It's a car, It's a plane... It's for Real.

It's a car, It's a plane... It's for Real.

by Liv | Published on July 4th, 2010, 12:12 am | Sports

The flying car in preparation for over a year, should be marketed in the U.S. in late 2011. Initially, only Americans with a sport pilot license can acquire this new means of transport.

It will cost 194,000 dollars, or about 160,000 euros and will be marketed in a year and a half in the United States. The flying car, dubbed "Transition" by the company Terrafugia, has received the green light from the government of the U.S. Army for its commercialization in late 2011. The registration of the vehicle was dragged from the weight of the gear. The first models of flying cars will be unveiled at next August at a conference held annual aviation in Wisconsin. cite

Unfortunately for us Euro socialists who often suffer from an occasional depression attack due to being marooned in America, they probably shouldn't let us have one... it won't make it that far.

It doesn't look practical to me though....not as a car, anyway. The blind spots are horrific; I can't imagine trying to navigate traffic in that thing. Why the heck did they make the wings fold up like that? Seems like it would have made more sense for them to tuck in and point back. I bet the gas mileage on that thing sucks too. Oh but wait...who cares about fuel economy when we can just pop another hole into an oil field in the ocean and get more gas for this country of gas hogs...easy peasy. Silly me! :roll:

That reminds me of the Amphicar, not a good car and not a good boat, almost useless but undeniably cool.

Jamy wrote:Why the heck did they make the wings fold up like that?

Design your own then :roll:

First time I heard about the Amphi car- I wanted one... Though I must admit the amphibious RV is cooler...

I saw the Amphicar in '67 - there was a demo on the Thames near Maidenhead and we happened to be passing in kayaks. We went for a ride - it was really cool when you're 13

Wonder what the car insurance rate is on something like that....

One small leak and the car is gone.

I'm sure they have a bilge pump

Reproduced from The Autocar 10th December 1965.

MANY READERS will have heard and perhaps seen on television, pictures of the adventurous Channel crossing made by two Amphicars last September. It would be quite wrong to think from this that such a voyage is within scope of anybody as a solo venture, and the recent unhappy loss of an Amphicar, run down by a ship in the Straits of Gibraltar, stands as a warning. The project has to be attended by the same precautions as those needed for a cross Channel swim especially the need for an accompanying vessel. However, the full story of what was quite an ambitious venture will, we feel sure, be of interest to many.
...
Radio sets carried by each car were netted in, life jackets checked, the engines and electrical equipment waterproofed and most important the " bungs "the draining point at the bottom rear end of the car were secured. There had been the instance of a proud owner in Germany driving his car into water for the first time only to find himself and his car gurgling and slowly settling on the river bed.
...
It was about 1.30 p.m. when the Amphicar driven by Tim Dill-Russell stopped as he had shipped water. It was subsequently found out that this was not attributable to leakage, but to a blocked bilge pump. As there was no way of registering the amount of water in the bilges it had not become apparent until it was too late.

Makes me think of that top gear episode.... July 4th, 2010, 12:37 pm

Makes me think of that top gear episode....

When I was a kid back in the early 70's my dad owned a vehicle (don't remember what it was called) that we could drive it down to the lake, go boating in it, and then drive it back home. The best thing about that thing was all the strange looks we'd get when we just drove it right down the boat launch.

Maybe your dad can remember what it was. There can't be many contenders in the 70's if it wasn't an Amphicar

A Person wrote:Maybe your dad can remember what it was. There can't be many contenders in the 70's if it wasn't an Amphicar

My dad passed away 14 years ago but my older brother seems to remember it being an Amphicar. Googling the images this is pretty close to what I remember:

We looked funny driving down the road with our lifejackets on. :lol:

July 5th, 2010, 12:16 am

Those were the days - when 43 hp was considered an engine. I've driven a Triumph Herald and they were quite nippy.

Cool car - it'd be worth about $20,000 now if it was still running