Ah, the Nineteen Fifties. Automotive design in America was closely influenced by the jet age. People have been loopy in regards to the new-fangled jet planes, however this was additionally an period the place nuclear power was taking strides. What would’ve occurred if nuclear affect made the identical type of influence within the motoring world?
That is what Ford was trying into with the curious idea featured right here, known as the Nucleon. Photographs of the idea and the unique Ford press launch from 1958 have been lately added to the ever-expanding Ford Heritage Vault. This was merely a design examine to see how future autos incorporating nuclear energy would possibly look. The spherical factor within the “mattress” of the Nucleon is the facility capsule containing a nondescript atomic core.
Past that, the glossy design has retractible bumpers for higher aerodynamic effectivity. The passenger compartment has digital local weather management methods. Per the discharge, Ford envisioned a spread of 5,000 miles earlier than the Nucleon wanted recharging.
After all, this was all purely speculative. This design by no means progressed past a 3:8-scale design experiment, so at no level was there an idea cruising the streets of Detroit with a nuclear reactor within the again. In case you’ve ever been to the Motor Metropolis, you recognize that is possible for the very best.
The press launch acknowledged the design assumed a future the place nuclear reactors have been sufficiently small to suit right into a automobile. In 2023 these reactors are nonetheless humongous as a result of they’re mainly large steam engines. Presumably, Ford noticed a future the place nuclear reactions have been producing energy immediately, although we nonetheless marvel how one would recharge a decaying component.
Ford’s imaginative and prescient of the long run wasn’t utterly off, nevertheless. The press launch talked about charging stations taking the place of gasoline stations, and that is taking place now as electrical automobile growth expands. Ford additionally described the Nucleon as having digital gadgets entrance and rear to warn occupants of close by autos. As we speak, such driver-assist methods are frequent in new autos, even serving as normal tools for some fashions.
And should you’re experiencing some unusual familiarity with the Nucleon’s design, you simply is perhaps a gamer. The Fallout recreation franchise reportedly based mostly its retro-futuristic fusion-powered vehicles on the Nucleon idea. We pinged Ford to see if that is correct, as we see quite a lot of similarities between the Nucleon and the post-apocalyptic rides within the recreation. For now, at the very least, it stays unconfirmed. However we’ll replace the put up if we be taught one thing new.
