Sunday, March 20, 2011

Where Is My Nuclear Powered Car?

Can you believe this was actually a prototype for a car envisioned by Ford in 1958?


No, its not the Batmobile, exactly, but it is-a nuclear powered car, called back then, the Nucleon.

It was supposed to have a nuclear reactor in the back, and worked like a nuclear submarine, through a steam engine. That was way back in the day and was quietly shelved with as little fanfare as when it was first proposed. You would guess that would have probably been the end of it, right? I mean, it would be far too impractical, requiring such a heavy layer of shielding it would be way too heavy.

But that was then and this is, well not now, but for a brief time, it was actually considered, again, as a viable means of powering, not a steam engine, but an electric one.

And then Japan happened.

Back to the drawing board folks. We can do this.