1932 Helicron at Lane Motor Museum

[FantasyFable1]

Propulsion and air conditioning all in one, multitasking for the win

[stopglobalswarming]

Look out for that deer

[ryanrule2]

lets see someone cut me off in this.

[advthinker]

Notice how clean the street is, he could charge the county a fee and get his gas for free.

[rainbow6vegaslover]

how fast was it going around the 2 40 mark? this looks awesome!

[zuzupetals1999]

I bet it would be a bushel of fun to drive in the rain!

[KenMacMillan]

For when you really need to feel the wind in your hair.

[BARONSCHWARZWALD]

Where can I get one?

[peckerwood57]

Chitty chitty bang bang! But needs wings.

Those crazy Frenh people are nuts! Plus rear wheel steering?

Imagine how cold you could get on a cool day!

[fairyheli2]

perfect car for a zombie apocalypse 

[kristenburnout1]

Will it blend?

[JesdaG]

Looks like its doing 35mph. I wonder what the top speed is

[EatmyDust1311]

Whats the top speed? Jalopnik links ftw

[TheFr3sh1]

lol

[NecroFuckk]

put wings under it xD

[aikaslbab]

How much liters of gasoline or other fuel it use for 100 km?

[LaneLMM]

At the Amelia Island Concours, our director drove it on the 50 mile tour. We estimate it got about 10 mpg, or 23.5 l/km. Not very economical!

[Dolud]

@LaneLMM Same fuel economy as my 1983 audi 80 quattro :D :D :D

[damibgg]

That sucks

[Michael63Lyman]

Watch out for skunks!

[xapie128]

Can you imagine hitting a bird with that?

Splat -- bird guts right in your face!

[77Pacer]

I SO WANT THAT!!! Personally, I've built my own propeller-driven car, except it's a lot different from this one. It's propeller is in the back, & it looks more like a hovercraft on wheels. It's powered by 3 9V batteries that work together.

[LaneLMM]

Our Tatra AeroLuge is a pusher, but has a bit more power than 3x9v! It's directly coupled to the 3 liter V-8. Look on our website for the April 2009 newsletter to be posted soon - there are photos of it.

[Stalin111]

the perfect car for the day of the dead. Everything you hit will be a fine sludge, fresh from the rolling mixer.

[EatmyDust1311]

@Stalin111 ... and that sludge is then propelled right in your face

[Stalin111]

@EatmyDust1311

I imagine you have to wear some protective gear anyways in that thing.

[peepeevagi]

I hope you dont have small children in your neighborhood XD!

[MarkFrankJPN]

that is a horrible idea

[power2weight]

thank you for posting.

this is great.

my son has a match box car like this.

this was the first car to have A/C.

way cool !!!!!!

[LaneLMM]

Unfortunately, without the complexity and expense of a variable-pitch prop, a small engine just can't move a car easily. Reducing weight or adding HP would help, but it'll always be a compromise between power and "top end."

[archerrobinhood]

i was thinking of building a propellor trike from my vw engine but looking at this, its too slow!

[Bugatti4evr]

i'm guessing it wouldn't pass a pedestrian safety test.

[LaneLMM]

I'm no authority, but I don't believe there were such things in 1932! It appears that there were no "real" regulations until 2005, so not too many cars on the road would conform, either. Mind you, I wouldn't want to test it, though!

[wolfcoast]

Where's the brakes?

[LaneLMM]

Per the engineer's thinking at the time, one of the "many advantages" of the prop-driven car was a reduction in weight, through smaller tires, no trans/clutch, and no need for 4-wheel brakes. It consequently has brakes only on the rear axle.

[augustus0963]

I'm guessing fuel economy sucks! Also how many birds have you diced so far?

[oisiaa]

A few questions;

How fast can it go?

How steep of a hill can it climb?

[LaneLMM]

It'll go about 45mph given enough level ground. As far as hills go, it can climb short gradual grades with a running start, but if stopped on a hill, you might find yourself rolling backwards even at full throttle!

[oisiaa]

Wow, that is so dangerous to pedestrians!

[POPTUB]

We love your video. Thats why we featured it today on POPTUB. Stop by our channel and check it out!

[eliteskater08]

someday you will be mine helicron

[LaneLMM]

Well, don't come here looking for it! It's at the Petersen starting next week, thru September '09.

[LaneLMM]

42-45 MPH, if you have enought flat room to get there!

[evos5000]

How fast can it go?

[ExoticSpotting]

I've been to LMM, very nice museum.

The Helicron is actually road legal in France, and if you look you can see that its rear wheel drive.

[LaneLMM]

Heck, it's road legal _here_! We have driven it on the roads around the museum, and taken it on a few classic tours, etc. They put us in the rear, so as not to sandblast other cars! And it is no-wheel drive, it's prop-driven - that's the whole point. It _did_ start out originally as a Rosengart chassis - rear engine, rear wheel drive. The builder reversed the chassis, rotated the engine 180 degrees, and bolted a prop to it. Voila, a front-engine prop-driven car with rear-wheel steering.

[McLarenVideo]

Whoops, I meant to type

'Rear-Wheel Steering'

My bad

[Gusto222]

that thing is pretty damn sweeet!

[skiming1]

I shudder to think what might happen if a critter ran in front of it.

[KSMSDRPEPPER]

exactly what I thought - sure would not want to be behind it when a bird got sucked up in it. I'm surprised PETA hasn't banned this car.

[MTCatman]

Pretty cool!

[n5050x]

Probably wouldn't get stuck in the snow!

[xKmotx]

Betcha don't get too many bugs on your windshield!

[raconter1]

Kinda looks like a big brother of a preying mantis! LOL! Now, just add a pair of detachable wings....! :D Jack