pro_junior Report This Comment Date: February 21, 2006 11:38PM
shit, with a sweet ride like that, you'd have to fight the babes off with a
stick...
Anonymous Report This Comment Date: February 21, 2006 11:40PM
he Dymaxion car was a concept car built in 1933 and designed by Buckminster
Fuller. The car was a high efficiency vehicle with a then-unheard of fuel
efficiency of 30 miles per US gallon (7.8 L/100 km) and it could move 11
passengers along at 120 miles per hour (193 km/h).
The car was exceptionally large, 20 feet (6 metres) in length, but could do a
U-turn in its own length. This turning ability was due to the fact that it
turned via a single rear wheel. Drive power was provided by the front wheels,
which were mounted on a 1933 Ford roadster rear wheel axle, flipped over to
provide proper rotation. Henry Ford had given Buckminster Fuller the V-8 engine
to experiment with.
This configuration unfortunately made the car somewhat counterintuitive to
operate, especially in crosswind situations. The unusual steering ultimately led
to the invention's demise when an accident at the 1933 Chicago world's fair,
likely caused by the driver of another vehicle, prompted investors to abandon
the project, blaming the accident on deficiencies in the vehicle's unusual
steering.
However, according to Art Kleiner in his book The Age of Heretics, the real
reason why Chrysler refused to produce the car was because the bankers
threatened to recall their loans as they felt the car would destroy sales for
both vehicles already in the distribution channels and second-hand cars.
Looked at historically, the Dymaxion Cars (which could seat up to 11 passengers)
were prototypes of a "micro-bus" or "mini-bus" (terms often
applied to the VW Transporter that was designed in the '40s by Ben Pon and which
Volkswagen began to produce in 1950). The Dymaxion Car was thus one forerunner
of the various minibuses and vans, produced by many companies, with which we
have become familiar in recent decades.
John_Stone Report This Comment Date: February 22, 2006 05:13PM
Praises to Saint Bucky Fuller.
John_Stone Report This Comment Date: February 22, 2006 05:15PM
For the record, apparently "dymaxion" was his and his students' word
for "dynamic maximum tension" ... which was their design philosophy
that informed much of their work. Ultra-effecient function, and pushing
materials to their limits.
