Andrei Koribanics freelanced for Hasbro in the mid-1980s. Besides today’s Borer art, I’ve also come across a figure concept by him (that may end up in Chapter 14 of my book) and the presentation painting of Sgt. Slaughter’s Renegades (in Chapter 6). Leaky Suit Brigade has a tiny interview with Koribanics, and should have a longer one up at some point.
For those of you who note Cobra’s heavy use of drill tanks in the weekday cartoon, it’s interesting to note that toy-wise, the Joe team may have wound up with a fleet of personal ones. I can just imagine the ads — this toy popping through a wall of mulch laid in a brick pattern, ’88 Joes stopping Destro’s Iron Grenadiers from some nefarious subterranean plot.
Based on the scale of the cockpit and the figure in it, this unproduced vehicle would have been a little under $10, I think. What I don’t know, however, is how much input other designers may have had. Koribanics might have concepted this all by himself and drawn this with little outside input, or the idea (or a sketch) may have started under someone else’s pencil. Regardless, this are nice illustrations of what might have been.
And what might R&D and Marketing have come up with for a name? What acronym says little, one-man drill tank? DART, for Drill Attack Retrievable Tank? PBD, for Personal Borer Drill? What would you name this vehicle had it made it to market?
A Real American Book! 
Reblogged this on Leaky Suit Brigade.
Cobra screw up
😉
Tim, I really can’t wait until you finally get the chance to publish this book!
Thanks, Nate!
G.O.P.H.E.R. (Guided One-Person Hard Earth Remover)
I love this.
I can see the ad as if it actually existed:
SINGERS
G.I. Joe, diggin down!/Gonna fight Cobra underground!/
Nobody beats G.I. Joe!/G.I. Joe Go-opher! (note is held on the vowel)
JACKSON BECK
It’s the Guided One-Person Hard Earth Remover!
RANDOM KID WITH COLLARED, STRIPED SHIRT
Cobra’s hiding in the cave!
OTHER KID, WITH GIANT HAIR
Not for long! Go get ’em, Joe!
[Smashes GOPHER through a latice-work of mulch]
SINGERS
Nobody beats G.I. Joe!/ A Real American Heroooooo!
JACKSON BECK
G.I. Joe GOPHER comes with everything you see here.
Destro’s DEMON comes with driver, other figures sold separately!
SINGERS
Yo Joe!
FADE TO BLACK
I love it! I had actually thought of G.O.P.H.E.R. myself, but couldn’t come up with a relevant word for each letter.
Someone should make a parody commercial with this premise–along these lines:
OK, that’s awesome…
Didn’t Destro and Cobra Commander use something very similar to this to escape the collapsed PIT in issue 55?
It’s something in the air. I think there’s a drill tank in an episode of “He-Man.” There are the ones in “The Rise of Cobra.”