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May 30, 2017 21:45:11 GMT
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This is definitely in the dreaming category & not something I'll ever be able to do but I took the family to yesterday's "Wartime Wallop" event at the Museum of Army Flying. In the museum itself is a replica of the Hafner Rotorbuggy:
(credit to the internet as my own photo isn't that great since its a bit hemmed-in now)
Anyway, it got me looking for flying cars and/or roadable aircraft ... yes, really!
Not so much the specialised creations, more the attempts to add wings (or other means of lift) to an actual car or a fairly conventional 'one off'.
And believe it or not there are some retro motors which really have taken to the sky! Like many, I thought of Dr No's Francisco Scaramanga's getaway AMC Matador from The Man with the Golden Gun:
Unfortunately it wasn't real
AMC did a massive product placement for the production so that decided the car. They mocked up a real Matador with wings, prop etc for close ups, but a remote controlled model was filmed for the 'flight'. However the design was based on something which, like so many flying car projects, had just failed - the AVE Mizar:
Yes, that is a Ford Pinto with the wings & tail from a Cessna Skymaster attached
The Bond production had planned to use one of these as the getaway car but tragically, prior to filming, that strut between the wing & the car failed in flight; killing the Mizar's designer & a business partner.
Unsurprisingly the project didn't recover from something like that, even though the strut probably could have been improved. It needn't even have been fatal as another, more experienced, pilot had previously managed to land safely after a similar failure.
More recently, Top Gear got Brunel University to try recreate the project on something which suffered from almost as bad an image problem as the poor Pinto, but British - the Austin Metro (well a Rover 100):
The episode was never aired so I'm not sure what the result was but, proving the basic concept is sound, here's a similar design; except with a purpose-built 'car'. This could be the most successful flying car ever as around half-a-dozen were built &, at least until recently, one was still flying - the Taylor AeroCar:
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May 30, 2017 22:14:26 GMT
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Last Edit: May 30, 2017 22:34:50 GMT by brickie501
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May 30, 2017 22:54:25 GMT
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May 30, 2017 23:20:32 GMT
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Best flying car [in fiction] must be Syd Mead's Spinners in Blade Runner: also - does this count?
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And believe it or not there are some retro motors which really have taken to the sky! Like many, I thought of Dr No's getaway AMC Matador from The Man with the Golden Gun:
It was Francisco Scaramanga played by Christopher Lee This is what i thought of when i saw the title
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It was Francisco Scaramanga played by Christopher Lee Face Palm! Corrected above - How did I get that wrong after all my googling?! This is what i thought of when i saw the title Surely one of the most well known flying cars of all time! Walked right into those!!!! But, actually, when it comes to flying cars like that, the one I think of first is from the same Bond film: Bond's AMC Hornet 'test drive': (But the General Lee is a close second )
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Last Edit: May 31, 2017 21:02:01 GMT by brickie501
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also - does this count? According to Wikipedia ... yes, Star Wars speeders & the like count!
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Last Edit: May 31, 2017 21:09:06 GMT by brickie501
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What about chitty-chitty-bang-bang?
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retrolegends
Club Retro Rides Member
Winging it.....Since 1971.
Posts: 3,726
Club RR Member Number: 94
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Show Me Flying Carsretrolegends
@retrolegends
Club Retro Rides Member 94
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Don't say you weren't expecting this! " A flying Delorean?? I've not seen one of those since 1985!!!!".
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1974 Hillman Avenger 1500DL1992 Volvo 240SE1975 Datsun Cherry 100a flying custard1965 Hillman SuperMinx Rock N Roller1974 Austin Allegrat Mk1 1.3SDL1980 Austin Allegro Mk3 1.3L1982 Austin Allegro Mk3 on banded steels2003 Saab 9-3 Convertible 220bhp TurboNutter1966 Morris Minor 1000 (Doris) 2019 Abarth 595C Turismo (not retro but awesome fun) www.facebook.com/DatsunCherry100a
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May 31, 2017 13:34:42 GMT
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Fantomas' escape in the flying DS. There was only the takeoff scene in the movie, not the DS flying actually. Or do these count? pix-geeks.com/air-drive/
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May 31, 2017 15:59:46 GMT
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May 31, 2017 17:55:46 GMT
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'80 s1 924 turbo..hibernating '80 golf gli cabriolet...doing impression of a skip '97 pug 106 commuter...continuing cheapness making me smile!
firm believer in the k.i.s.s and f.i.s.h principles.
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May 31, 2017 19:02:48 GMT
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... Don't say you weren't expecting this! " A flying Delorean?? I've not seen one of those since 1985!!!!". After the very first reply I had a sense there were more favourites based on SciFi / 'flying without wings' & therefore where this was likely to go Fantomas' escape in the flying DS. There was only the takeoff scene in the movie, not the DS flying actually. Or do these count? pix-geeks.com/air-drive/ The DS, SM and, for some unreason reason (given how different they are in appearance), the Type H / HY really suit that 'hoverboard' look!
This!
Pic (c) J Munkhammer from that link
The rest ... meh!
...yet even after all this time & with so many design iterations (& broken promises), Moller still haven't produced a viable product. There appears to be a tale not dissimilar to that of the Delorean too (albeit probably without the vice or drugs charges), at least if certain websites are to be believed! ... ... ... & despite it being the most "Jetsons'esqe" of the lot, I was specifically thinking of the Skycar when I said I don't really like most of the modern design approaches
It might be the apparent lack of 'roadability' or maybe its something to do with knowing a little of the Boeing V-22 twin tilt-rotor ... four tilting ducted fans would be even more fiendishly complicated, & that's just asking for trouble!
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Last Edit: May 31, 2017 19:17:11 GMT by brickie501
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May 31, 2017 22:16:11 GMT
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I'm surprised this one hasn't cropped up yet as a flying retro-ride; These are some of the best, one touted as being likely to hit the market before 2025. None of them look particularly practical and I imagine they'd be hideously expensive to buy and run; Although probably a little more practical than this early effort;
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alecf
Part of things
Posts: 424
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I really wanted this to work
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Possibly cheating because it didn't actually fly but I know some of you will remember this:- and the same builder followed it with with this:- Which, unless my memory deceives me, was used to promote an early version of sat nav. (hence the Ordinance Survey logos.)
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Last Edit: Jun 1, 2017 16:10:08 GMT by ratchart
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'80 s1 924 turbo..hibernating '80 golf gli cabriolet...doing impression of a skip '97 pug 106 commuter...continuing cheapness making me smile!
firm believer in the k.i.s.s and f.i.s.h principles.
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The modern day Red Baron!
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