With the development of the Russian-made Aerocar, it has become radically evident that the United States is now embroiled in the midst of a flying car technology race. While we have the sleek and the supposedly in-production Moller M200G, it's only limited to flying at heights of only 10 feet. The Russians have developed a version of an ultralight which can fly at up to 160 KPH and reach heights of 4,000 meters while on road it can top out at 80 KPH. Certainly it's not as elegant a solution, but they're working on a new and improved version which will fly at speeds of 450 KPH and travel on land at 100 KPH. You heard it here first, watch out for a flying Vlad buzz bombing a quiet American town near you! [RussiaToday]

It's been a little while since we last had any flying cars (the hoaky Monster Garage created flying Panoz Esperante from the last BJ Auction comes to mind). Here's a nifty concept from LaBiche Aerospace called the FSC-1. Rolls right off the tongue doesn't it? The ambitious concept features something which actually looks like a car and does its best transformer act to become a multi-winged flying wonder potentially capable of 275 mph. Of course, they're just waiting for the funding as step one, step two is... something, and finally step three: huge profits.

The most promising part is the vid on their website where a styrofoam model takes off and flies around. Obviously proof of full scale concept. This investment is at least as good as dumping a hundred grand into a Bondo covered Mustang. [LaBiche Aerospace]

Gino d'Ignazio Gizio has a dream. A dream where the average person has access to his or her own flying car. A dream where long commutes are a thing of the past and people take to the skies at 350mph with the freedom and ease we currently enjoy in our land-based cars (as long as we don't live someplace where there's, you know, traffic). Gino wants his Cell Craft to facilitate that dream. The problem, he hasn't quite figured out how it works yet.

The Italian helicopter pilot and self-styled futurist wants his Cell Craft to be capable of vertical take off and landings, as well as hovering. He knows this can be achieved through a vectored thrust system, similar to that used by the Harrier jump jet, but he hasn't quite cracked the engineering code on how to make it controllable. He knows he wants to make all the Craft's functions operable through a single joystick, but he doesn't know how to do that yet, either. And he knows he wants it to be both light and safe, but doesn't yet know which materials to use.

We, too, share Gino's dream of high-speed flight and of course hovering for the masses. We just think it's a bit farther off than he does.

Gizio

Jalopnik still loves flying cars — it may still be part of our masthead, we can't remember — but here's a perfect example. It's the $100,000 Panoz Esperante converted by Jesse James of Monster Garage into an airborne vehicle whose first flight matched the success of the Wright Brothers. Seriously — they took it to Kitty Hawk where it actually flew in a straight line and then hit the ground just as hard as the Wright plane did. Here's the full description of the "Flying Car" from Barrett-Jackson, which just sold for a steal of a price at $45,000 (just under $55,000 with the auction fees):

Ever since "Monster Garage" premiered on Discovery Channel in June 2002, Jesse James led teams to build vehicles that make beer, do wheelies, shake trees, even transport gorillas. But all the while, Jesse was turning his thoughts and his dreams to the sky. Everyone said he couldn't do it, and the lawyers begged him not to do it, but Jesse James and his 9 man team managed to take a $100,000 Panoz Esperante sports car and create an airborne vehicle whose first flight matched the success of the Wright Brothers'. After the team tore out the Panoz's plush interior to make room for a roll cage, installed a used propeller engine in the trunk, mounted 36' handmade wings to the car's exact center and secured a rear tail with a 15" fuselage, the flying car was taken to Kitty Hawk, NC, home of the Wright Brothers' first flight. Under the power of the original Panoz engine, Jesse taxied the flying car onto the runway, started the propeller engine and, after hitting 80mph, guided the automobile off the ground for 280 feet, landing safely without even a scratch to the Red Baron paint job. THE DESIGNERS: Jesse James, custom-bike builder/designer, West Coast Choppers, Long Beach, CA, Fireball Tim, artist and car designer, Malibu, CA, Dan Panoz, founder and owner, Panoz Auto Development Company, Braselton, GA, Ed Sweeney, aircraft mechanic, Black Forest, CO, and Neal Willford, engineer, new product development, Cessna Aviation, Andover, KS. THE BUILDERS: Jesse James, custom-bike builder/designer, West Coast Choppers, Long Beach, CA, Jason Barnes, vehicle engineer, Panoz Auto Development Company, Flowery Branch, GA, Niclas Jancic, Panoz Auto expert, GA, Mark Palmer, aircraft-design engineer, Peru, KS, Ronnie Powers, airplane builder and owner, Atlanta Air Salvage, Griffith, GA, Johan Ragnarsson, custom-car builder, Beuford, GA, Chris Rusch, fabricator, Two Rivers, WI, Andre Stowe, welder and metal-shop owner, San Diego, CA, Ed Sweeney, aircraft mechanic, Black Forest, CO, JD Terry, avionics/electrical engineer, Cessna Aviation, Wichita, KS, and Neal Willford, aircraft engineer, Cessna Aviation, Andover, KS. VEHICLE SPECS: Height: 80"; Width: 38'; Length With Parts Extended: 26'; Ground Clearance: 2.5". **SOLD ON A BILL OF SALE ONLY. SPECIAL CONDITIONS APPLY**

It's a Carver. Wait, it's a gyroscope. No, it's both. It's called the PAL-V and it stands for Personal Air and Land Vehicle and it's supposedly going to be built very soon by a company named PAL-V Europe BV. What we think is it looks like it's the next flying car nearing production we fear will never end up being built. Based on the Carver One tri-wheel car, the PAL-V supposedly will use the same Dynamic Vehicle Control (DVC) system that keeps the Carver going straight and true in turns. That system automatically adjusts the tilt angle of the cockpit to the speed and acceleration of the vehicle enabling what the folks behind this device-to-never-be call "a plane-like tilting before cornering." That's great and all — but how does it fly? Simple — all they need to do is drop a set of gyrocopter blades on top. Sure, why not? Jeez — why do we continue to follow this dream...

...when all these companies just continue to tease us? Whether it's Moller and their amazing UFO flying disc-car supposedly entering production, the X-Hawk supposedly ready to be ready by 2009 or the sweetly tantalizing finds of Google Earth — we just end up getting our hopes up and then have them dashed like leaves in the backwash of a jet engine. Heck, we even got all excited about GM's flying car marketing campaign — if only as an escapist fantasy. Maybe we shouldn't be getting so down on ourselves — we mean, Good Morning America just covered the Moller — maybe it really will be built. Yeah, we'll believe it when one's parked outside our door. [PAL-V]

In a moment we've been waiting for since the first time we saw The Jetsons, the first flying car has finally gone on sale. Just like the car George uses to drop off the kids, the Moller M200G Volantor is shaped like a saucer. To avoid the need to pass FAA regulations, the civilian version of the Volantor is restricted to heights of 10 feet, but can travel as fast as 50mph and fly for up to 90minutes. Military or rescue versions could be unencumbered by such limitations. Depending on the number of orders, prices could be as low as $90,000. Video of the Volantor in action after the jump.

Moller, better known for the yet-to-reach-production Skycar, have already started work on the 67 orders received so far. They envision uses including extreme off roading - the Volantor is unencumbered by any ground-based obstacles - or as a ferry between a yacht and the land. In the long run, they'd like to see the vehicle used as the ultimate congestion busting commuter. Maximum payload is 250 pounds, so you'll need to buy one for each adult member of the family.

The company is actively seeking military or government clients, who they suggest could use the vehicle for anything from skyscraper rescues to fire fighting.

MOLLER INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHES PRODUCTION OF JETSONS-LIKE GROUND-EFFECT VEHICLE Davis, CA, [June 28, 2007]—Moller International (OTCBB: MLER) has completed tooling and has begun producing parts for its Jetsons-like M200G volantor, a small airborne two passenger saucer-shaped vehicle that is designed to take-off and land vertically (see www.moller.com).

The M200G is the size of a small automobile and is powered by eight of the Company's Rotapower® rotary engines. This vehicle is intended for operation continuously in "ground effect" up to approximately 10 feet altitude.

Dr. Moller calls the M200G, "the ultimate off-road vehicle" able to travel over any surface. "It's not a hovercraft, although its operation is just as easy. You can speed over rocks, swampland, fences, or log infested waterways with ease because you're not limited by the surface. The electronics keep the craft stabilized at no more than 10 feet altitude, which places the craft within ground effect where extra lift is obtained from operating near the ground. This lets you glide over terrain at 50 mph that would stop most other vehicles" he continued. While the Company does not foresee the requirement for significant training or licensing to operate the vehicle, it is prepared to offer demonstration sessions in Davis, California once the vehicle is ready for market.

Production on the initial six airframes started earlier this week using hard-tooled molds with the capability of producing one fuselage per day.

Depending upon engine production volume the M200G price could start as low as $90,000. The key component in determining the M200G production price is the cost of its Rotapower® engines. The Company is working with a strategic partner to produce this engine for a number of different applications in order to obtain the cost benefits of high volume production. Persons interested in purchasing a M200G volantor may reserve a delivery position by making a refundable escrowed deposit.

[via Moller International]

It sure is tough to find flying-car news these days. (C'mon, Moller, we are you shipping?) But the Seattle Times comes through with a profile on Rafi Yoeli, the Israeli conceptualist behind the X-Hawk urban rescue vehicle, which broached our radar range back in 2004. Apparently, Yoeli's gotten a basic prototype to rise three feet, and says a marketable version could be in play by 2010, with a price tag of $1.5 million. Not quite the Volkswagen Beetle of flying cars, but any progress is good progress. – Mike Spinelli

Flying car proposed as new rescue vehicle [Seattle Times]

Related:
City-Friendly X-Hawk to Elevate Urbanites [internal]

Despite what y'all think, we at Jalopnik to do not spend our days tearing around in Torino Talladegas playing the Angry Samoans at high volume, outrunning the Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol, mowing down sidewalk fruit stands and supping on the finest lobster bisque at sunset on the beach with Jodie Kidd on one arm and Sabine Schmitz on the other as the sun drops behind Catalina. We haven't even illicitly airbrushed a Viking mural on the side of an Isuzu I-Mark in nigh on three months. No, mostly we just sit around and look for things to write about. Now and then, to clear our head and purchase a refreshment and/or snack, we walk the half-block to the bodega. This afternoon, we stumbled upon it: The Great Hoverchair of San Pedro, a previously-thought-mythical device designed to ease Angelenos' commuting woes somewhere in the early 1990s.

Rumors abound about this mysterious machine, the intial prototype of which was allegedly constructed by Horacio Stanjovic-Foutopolis around the time of George H.W. Bush's re-election campaign. Apparently quashed by some serious hush money from oil interests in nearby Wilmington, the Hoverchair ran on an interesting organic fuel that could be easily synthesized by utilizing ingredients from cheese tamales and egg rolls, although an extra tablespoon of MSG was required for the machine to keep up with traffic on the Harbor Freeway and shortened its range to a mere 475 miles. Suddenly we feel like Indiana Jones or the Knights of the Round Table. Holy grail, kids. Holy freakin' grail. – Davey G. Johnson

Related:
The Day The World Turned Day-Glo/Lost Cars of the Boat People of San Pedro [Internal]

Reader Benny Anni-Frid Agnetha Bjorn tipped us off to the fact that Moller has the M400X Skycar prototype up for bid on everyone's favorite clearing house of H sker D test-pressings and macrame Spiro Agnew effigies. The Davis, California-based company's currently looking at a cool $1,776,800.00 with a week to go, but the airborne conveyance has yet to to hit reserve. We're betting on Susan Powter for the win. – Davey G. Johnson

M400X Skycar VTOL Prototype Aircraft [eBay]

Related:
Neiman Marcus to Sell Flying Cars For Christmas! [Internal]

Whatever m you call them, our nerdy, tech-obsessed sibling Gizmodo knows an expert that says you won't be getting a hover conversion on your El Camino any time in the near future, much less by 2015. There are a few very real problems, one of which is that airplanes make for crappy cars and cars make for crappy planes. And then you have to deal with the complexity of flying. Do you really think all of the idiots on the road can deal with stall speeds and crosswinds? So for now, the flying car is a pipe dream and we're still stuck following Casey Kasem's advice to keep our feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.

Flying Cars: Forget It [Gizmodo]

Related:
Gimmie My Flying Car Already: The LaBiche Aerospace FSC-1 [internal]

When it comes to flying cars, it's hard to tell the legit developers from the kooks. Ever since we hung our bald-headed shingle in 2004, we've been getting e-mail from teams of self-described aerospace engineers who assure us they've mocked up the vehicle that'll have us Jetsoning around town like past futurists promised us we'd be. All they need, most say, is a sugar daddy to make it all come to pass. Not to belittle the work of Labiche Aerospace, who've informed us of their plans to build the FSC-1 (pictured), but frankly, we're somewhat jaded by the lack of progress in this area. Still, any hope is good, and the Labiche people say they plan to offer a kit for $175,000, and even talk buyers through the building and flying of it (at an estimated 275 mph). Sure it's outlandish, and, sure, the missing pieces in the car's story outnumber the non-missing ones. But think of it this way: What if you didn't find out until your neighbor rolled one out of his garage? You'd want to kick our asses, right?

Related:
Tech Start-up Planning Flying Car [internal]

Avalanche looms overhead/Airplane flies overhead/Important man sits by the window/Sucked out of the first class window

-H sker D

We were talking about the greatness of Candy Apple Grey with Jonny this afternoon. We didn't talk about Corvairs, which mostly remind us of a stripper named Holden in Las Vegas we had a wonderful time with last fall. She owned a Corvair. We wish she would've owned a Holden Ute SS. We would've bankrolled her college education. We mostly talked about the Clash and our personal memories of Joe Strummer; we never did bring up H sker D , but when we read about Norman Michaud of the Commonweath of Mass., a man who built an experimental aircraft with a Corvair engine over a period of ten years, we thought of three things — Holden, Ralph Nader, and "Crystal" by H sker D . We'd totally burn him a CD with her picture on it, except that we don't have a picture of her. [Thanks to the T-blt for the tip.]

Pilot Survives Experimental Plane Crash [Yahoo! News]

Related:
Flying Car Spotted in Australia [Internal]

Reader DannyBoy, who comments from glen to glen and down the mountainside, tips us to this look into the future of oughtamoblilin', noting:

I don't normally like to rag on indy, well, rags... But this is so bad I couldn't hold back.

Valley Scene is a local weekly distributed in the SFV [San Fernando Valley, for non-Cali-types], and their cover story (which I discovered while waiting in line at the local In-N-Out) is all about "Cars of the Future."

I'm pretty sure they author just punched "Flying Cars" into google and wrote about the sites that popped up.

Meanwhile, this paragraph galls us to no end:

"The TV show Knight Rider came out in 1982 and was about a talking car that had a million computerized gadgets. It was supposed to be the dream car that every geek wanted and cost a million dollars to build. That car is almost an antique now. The only part of that high tech world that we don't have yet is the witty artificial computer intelligence. That too, unfortunately, is not far off."

Dude, Valley Scene guy. Last time we checked, we hadn't tested a car which allows us to jump inconvenient objects at the touch of a button. Nor did its deluxe model come with a "Pursuit Mode" that gave us like, um, ber-propulsion. Sheebus. Know-nothings.

Cars of the Future [Valley Scene]

Related:
Tech Startup Planning Flying Car [Internal]

A technology start-up company founded by MIT graduate students could have a flying car to market as early 2009, according to CNet. The company, Terrafugia, is working up a SUV-cum-aircraft that will be able to carry two people and luggage on 100- to 500-mile jumps using a tank of premium unleaded gas. A working prototype is expected by 2008, but the company will display a scale model of its Transition Personal Air Vehicle at the EAA AirVenture Conference in Oshkosh, Wisconsin this July. Book your flight now, Oshkosh is murder in the summer. [Thanks to Chris and Jeff for the tip.]

Flying Car Ready for Takeoff [CNet]

Related:
More on Flying Cars [internal]