Editing Flying car (section)

==Popular culture==
The flying car was and remains a common feature of [[futurology|conceptions of the future]], both predicted and imaginary.<ref name="Time-never-come"/>

===Anticipation===
[[File:Bristol Siddeley Flying car model - 26222188948.jpg|thumb|Bristol Siddeley flying car model]]

Flying cars have been under development since the early days of motor transport and aviation, and many futurologists have predicted their imminent arrival. Aircraft manufacturer [[Glenn Curtiss]] unveiled his unflyable [[Curtiss Autoplane|Autoplane]] in 1917. In 1940, vehicle manufacturer [[Henry Ford]] predicted that; "Mark my word: a combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come.”<ref name="popsci2001">''Popular Science:'' [http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/article/2001-12/looking-back-henry-fords-flivver Looking back at Henry Ford's Flivver: A plane-car for the man of average means], December 2001 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071116082811/http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviationspace/8ca6d4d03cb84010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html |date=16 November 2007 }}</ref>

From 1945, industrial designer [[Norman Bel Geddes]] promoted his concept for a streamlined flying car with folding wings.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Norman Bel Geddes Database |url=https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/nbgpublic/details.cfm?id=412 |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=norman.hrc.utexas.edu}}</ref> In the late 1950s, [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]'s Advanced Design studio publicised a 3/8 scale concept car model, the Volante Tri-Athodyne. It featured three ducted fans, each with its own motor, that would lift it off the ground and move it through the air. Ford admitted that "the day where there will be an aero-car in every garage is still some time off", also suggesting that "the Volante indicates one direction that the styling of such a vehicle would take".<ref name="yesterday"/><ref name="auto"/>

===Where's my flying car?===
Despite a century of anticipation, no flying car has yet proved a practical proposition and they remain an experimental curiosity. This long-term failure to make any impact on society has led to the [[meme]], "Where's my flying car?"

{{Blockquote|text=Here we are, less than a month until the turn of the millennium, and what I want to know is, what happened to the flying cars? We're about to become Americans of the 21st century. People have been predicting what we'd be like for more than 100 years, and our accoutrements don't entirely live up to expectations.&nbsp;... Our failure to produce flying cars seems like a particular betrayal since it was so central to our image.|source=(1999) <ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2482&dat=19991212&id=gZlIAAAAIBAJ&pg=4314,5320971 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130915204753/http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2482&dat=19991212&id=gZlIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pgoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4314,5320971 |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 September 2013 |title=Future shock: Why there'll be no flying cars |work=[[The Post and Courier]] |date=12 December 1999 |access-date=15 September 2013 }}</ref>|author=Gail Collins}}

{{Blockquote|text=This new millennium sucks! It's exactly the same as the old millennium! You know why? No flying cars!|source=(2018)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2010-10/death-and-rebirth-flying-car|title=The Unexpected Rebirth of the Flying Car|work=Popular Science|access-date=21 January 2018|language=en}}</ref>|author=[[Lewis Black]]}}

The question "Where's my flying car?" has become emblematic of the wider failure of many modern technologies to match [[futurist]]ic visions that were promoted in earlier decades.<ref>''Where's My Flying Car? Science, Science Fiction, and a Changing Vision of the Future'', Symposium, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2014.[https://www.aaas.org/events/wheres-my-flying-car-science-science-fiction-and-changing-vision-future]</ref><ref>J. Storrs Hall; ''Where Is My Flying Car?: A Memoir of Future Past'', Kindle e-book, Amazon, 2018.</ref>

===Fictional flying cars===
[[File:Spinner3.jpg|thumb|''[[Blade Runner]]'' [[Spinner (Blade Runner)|Spinner]] prop car at Disney/MGM Studios]]
[[File:Back To The Future Replica (15136643779) (2).jpg|thumb|The time machine DeLorean of ''Back to the Future'' in flying configuration with doors open]]
{{main article|List of films featuring flying cars}}

The flying car has been depicted in many works of fantasy and science fiction.<ref>{{cite book |last=Onosko |first=Tim |url=https://archive.org/details/wasntfuturewonde00onos/page/24 |title=Wasn't the Future Wonderful?: A View of Trends and Technology From the 1930s |publisher=Dutton |year=1979 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/wasntfuturewonde00onos/page/24 24, 51, 152–153] |isbn=0-525-47551-6 |access-date=27 June 2015 }}</ref> Some notable examples include:

*[[Supercar (TV series)|Supercar]] starred in its own children's TV show in the UK, between 1961 and 1962. It was jet-powered with VTOL capability, and on the road it hovered rather than used wheels. Created by [[Gerry Anderson]], it was the first show to credit his ''[[supermarionation]]'' puppet technology.<ref>Daniel DiManna; "[https://thenewswheel.com/remembering-gerry-andersons-supercar/ Remembering Gerry Anderson's ‘Supercar'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210720163247/https://thenewswheel.com/remembering-gerry-andersons-supercar/ |date=20 July 2021 }}", ''The News Wheel'', 30 April 2021. (retrieved 20 July 2021)</ref>
*''[[The Jetsons]]'' American animated cartoon sitcom was originally aired from 1962 to 1963. It featured flying cars as ubiquitous. They typically had a large bubble roof, the design being inspired by a Ford concept road car from 1954, the [[Ford FX-Atmos|FX-Atmos]].<ref>John Orlin; [https://techcrunch.com/2012/01/01/its-2012-already-so-where-are-all-the-jetsons-flying-cars/ "It's 2012 Already So Where Are All The Jetsons Flying Cars"], TechCrunch, 1 January 2012. (retrieved 19 July 2021)</ref>
*The film [[Chitty Chitty Bang Bang]] (1968) features a car that flies via magic.
*A flying 1974 [[AMC Matador]] coupe features in ''[[The Man with the Golden Gun (film)|The Man with the Golden Gun]]'' (1974), the ninth in the [[List of James Bond films|''James Bond'' film series]].<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=LKh7qgJ8hT8C&q=AMC+Matador+%22The+Man+with+the+Golden+Gun%22&pg=PA99 |page=99 |title=Road hogs: Detroit's big, beautiful luxury performance cars of the 1960s |first=Eric |last=Peters |publisher=Motorbooks |year=2011 |isbn=9780760333884 |access-date=10 May 2021}}</ref> The Matador coupe is transformed into an aeroplane in similar manner to the [[AVE Mizar]], by attaching a large wing with engine and tail unit to the car.<ref>{{cite web |title=RIP Christopher Lee, Driver of One of the Greatest Bond Cars of All Time |url=https://thenewswheel.com/rip-christopher-lee-driver-of-one-of-the-greatest-bond-cars-of-all-time/ |website=The News Wheel |date=11 June 2015 |access-date=10 May 2021 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://editorial.autos.msn.com/listarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=691729&page=0 |last=Tannert |first=Chuck |title=Top 10: getaway cars (AMC Matador in "The Man with the Golden Gun") |publisher=MSN Autos |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131203055510/http://editorial.autos.msn.com/listarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=691729&page=0 |archive-date=3 December 2013 |url-status=dead |access-date=10 May 2021}}</ref> In aircraft configuration it is {{convert|9.15|m|0|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|12.80|m|0|abbr=on}} in span and {{convert|3.08|m|0|abbr=on}} high.<ref name="chronological">{{cite web|url= http://www.carenthusiast.com/news0910/bond_3.htm |title=A Chronological History of the James Bond Film Vehicles #6. Flying Cars in "The Man with the Golden Gun" |website=carenthusiast.com |access-date=10 May 2021}}</ref> The film prop was not airworthy and a {{convert|1|m|in|abbr=on}}-long [[remote control]] [[scale model|model]] was used for the aerial sequences.<ref name="chronological"/><ref>{{cite web |last=Weisseg |first=Mark |title=Flying Muscle Cars: Fact or Fiction? |url= https://fastmusclecar.com/flying-muscle-cars-fact-or-fiction/readers-rides/ |work=Fast Muscle Car |date=20 January 2016 |access-date=10 May 2021}}</ref>
*In the ''[[Blade Runner]]'' (original 1982) films, flying cars are called [[Spinner (Blade Runner)|spinner]]s. They have [[VTOL|vertical take-off and landing (VTOL)]] capability.<ref>Sammon, pp. 79–80</ref> The vehicle was conceived and designed by [[Syd Mead]] who described it as an "aerodyne"—a vehicle which directs air downward to create [[lift (force)|lift]], though press kits for the film stated that the spinner was propelled by three engines: "conventional [[internal combustion engine|internal combustion]], jet, and [[anti-gravity]]"<ref name=SJPSTop40>{{citation|title=The top 40 cars from feature films: 30. Police Spinner |url=http://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-news/the-top-40-cars-from-feature-films-30-26/ |website=ScreenJunkies.com |access-date=27 July 2011 |date=30 March 2010 |quote=though press kits for the film stated that the spinner was propelled by three engines: 'conventional internal combustion, jet and anti-gravity'. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140404023133/http://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-news/the-top-40-cars-from-feature-films-30-26/ |archive-date=4 April 2014 }}</ref> A Spinner prop is on permanent exhibit at the [[Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame]] in Seattle, Washington.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.empsfm.org/documents/press/EMPSFMBrochure.pdf |publisher=Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame |title=EMPSFM Brochure |access-date=27 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110124232804/http://www.empsfm.org/documents/press/EMPSFMBrochure.pdf |archive-date=24 January 2011 }}</ref>
*In the ''[[Back to the Future]]'' (1985) films, the [[DeLorean time machine]] car was modified to be capable of normal flight.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tate |first=Karl |date=2015-10-21 |title=How the Time Traveling 'Back to the Future' DeLorean Works (Infographic) |url=https://www.livescience.com/52548-how-the-time-traveling-back-to-the-future-delorean-works-infographic.html |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=livescience.com |language=en}}</ref>
*In the film ''[[The Fifth Element]]'' (1997), as with ''The Jetsons'', flying cars are the main means of personal transport. The production design for the film was developed by [[Franco-Belgian comics|French comics]] creators [[Jean Giraud]]<ref name=av>{{cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/r-i-p-moebius-comics-legend-and-metal-hurlant-co-foun-1798230391 |title=R.I.P. Moebius, comics legend and Métal Hurlant co-founder |last1=Heller |first1=Jason |date=10 March 2012 |work=[[The A.V. Club]] |access-date=11 May 2013}}</ref> and [[Jean-Claude Mézières]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://io9.com/5922655/luc-besson-adapting-classic-time+travel-comic-created-by-fifth-element-concept-artist |title=Luc Besson adapting classic time-travel comic created by Fifth Element concept artist |last1=Anders |first1=Charlie |date=1 July 2012 |work=[[io9]] |access-date=11 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111071418/http://io9.com/5922655/luc-besson-adapting-classic-time-travel-comic-created-by-fifth-element-concept-artist |archive-date=11 November 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Director Luc Besson had been inspired by Mézières' book ''[[The Circles of Power]]''.<ref name=cbs>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jean-paul-gaultier-fashions-wild-child/ |title=Jean Paul Gaultier: Fashion's wild child |last1= Teichner |first1=Martha |date=22 January 2012 |work=[[CBS News]] |access-date=11 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110708/ttlife1.htm |title=Flirting with change |last1=Sehajpal |first1=Ashima |date=8 July 2011 |work=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]] |access-date=11 May 2013}}</ref>