Photo: barrett-jackson.com
The wait for the first flying car is over because a fully functional one has been around all along. If you have deep enough pockets, you could become the new, very lucky owner of one such car. And it’s the cutest thing ever.
The Taylor Aerocar is not so much a flying car as it’s a roadable aircraft. It’s tiny and not exactly high-performance, but it will do what it claims it can do: it can fly in the air and then drive on the road, once you’re done folding all the flying accessories into a trailer-like structure that you will have to, well, trail behind you.
Created in 1949, the Aerocar is both road-legal and FAA-certified. Only 5 of thesebeauties cuties were ever made, and one of them is coming up for auction in January. Barrett-Jackson is selling it at “no reserve,” and you should probably expect the final price to easily top $1 million, which is how much another Aerocar was listed for a few years ago.
Designed and built by designed and built by Moulton Taylor in Longview, Washington, the Aerocar never really took off (excuse the obvious pun). To get funding to mass produce the Aerocar, Taylor had to secure 500 orders for it and he only hit about half of that figure. The deal fell through and only 5 such flying cars were ever made.
This particular item has 15,254 miles on the clock and some 780 hours of flight. As you may have guessed by looking at it, it’s not exactly powerful: powered by a 5.2L Lycoming aircraft engine, it can cruise in the air for 300 miles at a cruising speed of 100 mph. On land, it can reach a maximum speed of about 60 mph.
When used on the road, all the flight accessories fold out and are trailed behind the car. The ad says that it takes about half an hour to fold everything together and hit the road, but it doesn’t mention whether it’s a one-man job or some assistance would come in handy.
Still, “this is an incredible artifact of transportation history,” Barrett-Jackson says. Cute, too.
Created in 1949, the Aerocar is both road-legal and FAA-certified. Only 5 of these
Designed and built by designed and built by Moulton Taylor in Longview, Washington, the Aerocar never really took off (excuse the obvious pun). To get funding to mass produce the Aerocar, Taylor had to secure 500 orders for it and he only hit about half of that figure. The deal fell through and only 5 such flying cars were ever made.
This particular item has 15,254 miles on the clock and some 780 hours of flight. As you may have guessed by looking at it, it’s not exactly powerful: powered by a 5.2L Lycoming aircraft engine, it can cruise in the air for 300 miles at a cruising speed of 100 mph. On land, it can reach a maximum speed of about 60 mph.
When used on the road, all the flight accessories fold out and are trailed behind the car. The ad says that it takes about half an hour to fold everything together and hit the road, but it doesn’t mention whether it’s a one-man job or some assistance would come in handy.
Still, “this is an incredible artifact of transportation history,” Barrett-Jackson says. Cute, too.
Google News