The Long, Weird History of the Flying Car
For centuries, man has dreamt of taking his hotrod to the skies.
Ever since he invented the car, man has dreamt of taking it to the skies. Inspired by Steven Kolter's Tomorrowland, a fascinating read on futurism (which includes this piece on gravity-defying vehicles), here are the designs that inched us closer to a Jetsonsutopia.
The 1841 Henson Aerial Steam Carriage
William Samuel Henson and John Stringfellow—the Wright brothers before the Wright brothers existed—patented this flying car in 1841. The duo were never able to build a functional version of their monoplane, which had a theoretical wingspan of 150 feet.
Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector
The 1917 Curtiss Autoplane
Glen Curtiss' Aeroplane debuted at New York's 1917 Pan-American Aerunautical Exposition. The Autoplane had an aluminum body, plastic windows, and a heater for passengers. However, the first World War sidetracked Curtiss and the plane never flew.
United States Patent and Trademark Office
The 1923 Pitcairn PCA-2
Autogyros are the true predecessors of flying cars and Harold F. Pitcairn's PCA-2 was sold on the mass market. It was the first rotary-wing aircraft to achieve type certification in the United States, and in one promotional stunt landed on the White House lawn during Herbert Hover's presidency.
NACA
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The 1937 Waterman Aerobile
Waterman modified a 6-cylinder upright, 100 hp Studebaker to build this flying car in 1937. Only five Aerobiles were produced, though Waldo Waterman attempted to manufacture roadable versions throughout the '40s and '50s.
San Diego Air & Space Museum
The 1947 ConVairCar Model 118
The ConVairCar, Model 118 flying car was not a hoax, as evidenced by this test flight in California in November 1947. Theodore P. Hall designed this creation for the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Company. The one-hour demonstration flight ended early due to low fuel, an emergency landing that destroyed the car and damaged the plane's wings. Everyone survived—that is, everyone except the ConVairCar dream.
FPG/Hulton Archive
The 1959 Ford Levacar
Where the Ford Mach I Levacar is going, it doesn't need roads. Shown at the Ford Rotunda in Dearborn, Michigan, 1959, the single-seat concept car scrapped wheels and touted a top speed of 500 m.p.h. None of the cars were ever built, much to society's dismay.
Archive Photos
The 1966 Aero-Car
With its folding wings, the Aero-Car was the first promising road-to-sky vehicle. Prototypes could reach 60 mph on the ground and 110 mph in the sky. How close did we come to living in a flying car world? Disney even designed a character in its 2013 film Planes after the thing. The Aero-Car made it.
Photo by Steven Kelly/The Enthusiast Network/Getty Images
The 1973 AVE Mizar
Weld a Cessna Skymaster to the top of a Ford Pinto and boom: You have a flying car. The AVE Mizar used both the aircraft and car engines for takeoff, while four-wheel breaking allowed the car to land safely—in theory. A '73 test flight followed by an ugly crash ended the AVE dream quickly.
The Sky Commuter (c. 1990)
For $71,500, you could own the Sky Commuter concept car, developed by Boeing engineers in the '80s. Run on a gas turbine engine and helicopter-like drive shafts, the Commuter was an alternative to planes-strapped-to-cars of the past. Boeing spent $6 million developing the car, though it only appeared in history books.
Barrett-Jackson
The M400 Sky-car
Meet the true Jetson vehicle. A "VTOL" (vertical take-off and landing) flying car, the M400 is the life's work of inventor Paul Moller. Unfortunately, the road to commercial success is still long (and bumpy). In 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil fraud action against Moller for selling the unregistered shares of stock directly to the public via the Internet, raising approximately $5.1 million from more than 500 investors nationwide. Moller International was hit with a $50,000 fine, though it remains active today.
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