Does Han’s Landspeeder Look Familiar to You in the Solo: A Star Wars Story Trailer?

Are you an auto aficionado? How about a Star Wars superfan? Did you happen to notice anything interesting about the landspeeder that Han is driving in the new Solo: A Star Wars Story trailer? Well, I cannot tell the difference between a Volvo and a Ferrari, so I certainly didn’t. Luckily, there are professionals to walk us through this and it’s actually insanely cool.

Jason Torchinsky, the eagle-eyed Senior Editor of Jalopnik – sister site to io9 – has made an extremely interesting observation about a vehicle in the new Solo: A Star Wars Story. Take a close look at those taillights at 0:08 and the dash at 0:14. That design may look very familiar to car fans as the Ford Falcon design of the 1960s.

Connecting the dots here, Solo pilots the most famous vehicle in all of Star Wars lore, the Millenium Falcon. Torchinsky then gets into the literal nuts and bolts of the design and will walk you through the landspeeder’s functionality. Although the vehicle doesn’t have wheels and hovers above the ground, it does basically mimic the effect of a car. As Torchinsky points out, Solo director Ron Howard has a little car movie in his resume. Howard starred in American Graffiti, the George Lucas love letter to 1960s cars. It’s all coming together in one big homage from Lucas’ creation of the Star Wars universe to the double meaning of Falcon.

Also, is no one going to say it? Ok, I will. The Ford part of the Ford Falcon goes to Harrison Ford who originated the role of Han Solo. Coincidence? Almost certainly, but I’m sticking to it.

Solo: A Star Wars Story races into theaters May 25.