A smashing idea

Key scratches, drill holes, baseball bats, glue and feathers usually are among the last things the owner of a 1994 Dodge Viper would want anywhere near his car.

But two Centreville men are trying to raise $1 million to start their dream business, so one has put his dream car on the smashing block.

Roommates David Pitlyuk and Jason Gunther, self-described “tech geeks” employed at local information-technology companies, started SmashMyViper.com last month as a way to raise money to open a bar “in a college-town atmosphere,” Mr. Pitlyuk said.

SmashMyViper.com features a million-pixel grid where advertisers can purchase 10-by-10-pixel squares in any quantity for $100, or $1 per pixel. Attached to each advertiser’s pixels is a larger ad that hovers when a site visitor drags his cursor over the grid.

“The bar is our billion-dollar idea,” Mr. Pitlyuk said, declining to provide details. “This [site] is the million-dollar idea.”

Mr. Gunther said he saved for six years before paying about $50,000 for the car last year.

“It’s literally my dream car since I knew what a car was,” he said.

Mr. Gunther said he can’t accomplish his bigger goal of opening a business on his salary. “We got our first taste of the real 9-to-5 job life and we don’t like it too much,” he said.

“Nobody’s going to care if I smash my Civic,” Mr. Pitlyuk said.

Mr. Pitlyuk and Mr. Gunther, both 23, were roommates at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County.

For a 10-by-10-pixel ad, an advertiser can key the Viper; $400 buys a drill hole. For $1,000, advertisers can throw any item that weighs less than 10 pounds at the Viper. Smashing the car with a baseball bat will cost $2,500, and nothing is off limits for $5,000 except removing the engine or otherwise rendering the Viper immobile.

After Mr. Gunther drives into a parking lot, the Viper draws a crowd on its own. The two men then interview people on camera and have them damage the car. For an extra $100, advertisers can have a SmashMyViper.com model do their damage and watch the video online.

The duo spent less than $1,000 in start-up costs for the site. Any new expenses will be paid out of profits they make, Mr. Pitlyuk said.

The pixel-advertising fad already has produced one millionaire.

Alex Tew, 21, a student in England, started selling the pixel squares on milliondollarhomepage.com in August. He sold the last 1,000 pixels for $38,100, the top bid in an online auction that ended last week, and has criticized the legions of copycats his site has inspired.

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