The idea for this invention probably began around the time the inventor of the first automobile, Karl Benz, got his first model "Benz Patent Motorwagen" on the road circa 1879. Once people saw how great it was to drive an automobile on land, wouldn't it be awesome to fly the same in the air also?
Movies have glamorized the idea of flying an automobile for years. Although the cool secret agent James Bond never had a flying car, the novelist for Bond's stories, Ian Fleming, depicted one in his book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car, with a 1920's era roadster with dragon-like wings (eventually starring Dick Van Dyke in the movie). You've also seen it in cartoons, with the clear but bulbish auto-spacecraft in the Jetsons, and even Harry Potter was seen riding a Ford Anglia 105E in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Probably one of the most well known flying cars in movies, handled the task of flying in the air as well as speeding to tomorrow or yesterday. Christopher Lloyd, previously known for playing the pickled brained character Reverend Jim on ABC's Taxi, played Dr. Emmett Brown, a similarly bumbling, but ingenious and crazy inventor on Back to the Future. The brushed stainless steel DMC-12 Delorean car used in the movie, became more famous for flying in the movie than the actual manufactured car, which sold about 9,000 cars in its 1981-1982 production time frame (at the helm was John DeLorean, it's then cocaine snorting president).
Movies have glamorized the idea of flying an automobile for years. Although the cool secret agent James Bond never had a flying car, the novelist for Bond's stories, Ian Fleming, depicted one in his book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car, with a 1920's era roadster with dragon-like wings (eventually starring Dick Van Dyke in the movie). You've also seen it in cartoons, with the clear but bulbish auto-spacecraft in the Jetsons, and even Harry Potter was seen riding a Ford Anglia 105E in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Probably one of the most well known flying cars in movies, handled the task of flying in the air as well as speeding to tomorrow or yesterday. Christopher Lloyd, previously known for playing the pickled brained character Reverend Jim on ABC's Taxi, played Dr. Emmett Brown, a similarly bumbling, but ingenious and crazy inventor on Back to the Future. The brushed stainless steel DMC-12 Delorean car used in the movie, became more famous for flying in the movie than the actual manufactured car, which sold about 9,000 cars in its 1981-1982 production time frame (at the helm was John DeLorean, it's then cocaine snorting president).
It Can't Fly with the Wings Retracted!
In the past, there have been successful attempts at flying an automobile that will convert to some sort of airplane contraption. This latest attempt, looks pretty darn cool with it's gull wings extending out 27 feet from its main auto body to fly in the air and then retracting back like chicken wings to resume the ho-hum life of a mortal car here on earth.
The new Terrafugia Transition is known as a PAV or Personal Aircraft Vehicle. It weighs 1320 pounds and functions as a light aircraft as well as a car. It received approval from the FAA (and a special weight exemption, somehow, which normally requires a light aircraft to weigh no more than 1200 pounds). It gets 30 mpg on the ground or in the air (we're talking upwind too?)...and can fly up to 500 miles on one tank . Cruising altitudes for the PAV range from 3.5K to 8K feet and can even soar to up to 12K feet (how would you like to see it flying below you on your next Southwest puddle jumper?). It can transport 2 people along with their luggage, but you probably won't find any overhead storage bins....maybe only room for a CD holder you can attach to your visor.
Tentative pricing puts the total cost of the "autoplane" within a few add-ons of 200 G's. With 70 people already putting down their deposits, we may be seeing some of these flying over our homes real soon... How'd you like to be the first on your block to drive it into your garage, then later on head out to the airport for a quick jaunt to Sun Valley for a business meeting or some relaxing golf?
To put your deposit down (or up)...go to: http://www.terrafugia.com/aircraft.html
The new Terrafugia Transition is known as a PAV or Personal Aircraft Vehicle. It weighs 1320 pounds and functions as a light aircraft as well as a car. It received approval from the FAA (and a special weight exemption, somehow, which normally requires a light aircraft to weigh no more than 1200 pounds). It gets 30 mpg on the ground or in the air (we're talking upwind too?)...and can fly up to 500 miles on one tank . Cruising altitudes for the PAV range from 3.5K to 8K feet and can even soar to up to 12K feet (how would you like to see it flying below you on your next Southwest puddle jumper?). It can transport 2 people along with their luggage, but you probably won't find any overhead storage bins....maybe only room for a CD holder you can attach to your visor.
Tentative pricing puts the total cost of the "autoplane" within a few add-ons of 200 G's. With 70 people already putting down their deposits, we may be seeing some of these flying over our homes real soon... How'd you like to be the first on your block to drive it into your garage, then later on head out to the airport for a quick jaunt to Sun Valley for a business meeting or some relaxing golf?
To put your deposit down (or up)...go to: http://www.terrafugia.com/aircraft.html
