Remember how cool the cars were in 1973?

[sl8]

The automobile of 1973 as imagined in 1923 on the cover of Science and Invention magazine

From https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1923-envisions-the-two-wheeled-flying-car-of-1973-114027072/ :
1923 Envisions the Two-Wheeled Flying Car of 1973

As cars got larger in the 1920s, the “Helicar” was presented as the solution to congested city streets

By Matt Novak
smithsonian.com
June 6, 2012

From the vantage point of 2012 we often associate flying cars with the slick, Jetsonian ideas of the 1950s and ’60s. But predictions of futuristic flying cars buzzing over major American cities are actually about as old as the automobile itself.

The May 1923 issue of Science and Invention featured a two-wheeled flying car that was supposed to be the answer to New York City’s congested streets. Called the “Helicar,” it was stabilized by gyroscopes and operated by a push-button control panel rather than an old-fashioned steering wheel. The Helicar is built of the “lightest materials” available and enclosed in an “unbreakable, unburnable, glasslike substance.” (Its streamlined design actually reminds me a bit of this futuristic auto from 1918.)

The Helicar was dreamt up by none other than the father of modern science fiction, Hugo Gernsback. In February 1904, at the tender age of 19, Gernsback moved to New York from Luxembourg and became intimately familiar with New York City’s busy streets. As cars got larger in the 1920s, Gernsback argued that there was no choice but to give tomorrow’s automobiles the option to soar above the city.

The automobile, as it is built now, tends to become larger and larger. The car of today is fully three times as large as the car of 25 years ago. In our large cities overcrowding, due to the tremendous number of automobiles, has now reached the saturation point. New York City is about to enact a law to eliminate a certain number of taxicabs, which now crowd the streets to such an extent that it is impossible to make any time at all in certain sections of the city. If you really wish to move rapidly, you have to take the subway or the elevated railway. This condition exists in most large cities. It has been proposed to build viaducts over the house tops, but due to the high cost it is doubtful if such a plan will ever become a fact, even in a time remote from now.

...

[jberryhill]

1. I dunno, remember the AMC Hornet?

Aside from being an overall shitty car, it could do this:

They did that, for real, by the way, after extensive and groundbreaking computer modeling.

[sl8]

4. I saw that when it came out, in the theater.

Pretty sure I was disappointed in the cars back then, too. I'm sure AMC made it worth their while.

It also had a (fake) flying Matador:

I wouldn't care if they could fly and jump rivers, you couldn't have paid me to drive a Matador or Hornrt, back in the day.

Now, an AMX, maybe ....

[jberryhill]

7. AMC had the car franchise for that one

I used to have the reproduction deck of tarot cards used in that movie. Weird merchandising angle.

Our family suffered through a Hornet and a Hornet wagon. They ran okay, but all the knobs, window cranks, trim, and other fittings would fall off almost immediately. I managed a “Starsky and Hutch” 180 degree spin from reverse into drive in a Hornet on a wet road. Intentionally, I mean.

I liked the lines on the Javelin, but knew it was crap inside.

[hunter]

10. The straight six Matador was an awesomely easy car to repair.

Unlike today's cars, popping open the hood it was open space all around.

[Laffy Kat]

2. Right.

And where the hell is my jet pack? I was promised a jet pack by now.

[sl8]

5. You sound like Randall, complaining of the lack of flying cars.

[Leith]

3. As a Matter of Fact, I Do!

I was driving this:



Except mine had a white top. I still miss that car.

Edited to add: that's a 1972 Buick Skylark. Mine had 8 cylinders.

[sl8]

6. Sweet ride! n/t

[jberryhill]

8. Ooooooh

Is that the one they ruined with a fiberglass front end shortly thereafter?

[hunter]

9. My car was built in the middle 'eighties.

I don't like these 21st century cars.