As we have learned through the harsh tutor of experience, you can give people the past, the present, and above all else the future, and no matter what, they will still demand flying cars. We're getting there! Closer every day! And not always safely. It's understandable, this earthbound contempt for beloved vehicles that can't fly yet. Even retro-tech of a highly prescient variety is no salve. And so, onward (upward?) to the commenter of the day.

Were we aware that this long-held ambition for liftoff would again manifest itself when today we dug up some tattered prototypes for hybrid and electric cars? No, but we should have seen commenter BZR's, comment a-comin':

Yeah, well can these things fly? I'm still waiting for my nuclear-powered hovercar to the moon that we were promised to have by 1980. It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

Indeed, BZR, we share your disgust. Nothing new, however. We all wanna fly, and the need to overcome the conspiracy against has deep roots. The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins captured the urge well in 1918 when he wrote: "I whirled out wings that spell/And fled with a fling of the heart to the heart of the Host./My heart, but you were dovewinged, I can tell,/Carrier-witted, I am bold to boast,/To flash from the flame to the flame then, tower from the grace to the grace."

5:30 PM on Mon Feb 4 2008
By Matthew DeBord
1,670 views
29 comments

Comments

prndl at 05:55 PM on 02/04/08
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Say what? Yeah I want a flying car, but not so much the poetry. And a not a BMW off the end of a runway, may they rest in peace.
$Image of Dr.Danger\'s got it all$ Dr.Danger's got it all at 06:04 PM on 02/04/08
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@prndl: The BMW made for a brilliant flying car!

It was just the stupid tree that ended their dreams.

damn trees
charles_barrett at 06:05 PM on 02/04/08
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And while we're at it, where the heck is our moonbase...? Gerry Anderson has failed us TWICE: tiny moonbase that launched UFO Interceptors from pads disguised as craters (staffed by ladies in silver lamé miniskirts and purple wigs) by 1980, and a big moonbase by 1999 (staffed by men and women wearing uniformas designed by Rudi Gernreich, BTW).
Mad_Science at 06:10 PM on 02/04/08
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@prndl: Best Screen Name Ever.
Rust-MyEnemy at 06:31 PM on 02/04/08
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Atomic hypersonic 400 passenger jet, please.
Skydiver at 06:51 PM on 02/04/08
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Bah, the future ended with the Ekranoplan. Everything since then has been gravy.
POLAЯZSMAЯTAMINO at 07:09 PM on 02/04/08
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@Mad_Science: I woulda went with 123456-R
FatBraff at 07:10 PM on 02/04/08
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@POLAR: I thought it was short for PORN DOWNLOAD...
charles_barrett at 07:20 PM on 02/04/08
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@POLAR: How about P-R-N-D-(+)-(-), or something like that for Manumatic-style trannies (the shift pattern for Sunset Boulevard trannies is much more straight forward... just ask Eddie Murphy...)
charles_barrett at 07:25 PM on 02/04/08
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@fatbraff: Actually, you have a VERY valid point... that acronym would work for me...
Schm is not... at 07:35 PM on 02/04/08
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@Skydiver: I actually saw a thing about that on the history channel, and i can'tsee why we (America) won the cold war. I mean god damn, theyve got giant 1000 tonne planes and migs and more t-55s than you can shake a pair (?) of truck nuts at. All well. All hail Regan.
thatguy01 at 08:24 PM on 02/04/08
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@Charles_Barrett:

Charles, the part of the UF0/1980 future that I want is the computing. They ran a black-as-night's-coat-closet multinational organization more ambitious than America's moon shot with a total of 14 employees and six refrigerator-sized computers from a cellar under Pinewood Studios.

Six Sigma *that*, business consultants!
charles_barrett at 08:50 PM on 02/04/08
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@thatguy01: So true... as I said on Jalopnik more than once in the past , that is TRULY where the future outperformed prediction... silicon. UFO's S.I.D., English-speaking "Space Intruder Detector" would now fit in an attaché case, instead of the schoolbus-sized satellite on the show. And all the tape drives at SHADO headquarters...!

Oh, and don't discount sexy moongirls and hunky submarine SkyDiver dudes in mesh tops. They all get my vote...! And again, Commander Ed Straker's 1980 car has a ROOF scoop for WHAT reason...?
charles_barrett at 09:03 PM on 02/04/08
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Oh, and did I mention that moonbase folks could SMOKE on the moonbase in Gerry Anderson's world of the future...?
POLAЯZSMAЯTAMINO at 09:27 PM on 02/04/08
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Who is this person who is picking our COTDs?
NICKNICK at 09:29 PM on 02/04/08
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@fatbraff: I was thinking "porn dealer."
Skydiver at 09:30 PM on 02/04/08
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@Charles_Barrett: I haven't worn a mesh top in about 25 years, but thanks for the vote of confidence.
wheels OF satan! at 09:35 PM on 02/04/08
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@POLAR:
yea
i would go with
1N23456
for the 2 wheel crowd
wheels OF satan! at 09:38 PM on 02/04/08
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what MOON WALK??
it was FAKED!
charles_barrett at 09:43 PM on 02/04/08
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@thatguy01: I know that "UFO" is British Boosterism at it's pre-Thatcher worst, but, we all as humans failed the test...
UDMan at 09:49 PM on 02/04/08
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@POLAR: You know POLAR, there are a few new guys who are writing for this site. Ray hasn't decided whether or not to formally introduce them. So I think we should all say hello to Travis, and Matthew, and see if they decide to comment, similar to the way Matt is doing now.
POLAЯZSMAЯTAMINO at 09:55 PM on 02/04/08
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@UDMAN: POLAR said hai to COTD guy last week, and teh crickets,
they waz chirpin!!!1!!!1!!
POLAЯZSMAЯTAMINO at 10:21 PM on 02/04/08
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oh, hai COTD guy!
$Image of Dr.Danger\'s got it all$ Dr.Danger's got it all at 10:38 PM on 02/04/08
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@POLAR: YER DOOING IT WRNG!
POLAЯZSMAЯTAMINO at 10:46 PM on 02/04/08
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@Dr.Danger: DATS DA OWNLEE WAI POLAR DOOS IT!
MOAR KRIKITS PLZ
bzr the paranoid android at 10:49 PM on 02/04/08
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Wow, I'm honored. I'd like to thank the Academy, God, and my agent...

But seriously, it's disappointing when 2001 the movie turned out to be cooler than 2001 the year.
Number_Six at 10:59 PM on 02/04/08
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Mr Debord, could you please render a sprung-rhythm, Anglo-Saxon version of the COTD and make it a truly worthy Manley-Hopkinsish comment?
thatguy01 at 02:47 AM on 02/05/08
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@Charles_Barrett:
Sure, SHADO was Doing Its Bit for Britain.

But when it comes to leadership, ya cain't beat a tough talkin', hard chargin Amurricun. Especially one with a badass "K" in his name.

Ed Straker. He'd kill you, but it would muss his Nehru, baby.
thatguy01 at 02:51 AM on 02/05/08
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"Commander Ed Straker's 1980 car has a ROOF scoop for WHAT reason...? "

Ventilation, just like Pat Moss' Big Healey rally car.

The top dog gets the STi pack on his Gullwing Turbocar.