Overview
Some people collect stamps; others are passionate about coins; but we think if you're going to spend so much time thinking about one thing, it should be extraordinary. It should be something prolific and inspired — something that has the capacity to change the course of people's lives. For Ryan Beitz this something is VHS copies of the timeless 1994 Keanu Reeves classic, Speed.
That may not be his exact reasoning, but regardless of motivation this guy now has upwards of 500 copies in his collection. What started out as a bizarre bulk buy from the op shop has now led to Beitz founding The World Speed Project, a group whose end goal is to collect every copy in existence.
"The World Speed Project is satisfied by a compulsion to repeat [things]," said Beitz in an interview with VICE. "When you get one, you want to get another! And another! And another! Like the bus in Speed, we collectively cannot — and will not — stop."
The group don't stop there, either. The WSP also want to take their message to the streets. Launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund it, they hope to convert an existing van into a small sized replica of the bus from their favourite film, and travel around the country while building their collection. Asking for a mere $2,500, WSP want to not only change their vehicle cosmetically, they also crucially need to fix the speedometer. Because how else will they avoid the 50mph marker, duh?
Faced with increasing media scrutiny, Beitz is increasingly optimistic about his mission. "I think the World Speed Project is awesome in the truest sense of the word," he said. "It's larger than life. Imagine all of [the tapes] in one place! It’s uncompromising."
If you share his unbridled joy, or maybe just have a morbid curiosity, you can donate to the bus fund here or send your VHS tapes to the address below (assuming you're willing to part with your most cherished possession).
Chairman Ryan Beitz, The World Speed Project, 20204 SR 195 Pullman, WA 99163 USA
Via Vice.