It will run 42 feet from its nose to its rear and 101 inches from side to side - narrow enough by an inch to run legally on public roads.

The first one is already sold to Exotic Coach, a Chicago-based "limosuite" company that has begun touting the converted aircraft on its Web site. Harris said he has two more sales in the bag, also to limousine companies. He expects to sell a total of 100 by the time he's done, mostly to other exotic limo companies and to super-rich car collectors.

The price tag starts at $1 million.

For those of us who are not in the market, here's the comparison: A typical high-end luxury limousine might sell for $250,000.

"It will definitely be for a select few," Harris said. "It's like an Enzo Ferarri; it's not for everybody. More than a million bucks puts you in a category of exclusivity."

So does Harris' invention.

As far as he knows, his is the only company in the world that converts real airplanes into luxury cars.

The company started with a daydream. Harris watched a private jet land one day a few years ago on an airstrip near the factory he owned at the time in Hollister, Calif. He got to thinking: Wouldn't that be fun to drive?

The daydream turned into sketched-out plans, Harris said. The sketched plans turned into six months of research into frames, engines and Department of Transportation rules for roadworthiness.

All of that proved to Harris that the project would work - if he had some planes.

Buying a Lear jet was out of the question, he said. Even used, they cost upward of $1 million.

His lucky break came when he found a friend of a friend who is part of a business that buys used planes to strip them of their engines and avionics, leaving the fuselages that Harris needs to build his road castles.

Right now, the project doesn't reflect much luxury, but there are strong hints of things to come in the 3,000 square feet of industrial space that Harris has leased in the center of Bend, a block from Bend High School.

A fuselage harvested from a 1974 Lear jet, complete with its tail and jet engine housings, is up on slings, flanked by $20,000 worth of sleek chrome wheels and tires. Its future engine, a 400-horsepower 8100 cc Vertec engine harvested from a brand-new one-ton Chevrolet truck, sits nearby, attached to its smooth-shifting six-speed Allison transmission.

Harris and his three employees will finish installing the machinery in their Bend shop. He'll haul it to a paint shop for its exterior finish work, then trek it to Chicago for its interior installations.

He plans to bring it back to Bend for a couple of weeks after it's finished - maybe to take the oldest of his six children to the high school prom. Then he'll take it on the road to show it off to the media outlets he said are already clamoring to do features on the finished product.

Exotic Coach is telling its clients to pre-book their rides for late spring.

Harris, 33, said he also has his eye on the future.

An inveterate inventor since he was a child, he said he built his idea for a portable X-Games park into a thriving manufacturing business in Hollister before his venture-capitalist partners shut it down two years ago due to "liability concerns."

That shutdown prompted his move to Bend, to be near an uncle and to pursue his Jetmousine dreams. If his patented Jetmousine project produces the $100 million-plus gross revenues that he thinks it can generate, he said he'll pursue production on some of his 46 other inventions. And maybe he'll write a book to help other entrepreneurs navigate the field of "vulture capitalists" that left a bad taste in his mouth in California.

This is a pretty unusual product. What gave you the idea that there would be a market for road-ready converted luxury jets?

People today are seeking ways to differentiate themselves from the rest of the crowd. Certain wealthy clients will go to great expense to acquire items that make a statement or help them stand out. Business jets in general have a certain mystery and allure about them. Most people have never had a chance to fly in an ultimate luxury jet. That is usually reserved for the super rich. Jetmousine will let them have an experience like that but on the ground.

If demand takes off, do you plan to continue production in Bend?

Bend is a beautiful place and it is full of opportunities. However, finding a large space has proven to be nearly impossible. We will need 30,000 to 50,000 square feet in the near future to keep up with the demand for timely production. That kind of space is just simply not available here. As much as I love it here, I just can't wait for Bend to come up to the speed of business.

What type of customers are you aiming for? Should we expect to see jetlike limousines on the streets of Central Oregon any time soon?

The type of customers we are aiming for are celebrities, music stars, eccentric auto collectors, high-end limousine services and any other interested millionaires. While I am sure Bend has some clients suited for this kind of super luxury, I think we will find most of our clients in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York and other major cities.

Do you plan to keep one for yourself?

Most certainly! I will be using one myself here in Bend as well as using it to make sales across the country. When I conceived the idea for Jetmousine, it was really me thinking how cool it would be for me to ride around in one.

What: Jetmousine
Who: Dan Harris
Where: 615 SE Glenwood, Bend
Telephone: 280-7959
Employees: 3

Izvor!!!!!!