Is this the World’s Coolest Car?

I give you the Dymaxion.

The Dymaxion is nothing new, but even today would be ahead of its time. In 1933 an american maverick (does anyone else have mavericks?) Richard Buckminster Fuller decided to put his skills as a deisgner, architect and generall all round ideas guy to the test, and build a car.

Previously he was best known for his patented geodesic domes (like that at the Epcot Centre in Orlando, Florida).

Buckminster Fuller plans for this shape to one day fly harrier-jump-jet style were killed off when there was an accident at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933, and the car was never put into commercial production. The crash killed the driver, because the thing basically fell apart on impact.

Apparently the single rear-wheel steering system was “counterintuitive especially in a cross wind”… interesting. The car was twice as long as the average car of its day, but could do a full U-turn within its own length. Check out the video:

Now another architect has ridden to the rescue of this wonderful car, and has created a beautiful and very faithful new version. Don’t you just wish someone would actually put this into production.