Dymaxion car

The Dymaxion car designed by inventor–architect Buckminster Fuller.

1933 Dymaxion

The Dymaxion car was a concept car designed by U.S. inventor and architect Buckminster Fuller in 1933.^[1] The word Dymaxion is a brand name that Fuller gave to several of his inventions, to emphasize that he considered them part of a more general project to improve humanity's living conditions. The car had a fuel efficiency of 30 miles per US gallon (7.8 L/100 km; 36 mpg_-imp). It could transport 11 passengers. While Fuller claimed it could reach speeds of 120 miles per hour (190 km/h), the fastest documented speed was 90 miles per hour (140 km/h).

Isamu Noguchi was involved with the development of the Dymaxion car, creating plaster wind tunnel models that were a factor in determining its shape, and during 1934 drove it for an extended road trip through Connecticut with Clare Boothe Luce and Dorothy Hale.^[2]

The 1929 automobile of German inventor and helicopter pioneer Engelbert Zaschka exhibited features that were important to Buckminster Fuller. Zaschka's three wheeled car could also easily be folded, disassembled and re-assembled as could Fuller’s Dymaxion House and many geodesic domes.^[3]

The Dymaxion car was a three wheeler, steered by a single rear wheel, and could do a U-turn in its own length. However, the rear-wheel steering made the car somewhat counterintuitive to operate, especially in crosswind situations. The body was teardrop-shaped, and naturally aerodynamically efficient. The car was twice as long as a conventional automobile, at 20 feet (6.1 m) long.^[4] Drive power was provided by a rear-mounted Ford V8 engine, (See: RF →) which produced 85 brake horsepower (63 kW; 86 PS) through the front wheels. The front axle was also a Ford component, being the rear axle of a contemporary Ford roadster turned upside-down.

An accident at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair damaged the first prototype badly, killing the driver, and seriously injuring the two passengers. The Dymaxion had rolled over, and although the driver was wearing a seatbelt, the prototype's canvas roof had not offered sufficient crash protection. The cause of the accident was not determined, although Buckminster Fuller reported that the accident was due to the actions of another vehicle that had been following the Dymaxion closely.^[5] The crash prompted investors to abandon the project, blaming the accident on deficiencies of the vehicle's steering.

In his 1988 book The Age of Heretics, author Art Kleiner maintained the real reason Chrysler refused to produce the car was because bankers had threatened to recall their loans, feeling the car would destroy sales for vehicles already in the distribution channels and second-hand cars.

Although the Dymaxion cars were not produced, the design was influential on several subsequent designs.^{[citation needed]} The most widespread example of its influence was the Fiat 600 Multipla, where an extreme rear-mounted engine and a driver position above the front axle was used to give an extremely compact hybrid of car and van, which could either seat 6 people, or be used for moving bulky loads.^[6] Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion concept of obtaining optimal efficiency by aerodynamic design and employing the most advantageous materials, although obvious, may have especially influenced such designs as the Aptera hybrid car prototype^{[citation needed]}, which, like the Dymaxion, is a three wheeled, ultra light, aerodynamic, fuel efficient vehicle design.

Of the three prototype cars built, only the second prototype survives, located in the Harrah Collection of the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada. The exterior has been restored, though it is a hollow shell, as the restorers did not know what the Dymaxion's interior was like.

As of September 2009, the one surviving Dymaxion is undergoing a partial interior restoration by the company Crosthwaite and Gardiner, with the help from the collective knowledge of fans at Synchronofile.com.^[7]

In October 2010, CNN announced that London architect Norman Foster had recreated the Dymaxion.^[8]

See also

Stout Scarab

References

1. ^ US 2101057 
2. ^ Michael John Gorman (Updated March 12, 2002). "Passenger Files: Isamo Noguchi, 1904-1988". Towards a cultural history of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Car. Stanford Humanities Lab. http://shl.stanford.edu/Bucky/dymaxion/noguchi.htm. "Later in 1934, Noguchi went on a road trip through Connecticut in the completed Dymaxion car with Clare Boothe Luce and Dorothy Hale - stopping to see Thornton Wilder in Hamden, Connecticut, before going onto Hartford for the out-of-town opening of Gertrude Stein’s and Virgil Thompson's Four Saints in Three Acts."  (Archive link)
3. ^ synchronofile.com: Dymaxion - Synergetics Stew January 2009
4. ^ WNET Article
5. ^ Dymaxion Passengers: Towards a cultural history of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Car
6. ^ Shimwell, Rod (1977). Fiat. Luscombe. pp. 112—113. ISBN 0-86002-140-8. 
7. ^ Dymaxion Car Restored
8. ^ "Norman Foster's futuristic concept car". CNN. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/10/15/norman.foster.dymaxion/index.html?hpt=C2. 

External links

• Video of car Youtube
• "Modern replica of a Dymaxion". Roach Manufacturing. http://roachmanufacturing.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7&Itemid=7.