Tag: flying cars

Just a reminder that the auction for the 1956 Aerocar N103D convertible airplane car I wrote about a couple weeks ago ends in just two days.

The retrofuturistic vehicle is being listed as "Best Offer," but you still have the option to beat the rush and snatch it up for the "Buy It Now" price of $3.5 million.

The seller has also added a Web site detailing the history and technical specs of the Aerocar, along with a black-and-white newsreel of the vehicle in action, viewable below.

They've also included list of reasons you should buy the plane-car, which include:

It is a unique part of aviation history.
It is a testimony to man’s creative genius.
It is loved by the public.

Indeed.

Be sure to watch the vintage newsreel on the Aerocar below. ... Continued

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In 1949, engineer and former Navy pilot Moulton B. Taylor set about creating a practical and mass-produced flying car. Amazingly, he succeeded in designing a working model that could be converted from car to airplane in only five minutes by one person and received certification from the Civil Aeronautics Authority (now the FAA) for flight.

Unfortunately, the Aerocar, as Taylor named it, never received enough orders to justify production and it subsequently went the way of so many other cool things we'll never have. That is, unless you have $3.5 million and an eBay account.

Only six Aerocars were constructed, in three designs, all of which still exist. Three are in museums and three lie in private collections, only one of which still flies. Aerocar N103D, the third model built, hasn't flown since 1977, but remains in original condition and is currently being offered for sale as part of a divorce settlement.

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Finnair, the flag airline of Finland, has announced its vision of flying for 85 years in the future. Titled Departure 2093, the project comprises designs for five futuristic flying machines that are posh, emission-free and 100% recyclable.

Thing is, the designs are eerily reminiscent of the types of craft the futurists of the '50s promised us for 1993, especially the A1700-2400 Cruiser, a jet-powered VTOL that looks more like a flying saucer, and the yet-unnamed dual-nosecone service ship for an orbiting "space hotel."

Features and amenities for Finnair's fleet of the future include nanoceramic bodies; electricity-generating skins; luminescent crash-landing bags and emergency parachutes; virtual windows with changeable exterior views; intelligent seats that adjust to passengers' bodies, measure their vital signs and offer massages; restaurants with live shows; gymnasiums; and hologram theaters. ... Continued

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Tag: flying cars

Flying Car Auction Ends in Two Days!

Genuine Midcentury Flying Car Up for Sale

Finnair Establishes Retrofuturism of the Future