Florida of the day: The Flintstones car is real, and it’s illegally parked in Key West

Photo by the City of Key West. Click the photo to see the source.

Ah, Key West. Also known as the Conch Republic, a tongue-in-cheek micronation that supposedly left the United States in 1982 to become their own sovereign country (their motto is “We seceded where others failed”), it’s Florida’s Florida — a laid-back, offbeat place where eccentrics, weirdos, the Great Prophet Jimmy Buffett, and Judy Blume hang out and generally spend their time being odd. Since moving to Tampa a little over two years ago, I’ve been told by at least a dozen people that I should visit Key West because I’d fit right in with my accordion schtick.

How laid back is Key West? This laid back:

Yesterday, the Key West police posted a photo of what has to be to most Key West illegally-parked car ever: it looks just like Fred Flintstone’s:

They wrote on the City of Key West’s Facebook page:

This Flintstone car is in front of 828 Emma Street. It is illegally parked in the public right of way. It’s been red tagged, but the City would really like to find the owner before we have to take it away. The owner has not yet come forward. Please, if you know whose it is, let them know. Please help us find the owner of this ride… QUICKLY!

Key West citizens, being the fun-loving lot they are, made lots of funny comments, but also ended up helping the cops find the car’s owners. As they put it in an addendum to their Facebook post:

Thanks to everyone who helped on this! And thanks for all the funny remarks. This island is awesome!

While the police have identified the owner and got him or her to move the car, there are still some very important questions that remain, some of which come from this article in Miami New Times:

It is a prop, or it is a functioning vehicle? (My guess is that it’s a converted golf cart.)
Was this an art project? A themed pedicab designed for the purpose of enticing and overcharging drunk tourists?
Has someone actually been picked up for a date in this thing?

I should go and visit the Conch Republic sometime soon.