Flying Cars of the Past - When Car Companies Were Serious About Developing Hover Cars

Courtesy of Colouring the Past (which I believe is a Facebook Interest group for people who like restoring and coloring black and white images and film footage from history) this image of Ford's, 1959 Levacar Mach 1 concept vehicle came through my newsfeed and sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole.

The Ford Levacar Mach 1 Concept Vehicle (1959) and the toy model kit the public could buy.
Image source: Colouring the Past.

Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with my interest in the promise of 'flying cars' which, if the film Back to the Future II is to be believed (yes I know it's not a documentary), we should've had by 2015. It's at least fascinating to learn that Ford founder, Henry Ford, thought hovercars might be the next evolution of personal transport.

Mark my words: a combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come.
- Henry Ford 1940.

How Ford's Levapads work.
Image: Curbside.tv

The Ford Levacar did actually work, in that it was capable of floating a few inches above the ground on cushions of air pushed through its Levapads at high speed. It was fitted with turbo jet engines that, theoretically, could propel it up to 500mph (which would get you to the shops before you'd even shut the canopy - probably).

As near as I can tell the Levacar concept never got past the demonstration phase where it was guided around a circular track on a large armature to demonstrate its hovering capability. You can see a video of it in action here on Getty Images.

Despite being cartoonishly small and only a single seater vehicle it definitely reflected the retro futurism of the era. It's a shame Ford didn't keep developing the car.

The Air Car 2500 Gem (Ground Effects Machine) (1959)

Curtiss-Wright 2500 GEM Hover Car (1959).
Images: Curbside.tv

One company that did have a red hot go at bringing hover cars to the masses is aircraft component manufacturer Curtiss-Wright. They spent millions developing a functional hover car for sale to the public, even producing a few working prototypes.

The Curtiss-Wright Air Car 2500 Gem appears to be as close as they got to a prototype that could have gone into production.

It was demonstrated at numerous car shows and did actually work, hovering several inches above the ground, with its two giant fans in the front and back.

Near as I can tell it wasn't particularly practical, was very noisy, and not particularly fuel efficient.

There's a video of it in action on Curbside.tv in their article When Cars Flew (which is my main source of information on both this and the Ford Levacar).

A four seater version of the GEM was expected to retail for around US$15,000 with the two seater at less than half that for $6000.

The World's First Flying Car

While we're on the subject of flying cars from the past I should give a shout out to the world's first flying car, 1949’s Aerocar.

It's inventor, Moulton Taylor, tried his hardest to get it into production after he proved it worked with several successful prototypes (one of which was up for sale for nearly a million dollars in 2013).

Aerocar (1949)
Image: Daily News

Let's face it though, attaching wings and a propeller to a car so it 'transforms' into a plane is no one's idea of a flying car when they think of flying cars. We basically think of a regular car that doesn't have wheels, that can either fly, or at least hover above the ground.

Howard Stark's Hover Car (1943)

Yes I know Tony Stark's dad, Howard Stark is a fictional character but so long as I'm giving shout outs, I have to give a special mention to the hover car he demonstrated at the World Exposition of Tomorrow in 1943.

Imagine if that was based on an actual technology of the day? Admittedly his car malfunctioned but it did work for a red hot minute, so who knows, we could've been driving hover cars long before now!

Stark Hovercar Mark I - World Expo 1943
Image: Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki

Skateboard Trick Tips: Two Ways to Ollie North (Ollie One foot)

You have to be quick to see my Ollie Norths! Ollie One Foots, otherwise known as the Ollie North, is one of those skateboard tricks you learn and then tend not to do very much as more interesting trick challenges grab your attention. However it does look really cool if you learn how to kick your front foot well past the nose of your skateboard. Still shot from Braille Skateboarding's Ollie North tutorial. I was inspired to make my video below, showing two different techniques to achieve a successful Ollie One Foot, when I not only saw that Braille Skateboarding's Tutorial used a different method to the one I had learned but also, when I looked at various other video tutorials, I discovered yet another technique, with no one using the method I had originally learned. Braille's method is to simply Ollie and drag your front foot past the front of your board. The second method I came across in several video tutorials is to Ollie, drag your front foot and tap your

Are Ion Thrusters the Future of Flying Cars? Spoiler - Probably Not But... Hover Boards... Maybe?

Undefined Technologies Ion Propulsion Drone prototype 3D concept image. You may have heard of Ion engines or, more likely, Ion thrusters. NASA uses them on their spacecraft to help maintain a craft's position or to propel them through space. Upon hearing that you might think they're big, powerful engines, but actually they are not. They work well in the vacuum of space but, once any kind of atmosphere and gravity is involved they'd be hard pressed to launch you off the ground if you strapped four of them to your lawn chair and yelled "up, up, and away!" I am no expert on Ion thrusters - they're basically magic that science has an explanation for. If you want to know the details, The Space Techie website has a layman's explanation . Build Your Own Ion Thruster Earth based Ion Thrusters work a bit different to their space based cousins by Ionizing the same air that we breathe to create thrust (an effect known as Ionic-wind ). While they sound highly soph

How to Transfer Any Line Art to Your Griptape - Easy Skateboard Griptape Art Tutorial

Dog Star Griptape Art by TET Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging. Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake. To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all. Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your de

Robot Uprising Update: Robot Waiter, Fasta Pasta, South Terrace, Adelaide CBD, South Australia

On the second evening of my partner, Enigma, and I's weekend stay in Adelaide we decided to have dinner at Fasta Pasta . Strangely enough our hotel staff, at the Alba, had not mentioned Fasta Pasta as an option for an evening meal while their restaurant is closed for refurbishment, even though it is literally next door on the corner of South Terrace and Pultney Street. You may be aware that Fasta Pasta is an upmarket Italian restaurant franchise with its beginnings in Adelaide. Currently they have 19 restaurants Australia wide (with the majority in South Australia - we even have one in Gawler, our home town). I've never had bad food at a Fasta Pasta, and their food never looks like a franchise meal. You always feel you're at a restaurant that's a little bit more quality than your typical hotel/motel meal. Maybe it's because you don't see as much pasta based meals on an Aussie pub menu. Despite the name, it's not all pasta. I went with a basic plate of fish a

Guest Post: NEW NOVEL ALIAS JEANNIE DELANEY - BOOK 1 - GO WEST, GIRL!

Today's guest post is by returning Artist, Writer, and Mental Health Advocate, Jo B Creative who writes for her blog, Creating My Oddessey . Jo's previous 2019 post, MY SOOPER DOOPER NEW CONSERVATORY/ART STUDIO! for a long time was one of this blog's most read pages. Jo returns under a new alias, author Kit Mackenzie , and with word of her new novel, ALIAS JEANNIE DELANEY - BOOK 1 - GO WEST, GIRL! which is now available on Amazon. T he first book of this epic western trilogy, Alias Jeannie Delaney - Book 1 - Go West, Girl! is the life story of a devastating and charismatic pants-wearing cowgirl who's the fastest gun in the west and bisexual. A crack shot story that blazes across the wild west! Jeannie Morgan, a devastatingly tomboy-beautiful, pants-wearing maverick who flicks a finger of contempt at society in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Her speed with a gun is faster than the strike of a rattler, outshooting every man she meets. Love, hate and jealo

Nobody move, I've dropped my brain!

I'm probably one of the last Pirates of the Caribbean fans to see At World's End which is still playing at a few cinemas as it nears the end of its run. The title of this post, which is a quote from the movie, aptly describes the difficulties of trying to get your head around the plot. Although it does continue from the previous film in the series (all the characters are there) it doesn't seem critical to know the back story. The main plot is established right at the start. The East India Trading Company is out to wipe out pirates and anyone that so much as glances at a pirate. Our motley crew, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swan and Captain Barbossa join forces to bring together the Brethren of Nine pieces of eight (nine pirate lords who can unite all pirates) and stop the massacre of their kind. Slight problem. Captain Jack Sparrow is one of the nine and he died in the last film. Since Captain Barbossa died in the film before that, we know that coming back from the dead isn'

Review: FP Footwear FINO Skate Shoes

FP Footwear FINO Skate Shoes I first saw FP's FINO skate shoes in a video by YouTube channel, Braille Skateboarding, titled, THE FIRST EVER NON NEWTONIAN FLUID SKATE SHOES!? As someone whose feet hurt and bruise relatively easily just from the basic tricks of skateboarding (Ollies, Pop Shuv-its etc.) the 90% absorption of impact energy selling point seemed like an ideal solution for minimizing my injuries. A day later I placed an order through FP's website . Ordinarily I wouldn't mention Customer Service but I can't let the lack of communication on my order slide. FP's website says to expect delivery within 7-14 days of your order. After close to two weeks, my order was still marked as being processed. I sent an email asking for any kind of update, to no response. A day or two later my order was marked as completed but still no signs of shoes in my mail? About two weeks later (just over a full month of placing my order) the shoes arrived. I'm sur

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

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