It’s always convenient to poke fun at yesterday’s visionary. As you can easily notice when you check into your garage, the car of the year 2006 is not shaped like a drop, has not three wheels, no fin and only seats up to about five person. It probably weighs about a ton and uses just as much fuel as the cars did back in the thirties, when Buckminster Fuller, visionary designer and entrepreneur, invented the Dymaxion.
These were the days after the Great Depression and Chicago was the host of the “Century of Progress World’s Fair“ in 1933. It was a short reprieve on the eve of WWII. A time of optimism, innovation and the dream of a better tomorrow. Engineers and designers like Mr. Fuller were out on a mission to lead the average man into a brighter, futuristic future. The Dymaxion was a part of his ideas of this future. It drove 30 miles with a gallon and could transport eleven passengers at speeds up to 120 miles per hour. It could do a U-turn on a dime and was ready to be produced when it was shown at the fair. Keep in mind:1933!
One major attraction of the show was the 20 minute visit of the ‘Graf Zeppelin’ – a 775-foot airship – unloading various VIPs from Europe.
On the next day two of these celebrities – Colonel William Francis Forbes-Sempill and Charles Dollfuss – were driven to the airport in the Dymaxion. This trip ended in a tragic accident almost at the doorstep of the fair. Both guests were seriously injured; the driver, Francis T. Turner, was killed. Though evidence supports the theory that another car caused this catastrophe, investors abandoned the project. Two other prototypes were built, but history’s time for the Dymaxion was up.
See a very informative website about the Dymaxion here, read about Buckminster Fuller here or an article from October 1933 about it here.
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