This Week's Classic Car History Highlight - The Aerocar

Have you ever been stuck in traffic and found yourself fantasizing about your car turning into a flying machine that could just cruise over all the poor smucks inching their way down the road? There have been several attempts to make such a mode of transportation, and Ford Motor Company almost put an “Aerocar” into production.

In 1935 there was the Pitcairn; an aerocar which had foldable blades and direct drive to single rear wheel so it could be driven along city streets. Then came the 1937 Arrowbile, a light plane powered by a six cylinder Studebaker engine with detachable wings. It was to be sold by Studebaker dealers, but only five were built.

The ConVairCar aerocar showed up in 1940; a conventional saloon car with aircraft wings and tail powered by a four cylinder Crosley engine. The idea was that once you landed and unbolted the aircraft bits, the little car could putter along at 80mph. The prototype crashed due a faulty fuel gauge and the project was scrapped.

The most persistent proponent of a roadable aircraft was Moutlon Taylor, who started as early as 1946 and built six examples of a car that could also fly. The Taylor Aerocar had a two seater fuselage and a four cylinder engine driving both propeller and undercarriage wheels. Aerocars had a top airspeed of 110 miles per hour, and could drive up to 60 miles per hour with the wings and tail unit being towed behind the vehicle..

In 1970, Ford Motor Company was looking seriously at the Taylor Aerocar. Ford’s Director of Advanced Vehicle Production took a test drive and flight, and reported that it was possible to develop a completely satisfactory airplane that could be quickly converted into a completely satisfactory automobile. Unfortunately the US Federal Air Authority felt differently and persuaded Ford to drop the idea.

Interestingly, we found a 1956 Aerocar Model 1 for sale on the internet. This lovely piece of aviation/automobile history can be yours for a mere $3.5 million.

Photo © Ralph Crane/Getty Images