Ford Motor Co.'s Levacar Mach I appeared in the Ford Rotunda in the spring of 1959. A full-sized prototype, this was a one-person "flying car" that was "levitated" several inches off the ground by three powerful air jets on the bottom of its chassis. Planned to be powered by a small-scale turbojet engine, the Levacar was purportedly designed to reach a top speed of nearly 500 mph!
The Ford Mach I, also known as the Ford Levacar Mach I, is a concept car hovercraft developed by the Ford Motor Company in the 1950s. Its name was inspired by the speed Mach 1, an aspiration speed not yet achieved by vehicles at the time. The Mach I was a single-seat automobile that rode on pressurized air, not wheels. It used air pressure at a force of 15–100 psi (100–690 kPa) to provide lift and propulsion. In experiments, 50–60 psi (340–410 kPa) was used so that 15 hp (11 kW) was needed for levitation, and 2.5 hp (1.9 kW) propelled it 20 mph (32 km/h). An advertisement for the Mach I appeared in the magazine Boys' Life in 1960, in which it indicated the single-seaters dimensions: 94 in (2.4 m) long; 48 in (1.2 m) high; 54 in (1.4 m) wide.
The Levacar project was led by Andrew A. Kucher (a Ford Vice-President for Engineering and Research) and David J. Jay (a Senior Development Engineer). Kucher had initially conceived the concept around 1930. One of the lead designers was Gale Halderman, known for being the initial designer of the Ford Mustang. In addition to the Mach I automobile, the project developed a similarly outfitted scooter, the Levascooter. In experiments on a circular track, vehicles would raise .125 inches (3.2 mm) off the ground and could jump 1 inch (25 mm) obstacles.
The Mach I was displayed for about two years in the late 1950s in Dearborn, Michigan.
Source: Wikipedia: Hemmings, The Engineer
Images: Ford; AACA library
