Jun 18, 2009 7:16 am US/Mountain
Vintage Aerocar Still Flying (And Driving)
1950s Flying Car Now Owned By California Man, Who Calls It 'Magic'
AUBURN, Calif. (CBS) ―
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This 1956 Aerocar is one of only five in existence and the only one to still be fully functional both as an airplane and a car.
CBS
Flying cars may still be a thing of the future - but they're also a thing of the past.
In 1949, Moulton Taylor invented the Aerocar, a single-engine propeller plane with removable wings legal for both road and air travel. Like the abandoned World's Fair sites scattered across the country, the Aerocar captures a lost 1950s notion of futurism, when flying cars seemed to be just around the corner.
That's part of what motivated Ed Sweeney to buy and restore one of the five Aerocars in existence - and the only one still flying, reports CBS Station KOVR in Sacramento, Calif.
"It's magic because of so many of the things that Mr. Taylor - when he invented it - had to figure out how to make work. How to make the geometry fit," Sweeney said.
Check out the video to see the Aerocar work its "magic."
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