![With such a vehicle at our disposal, [Fuller] felt that human travel, like that of birds, would no longer be confined to airports, roads, and other bu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Dynamixion_car_by_Buckminster_Fuller_1933_%28side_views%29.jpg "Dymaxion car - Wikipedia")
Dymaxion car - Wikipedia
With such a vehicle at our disposal, [Fuller] felt that human travel, like that of birds, would no longer be confined to airports, roads, and other bureaucratic boundaries, and that autonomous free-thinking human beings could live and prosper wherever they chose.
Fuller described the Dymaxion as a "zoomobile", explaining that it could hop off the road at will, fly about, then, as deftly as a bird, settle back into a place in traffic.
The Dymaxion car was designed by American inventor Buckminster Fuller during the Great Depression and featured prominently at Chicago's 1933/1934 World's Fair.[1] Fuller built three experimental prototypes with naval architect Starling Burgess – using donated money as well as a family inheritance[2][3] – to explore not an automobile per se, but the 'ground-taxiing phase' of a vehicle that might one day be designed to fly, land and drive – an "Omni-Medium Transport".[4] Fuller associated the word Dymaxion with much of his work, a portmanteau of the words dynamic, maximum, and tension,[5] to summarize his goal to do more with less.[6]
The Dymaxion's aerodynamic bodywork was designed for increased fuel efficiency and top speed, and its platform featured a lightweight hinged chassis, rear-mounted V8 engine, front-wheel drive (a rare RF layout), and three wheels. With steering via its third wheel at the rear (capable of 90° steering lock), the vehicle could steer itself in a tight circle, often causing a sensation.[7][8] Fuller noted severe limitations in its handling, especially at high speed or in high wind, due to its rear-wheel steering (highly unsuitable for anything but low speeds) and the limited understanding of the effects of lift and turbulence on automobile bodies in that era – allowing only trained staff to drive the car and saying it "was an invention that could not be made available to the general public without considerable improvements."[9] Shortly after its launch, a prototype crashed and killed the Dymaxion's driver.[10][11][12]
