# Tuckerfan's Museum of Automotive Oddities **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 24, 2005, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621 "2005-10-24T04:12:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/21 "2005-10-25T03:49:56Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > …many companies are looking at something other than pneumatic tires. Perhaps they should try [this idea](http://usera.imagecave.com/tuckerfan/holeytire.jpg). I think the [Michelin Tweel](http://www.fastcoolcars.com/airless-tires.htm) is the same idea? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/22 "2005-10-25T03:52:39Z")
> [@Sweetums](#): > > Oo the War Wheel! Call the Blackhawks 🆒 You call that a “War Wheel”? Now [_this_](http://panzermodelkit.valka.cz/lebedaj.htm) is a “War Wheel”! And yes, apparently, it actually was a real vehicle. And it actually got to the prototype stage. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/23 "2005-10-25T04:18:37Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > I think the [Michelin Tweel](http://www.fastcoolcars.com/airless-tires.htm) is the same idea? That’s _exactly_ what I was thinking of! ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/24 "2007-02-14T08:52:34Z")
A bump (mods, please don’t have a fit), because I’ve just discovered [this page](http://thrillingwonder.blogspot.com/2007/02/aerodynamic-marvels.html), with some rather odd looking cars. Including one that > [@](#): > > "First, let’s look under the hood (presuming it has one, somewhere). While the > Fascination’s standard engine is an aluminum, fuel-injected four-cylinder, a new type of energy source is touted as the vehicle’s soon-to-come power drive: the Nobel Gas Plasma Engine. > “This engine is a closed two-cycle reciprocating engine that has no intake, uses no air, emitting no exhaust at all! The fuel is self-contained and hermetically sealed in the cylinders which are initially charged at the time of manufacturing, carrying their own power supply that will last approximately 60 to 75 thousand miles with no fall of efficiency.” Ooookay, anyone know why this didn’t catch on? (Besides the fact that it’s most likely a scam and in an ugly car, I mean.) ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/25 "2007-02-14T14:14:52Z")
Any info on this weird engine design? Henry ford sank quite a bit of money in to it; is was a 4-cylinder engine, with the cylinders in the shape of an X. Space efficient, and a very short crankshaft. It was suposed to sit horizontally in the erngine compartment-meaning the crankshat needed a spur gear to connect to the ransmission. ---
**Author:** ![Runestar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/74df32/32.png) [@Runestar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runestar)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/26 "2007-02-14T17:57:49Z")
Total hijack, but Monday whilst driving around town I passed an actual operating BMW Isetta going the other way. So cool! I knew they were small, but great Og, I had no idea just how small they were. The minivan behind it looked like a train engine in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/27 "2007-02-14T19:55:41Z")
Fun stuff. Reminds me of the days when Popular Science seemed to have a new wacky engine design on the front cover of every third issue. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/28 "2007-02-14T20:47:56Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] … As far as I know, [this is the _only_ steam powered airplane ever built.](http://usera.imagecave.com/tuckerfan/steamplane.jpg) I’ve got a book from the 1920s which has plans on how to build a model plane that runs on steam, but I’ve never seen another steam plane capable of carrying people. One of the nifty things about it, is that on landing, the pilot could reverse the engine and slow the plane down rapidly. Apparently, they made one demonstration flight with the plane and then yanked the engine out. [/QUOTE] I’ve always wondered if an external combustion plane could be made, I’ve even considered starting a GQ on it. thanks! Brian ---
**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/29 "2007-02-15T03:19:37Z")
> [@](#): > > An interesting variant on the rotary engine is this crankless engine. It had fewer moving parts, so I wonder why it never caught on. Maybe [It](http://www.autofieldguide.com/articles/050302.html) Will > [@](#): > > Bradley Howell-Smith, managing director of Revetec Limited (Sydney, Australia) and inventor of the Revetec engine, arrived at a solution to the problem in 1996, when he replaced the crank with counter-rotating cams driving an output shaft, and made the connecting rods rigid. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/30 "2007-02-15T08:23:28Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] Any info on this weird engine design? Henry ford sank quite a bit of money in to it; is was a 4-cylinder engine, with the cylinders in the shape of an X. Space efficient, and a very short crankshaft. It was suposed to sit horizontally in the erngine compartment-meaning the crankshat needed a spur gear to connect to the ransmission. [/QUOTE] IIRC, they had problems with the plug wires and/or vibration. Someone mentioned the reason in a thread on radial engines in GQ, IIRC. Aircraft have had radial engines for years and I’m told that they perform fantastically, so I can only guess why Ford couldn’t get the kinks worked out. Henry Ford did wonders for the automotive industry, but he was a subborn old mule at times. He kept the Model-T around for years longer than it was really a viable product, he also refused to allow people to buy cars on credit as he felt that it would sap the moral character of the nation (Chevy was able to pass Ford in car sales by extending credit to car buyers). When Walter P. Chrysler (yes, _that_ Chrysler) invented a way to make V-6s run as smooth as V-8s, he was so excited about the idea, that he drove the test car to Henry Ford’s place. Ford had no interest in it at all. (The folks at GM, however, _did_ find it interesting and introduced their first models shortly after Chrysler did.) So it might be that there was some element of the design that Ford refused to allow to be changed which prohibited it from working. Ford, also, for reasons known only to himself, I suppose, hired George Washington Carver to develop plant material into body panels for cars, but never mass produced them. (It was either soy beans or peanut shells that Carver used.) I’ve seen film footage of Henry Ford and GWC beating on the trunk lid of a car with a baseball bat and no damage occuring to the lid. We had to wait until Saturn started building cars in the 90s to see something similar. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/31 "2007-02-15T08:29:15Z")
You say you want tiny cars? Well [here’s a tiny car!](http://www.microcarmuseum.com/tour/kleinschnittger.html) I discovered this one while working as a GM product specialist and somebody called asking what the itty bitty car that ended up parked in the back of the Escalade EXT was–took us a while, but we figured it out! I wonder if [this engine](http://auto.howstuffworks.com/quasiturbine.htm) will ever catch on? It looks very cool… ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/32 "2007-02-15T11:04:27Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Blue Sky] I hate to say it, but I like that Pacer-thing. [/QUOTE] Me too! Cool photos **Tuckerfan**. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/33 "2007-02-15T12:31:14Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] I’ve seen film footage of Henry Ford and [George Washington Carver] beating on the trunk lid of a car with a baseball bat [/QUOTE] _Please_ tell me this footage is available on video, somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/34 "2007-02-15T13:50:38Z")
There were some cars with airplane-style radial engines, including one where the engine was horizontal (that is, the crankshaft is vertical). There were pictures in a semi-recent motor trend or similar magazine. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Igor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Vlad\_Igor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Igor)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/35 "2007-02-15T15:29:36Z")
**Tuckerfan** , if you’re not associated with the Lane Motor Museum, you oughta be. They’d love you. I want to go back and see if they’ve renovated the Czech ambulance they acquired a couple of years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/36 "2007-02-15T15:51:12Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] [Look! It’s a VW Beetle on steroids!](http://usera.imagecave.com/tuckerfan/airomobile.jpg) :eek: Actually, the car predates by a year or so. [/QUOTE] That looks like what a [Dymaxion car](http://www.washedashore.com/projects/dymax/chronology.html) _should_ have looked like. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/37 "2007-02-15T19:05:41Z")
**Tuckerfan** , I enjoyed reading your newest additions … I gotta tell you … I like to have fell out when I was looking at the photo of the Dymaxion - parked in front of the Texaco Lubritorium - 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/38 "2007-02-16T07:47:10Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] _Please_ tell me this footage is available on video, somewhere. [/QUOTE] It should be, I saw it on a [del]Hitler[/del] History Channel program about GWC. **Vlad/Igor** , I’ve been there once, briefly. I was planning on starting a thread about my trip there, but I got home and found out that my digital camera had screwed up and I didn’t get most of the photos that I wanted. I don’t recall seeing the Czech ambulance you mention, so I’m guessing they’re not done with it. (They _did_ have a bunch of Tatras and a really freakin’ huge amphibious landing craft on display.) Hopefully, I’ll be able to convince a buddy of mine with a good digital camera to go to the place with me and take some pictures of the stuff that’s there. Oh, and I just found out that the Fascination cars _still_ exist (two of them, at any rate) and happen to be owned by someone who also owns a Tucker! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/39 "2007-03-16T07:51:24Z")
[A rather nifty steam powered bicycle.](http://patentpending.blogs.com/patent_pending_blog/2007/03/copeland_steam_.html) > [@](#): > > In 1884, Arizona engineer Lucius Day Copeland combined a highwheeled bicycle driven by levers, with a small steam engine, with the result being a steam powered motorcycle. I know that a bicycle with a large front wheel is called a “pennyfarthing,” but I’ve no idea what you call one with a large rear wheel. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621/40 "2007-03-16T11:47:52Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] [A rather nifty steam powered bicycle.](http://patentpending.blogs.com/patent_pending_blog/2007/03/copeland_steam_.html)I know that a bicycle with a large front wheel is called a “pennyfarthing,” but I’ve no idea what you call one with a large rear wheel. [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Rat Fink riding one of those. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuckerfans-museum-of-automotive-oddities/327621.md?page=3)