By Robert Emslie
From bubble canopies to joystick controls, the past was filled to the brim with promises of an amazing automotive future. Now that we’re here, in that future, I’m kind of bummed that so few of those awesome predictions have actually come to fruition. Perhaps they have, but like the long-promised 100-mpg carburetor or the water-powered car, they have been kept under wraps by an evil cabal of government and industry forces.
I don’t know about you but for a good portion of my life I looked forward to the future with avid anticipation, heck, I even used to subscribe to Popular Science magazine. Now that I’m far older, I look back with fondness for the naiveté of that earlier era and its unbridled expectation of days to come filled with amazing cars featuring mind-boggling conveniences and performance.
And of course some of those were realized, like in-car navigation and holders for our cups. But while today’s cars offer unparalleled levels of performance, economy, and safety, as well as features past future-seers couldn’t even envision, there’s still some of those whimsical and amazing ideas that never did bare fruit. Today, I want to know which of those are you most sad not to see cars possess.
Image source: Hooniverse!
Jeff Glucker
<img src="http://www.popularmechanics.com/cm/popularmechanics/images/Hm/leno-turbine-0411-md.jpg">
Turbines.
Beat me to it. I was lusting over the pics of the Rover BRM LeMans racer.
<img src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01732/Rover-BRM-gas-turb_1732504c.jpg" width="400">
And the other Rover Turbines
<img src="http://classiccarblog.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/rover-p4-series-6090110/rover-gas-turbine-car-jet-1.jpg"width="600">
<img src="http://images.pistonheads.com/nimg/21417/tn_Rover%20BRM%20T4%201961-L.jpg"width="600"
<img src="http://www.kevinabbott.co.uk/Goodwood06/79%20-%20Rover%20T4%20Gas%20Turbine.JPG"width="600">
but at least we got the P6 out of it…
<img src="http://p6v8.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/bill_shaw_racing_restored01.jpg"width="600">
and one,less modified..
<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/95/240944281_469484ace7.jpg"width="600">
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/Y1MS4Uw.jpg">
My first thought too. The modern DIY versions aren't very streetable and are ridiculously expensive just to get the engine.
Plus, they they do nasty things to the cars behind you in traffic.
<img src="http://a2.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/136/782169396ae2428b8a7bdd128d206964/l.jpg" width=400>
Is that a Suzuki Baleno? I'd say the looks have improved considerably.
Here it's called the Suzuki Esteem. Ironic.
I believe you are correct, though I thought it was an Subaru Impreza when I posted it.
Yeah that was my first thought also from looking at the unburnt back end of the car. Aren't rusty hood "cool" right now though? If that was any other car you could sell the hood on eBay, I mean it is after all genuine fire rust and not something you archieved with sandpaper and yoghurt.
That's a feature, not a bug. He shouldn't have been tailgating.
What a picture! In the ball-like Beetle this just looks like a …
Like a what?
<img src="http://hooniverse.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/BigDicks.jpg" width=500>
Kilroy?
Was here.
Ford gave it a try in 1964.
<img src="http://www.tonkagasturbine.com/Ford_Gas_Turbine_1964.jpg">
Yes, and with serial hybrids now they could be a much better option than a reciprocating engine. They burn just about anything and don't take up much room. You could also use the exhaust to generate electricity as well, making it even more efficient. And the fact that turbines only really like one speed wouldn't be a disadvantage.
<img src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/30/article-1316273-0B64F5DC000005DC-112_964x698.jpg" width="600">
This needs to happen.
Nuclear Reactors!
<img src="http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/ford-nucleon.jpg"width=500>
The cup holders of my youth. I thought they were the neatest thing ever.
<img src="http://i1.squidoocdn.com/resize/squidoo_images/250/draft_lens18420332module152795888photo_1314610522large-cup-holder.jpg">
So much better than the glove box door cup holders GM tried to pass off in the 1970s and 1980s. Those thing MIGHT work at a drive-in, that's about it.
<img src="http://www.oldsobsolete.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/DSCN0030.jpg"width=400>
My old Wagoneer had those. They worked great. If you weren't moving. And were parked on a level surface.
Looks like a late-model Dodge Challenger radiator cover.
Open the hood and take a look when you can.
You know the car is going to be trouble when the engineers put cupholders in the engine bay.
I wish mine had them… I'm usually livin' the High Life when I'm changing oil or cleaning the engine. I may start looking for the doorhanger version to put under hood.
Mr. Miller and I have worked together on most of my projects.
1993 Buick, still had em.
I used to have one of those, it was always slightly too small and flimsy for a 600ml bottle. As a result, my cupholder was shoving said bottles between the ebrake and the passenger seat, a somewhat less than elegant solution.
Exactly my solution in my Geo Metro.
The gap between the driver's door and the seat, near the seat belt anchor, is the perfect place for a 20 oz. bottle in a 1986 Mazda 626. Best cup holder I've ever used.
SVC – Saab Variable Compression engine:
<img src="http://us1.webpublications.com.au/static/images/articles/i522/52244_00mg.jpg">
Goes from 14:1 compression under light load to 8:1 under heavy load to allow for maximum boost pressure without pinging.
Two-stroke, but Lotus came up with a potentially simpler solution
[youtube fIG9pWldO8U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIG9pWldO8U youtube]
Nice. Moving the top of the combustion chamber up and down is easier than pivoting the whole head.
Flying cars. The general population can barely drive a car, let alone do proper maintenance. The last thing we need is the same person flying a car that hasn't had its annuals.
Aw come on, what could possibly go wrong?
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VV1XRycFkVk/TaTMZgQCfjI/AAAAAAAAFS0/uQTCq5hSJ_g/s1600/car%2Bin%2Btree.jpg" width="600" </img> <a href="http://jhalfie.blogspot.dk/2011/04/warwickshire-where-cars-grow-on-trees.html” target=”_blank”>http://jhalfie.blogspot.dk/2011/04/warwickshire-where-cars-grow-on-trees.html
It's interesting how European and North American robins are completely unrelated and yet they are equally territorial.
Ha hahhahaha! #6 if we ever meet in real world, beer's on me!
European Robins are quite a bit faster, though.
[youtube pJdrlWR-yFM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJdrlWR-yFM youtube]
Also a lot more explodey.
It's hard enough to avoid all the suicide candidates out there in two dimensional axis', I don't want to have to be worried about them coming at me from above and below.
<img src="http://images.whatheck.com/uploaded_images/jetsons-car-hybrid-sound-ringtone-763628-763656.jpg" width="600" </img>
Hah, plus 1 to you. This is the future -where's my goddamn flying car?
There ya go. That's what I'm upset about. Why the hell don't we have flying cars today?
Wedginous designs. I was convinced that between the Stratos Zero, Lotus Etna, and Aston Martin Bulldog, we'd all be driving doorstops by now. The default reclined driving position would have the side benefit that we wouldn't notice those dickheads driving around with the seat way back like a faux gangsta. I wonder if they'd drive all crammed up at the wheel instead…
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KARBnpf_Krw/Sc0crBiq-FI/AAAAAAAABAQ/-wlfFqhkMos/s400/aston_martin_bulldog_1_802.jpg" />
The all in one hand control is something that has seemed interesting, but nobody has ever done it.
<img src="http://www.carstyling.ru/resources/concept/1958_GM_Firebird-III_details_03.jpg" width="500">
Not on pruductions cars, but there are aftermarket solutions.
<img src="http://www.guidosimplex.it/prodotti/big/DGS01.jpg" </img> <a href="http://www.guidosimplex.it/prodotti_dettaglio.asp?iddispo=DGS01&tipo=guida&categoria=Tetraplegia” target=”_blank”>http://www.guidosimplex.it/prodotti_dettaglio.asp?iddispo=DGS01&tipo=guida&categoria=Tetraplegia
With a generation using dualshock PS3 controllers drive GT5 cars, we may have joystick controllers yet.
Make mine Atari.
Cars that run on water. If only the automakers and oil companies hadn't conspired to quash the technology.
…anyone seen my foil beanie?
You left it in your underground bunker.
They produce water and run on Hydrogen-that quashing is ongoing it seems.
I would like to see it catch on but I'll doubt it.
<img src="http://www.modasemfrescura.com/galerias/carver-one/carver_one_3.jpg" width="600">
You could buy a caged BMW bike. At least in Germany…
i am in Germany, they look absolutely stupid
I was hopeful for 2-strokes to make a resurgence, like with computers and chemistry they could be made efficient and clean, but it looks like we will have electric cars instead, which isn't bad but that's happening faster than I expected.
Some kind of efficient, clean, non-smelly toilet solution. What's the worst part of most road trips? (I admit, that is a very, very dangerous question to ask a bunch of Hoons.)
You mean you don't like stopping at a truck stop and discovering mysterious blood in all of the stalls?*
*True story.
Oooooh. . . Stalls. On first read, I saw "stools."
The correct reading ain't much better, though.
The initial reading is also something you might find in a truck stop bathroom. Not necessarily in the toilet either.
I am so glad I don't work in a truck stop. Or really anywhere with public toilets.
Buy a conversion van or small motor home and carry a clean toilet wherever you travel.
I think (hope) this is a reasonable expectation for the future, but it seems like I've been waiting on camless valve actuation for as long as I've know what cams were.
Here's a Bond villain talking about his project car:
[youtube Bch5B23_pu0&list=PLHa6PXrV-yIgnXSYFT07BouKhEhyFuWnf&index=3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bch5B23_pu0&list=PLHa6PXrV-yIgnXSYFT07BouKhEhyFuWnf&index=3 youtube]
(I used to call it 'solenoid valve', but this seems to be some kind of hydraulic system)
<img src="http://manonthemove.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/bertone-x19.jpg">
Affordable mid-engined speedsters. Low polar moment of inertia for the proletariat.
Hydrogen as a fuel. Blah blah, too expensive, blah blah, inefficient, blah blah, infrastructure, blah blah, rubber seals. When the oil finally runs out or the world gets tired of burning carbon, that's what will keep the ICE alive.
Preach it.
What happened to "A Cyclops in every garage."?
<img src="http://sbiii.com/autopix/cyclops/smorigcx.jpg" width="600"> <a href="http://sbiii.com” target=”_blank”>http://sbiii.com
Headlights that move with the steering wheel.
Why would I want my headlights to spin around?
it'd be a good option on a clown car
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