FORD ATMOS (May, 1954)
Filed under: Ahead of its time, Automotive — @ 7:06 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1954
| Buy on Ebay
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1954
| Buy on Ebay
Meet the FORD ATMOS
ONE of the wildest “dream” cars ever to roll out of a Michigan experimental laboratory is the creature shown above, the FX-Atmos—built by Ford and backed up by the determination that “it shall never be built for sale.” This, say the engineers, is purely a “car of the future,” however
it represents styling concepts that could easily appear in the Fords of a few years from now, if the general public accepts them. The engine design and other mechanical factors were not included in this project. Wheelbase is 105 inches; length: 220.58 inches; height: 48.1 inches.
I’m not sure why it was not mentioned in the
article,perhaps national security or threat
of the competition, but this car was designed
to be run by a nuclear reactor. This was back
in the fifty’s when nuclear accidents were still not fully understood and the atom was still fun. Just think about
all the potential Chernobyl incidents we could
of had at a minor fender benders.
Comment by Matt — August 20, 2007 @ 8:24 am
I love the fact that the front of the car could be used to skewer jaywalkers- that’ll make ‘em think twice about crossing against the light. Plus, I don’t care how air conditioned that canopy is- the occupants are going to be cooked under that thing. I do, however, love it as an example of the Year 2000 as seen from the mid-fifties.
Comment by Harold — August 30, 2007 @ 10:22 am
In spite of all its “futuristic” styling, this car’s styling remains firmly rooted in the 1950’s, though I will admit it looks like something from 1958 or 1959. Specifically, it looks the most like a Thunderbird from that period.
Proving once again that designing a truly “futuristic” car (more than about 5 years out) is really a Fool’s Errand, since nobody can predict future styling trends with exactitude.
But it does produce really cool looking prototypes.
Comment by Scott Mercer — April 4, 2008 @ 2:42 pm
[...] lesen – lohnt sich – klickt bitte die folgenden Links an: 1956: Handy – 1932: Navi-Sytem – 1954: Ford Atmos – 1949: Autofahrerin – 1933: Radio-Pen – 1939: RSS-Feed – 1984: Apple Macintosh – 1929: [...]
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