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Posted on 05/17/2008 6:10:24 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Looks like a cross between a ‘59 Caddy, the Batmobile, and an El Camino.
I want one of these. it would be cool to drive a superfund site!
I want an nuclear car too. An electric one I can plug into my local Nuclear power plant.
I think the environs would allow it, as long as you could buy a Hybrid version :)
WHat's the big fly in this ointment?
The size of the radiator (or "condensor" as it would be called) to convert all that steam back into water.
It would have to be about 10 feet wide and 4 feet high, using the best available heat transfer technology, to do the job for even a 150 horsepower engine.
It won't work; that's why we don't have steam cars today.
Anyone remember Mr. Lear?
He was going to do this back in the '70s, he put together a big engineering team - and 2years later quietly gave up when the condensor issue reared its ugly head.
I bought a brand-new air-mobile.
It custom-made, it was a Flight De Ville
With a powerful motor and some hideaway wings,
Push in on the button and you will get a scene.
Now you can’t catch me, baby you can’t catch me,
‘Cause if you get too close, you know I’m gone like a cool breeze.
New Jersey Turnpike in the wee, wee hours,
I was rollin’ slow because of drizzlin’ showers.
Here come a flat-top, he was movin’ up with me,
Then come wavin’ goodbye a little old souped-up jitney.
I put my foot on the gas, and I began to roll,
Moanin’ siren, it was the state patrol,
So I let out my wings and then I blew my horn.
Bye bye New Jersey, I’d become airborne!
Now you can’t catch me, baby you can’t catch me,
‘Cause if you get too close, you know I’m gone like a cool breeze
Flyin’ with my baby last Saturday night,
Not a gray cloud floatin’ in sight,
Big full moon shinin’ up above,
Cuddle up honey, be my love.
Sweetest little thing I’ve ever seen,
I’m gonna name you Maybellene.
Flyin’ on the beam, set on flight control,
Radio tuned to rock and roll.
Two, three hours have passed us by,
Altitude dropped to 505.
Fuel consumption way too fast,
Let’s get on home before we run out of gas.
Now you can’t catch me, baby you can’t catch me,
‘Cause if you get too close, you know I’m gone like a cool breeze.
Chuck Berry, 1957
The Ford Nucleon sans tail fins.
you do realize it is 2008, it could probably be done.
Looks like a cop catcher to me.
How do you get into one of these? I do not see any doors.
Just a couple decades ago an entrepreneur was trying to revive the steam locomotive. Not the old kind, with the giant boiler and the big cylinders and tall driving wheels, but a New Technology one that resembled the diesel locomotives of today.
To make it even remotely competitive with diesels, they would have to have the same closed fluid system you (and the original article author) mentioned.
Even with a full sized locomotive chassis, They didn’t have room for a radiator that could get rid of fifteen megawatts of heat when running in “notch eight.”
It sucks you through the air intakes.
Steam locomotives solved the problem by not having a closed loop. You would still need a closed cycle, but then use an open system to cool it. Stopping occasionally to fill the water tank.
What worries me more is the thought of my neighbor having a 1962 nuclear reactor up on blocks in his front yard.
Diesel locomotives of today consist of a diesel engine running a generator which powers an electric motor. No steam power involved.
Cars like the Nucleon were products of the most optimistic era in American history. In those days, there was nothing we couldn’t do.
Today’s cars are products of the most pessimistic era in American history. These days, we don’t dare do anything to pi$$ off the rabid envirowackos, who are now in charge of Congress.
The reminds me of the Clinton-Gore photo op in the early 90's with the three automakers. They got the automakers together, claiming they were going to co-design the 'supercar'. Still waiting. . .
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