Dan Neil: Dymaxion Car-Cool, How Does It Drive? 

you could NOT accuse the man of never thinking out of the box.

the designer of this car was heading in the wright direction !

The view from inside is fantastic.

We are currently restoring Buckminster Fuller's dome home in Carbondale Illinois. I am trying to upload a video of the progress every day on my channel.

This looks so awesome. Just heard about Buckminster Fuller yesterday and love all his inventions!

gosh, when did we stop dreaming?

The rear wheel steering on such a long car wasn't the best of ideas, rear wheel drive and front wheel steering would have been a lot more stable. But like most cutting designs it pushed some preconceived ideas on automotive design in that era.

It should have been given rear wheel chain drive and front wheel Ackerman steering.

Buckminster Fuller invented the geodesic dome. a design from 1930 ~just change the steering? pretty good! check out the Bucky houses that never took off in Wichita KS because "they" wanted it a certain way and Bucky said no. Wish he had caved. We'd have solar houses that turn like a clock with the sun and so much more. The Dymaxion house is like "The Jetsons" ~check it out and enjoy! PS while you are at it read/ingest 'Operating Manual For Spaceship Earth' and so many more (but don't expect to comprehend it all unless you are a rocket scientist! ~the man was a genius.

You should look up the Wikipedia article on this car in order to revise your description of the fatal accident at the Chicago world’s Fair. This account indicates that a Chicago politician who wanted a closer look ran into the Dymaxion at 70 mph, killing the driver who was a professional race car driver. The people you indicated were in the other car were actually passengers in the Dymaxion. If you have better info you should update the Wikipedia article.

Road zeppelin. Bucky! Storm bridge. "Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa," like taxiing a plane down a runway at high speed. Nice little journey. Thanks.

Do keep in mind that this car was envisioned and designed in the 30s ... you just cannot expect modern day car dynamics in this ... but in its days it would be like a spaceship more than an MPV

Gorgeous!

Fuller didn't invent the geodesic dome; that was Walther Baursfeld (look it up!) but he gave it its name and popularized it.

Was in Montreal and went to a Buckminster Fuller exhibit. I referred to him as "Bucky" to my wife. A docent overheard me and was shocked that I'd called him "Bucky." I told him that I'd heard him speak and he was introduced as Bucky. the docent was so impressed that I'd heard him speak that he gave us a private tour.

The car this is replicating is Dymaxion #1, which rolled over during a demonstration at the 1939 World's Fair, killing the driver and injuring the passengers. It was later destroyed in a fire.

The future is heading for a scary ride, seriously that's the point you want to make ? I don't know if you've driven any old cars

The Dymaxion was later totally reinvented atop the Chevrolet Corvair chassis with a new name, Ultra Coach, as the most aerodynamic motorhome. Thereafter it assumed a similar shape to ita original but with four wheels in the rear. It sold as a GMC and came with the Oldsmobile Rocket 455 V8.

That car looks actually cool

Looks a lot like the Stout Scarab from the rear :D

This car was hated in its time. Critics described it as a nightmare to drive, that broken shopping carts are easier to control.

It probably didn't dawn on the guy who built that replica to put a little tilt in the rear wheel spindle. That is what keeps wheels pointing strait ahead. even if you add more weight to it.

"Oh My God! That's a design flaw right there" .... "I didn't see that car right there.." You're a design flaw

Has this been adapted with the latest suspension and drive trains...?

i NEED this car...

I think that is neat. I wonder if one could make it steer using the two wheels in front instead of the one in back? How would it affect the driving?

This would be even cooler as an amphibious car. With a drop-down door for swimming/fishing access.

*0:29** - Will you show us how he rolls out it from its trailer???*

So many French cars on the parking lot that day ! 🥰

made and tuned in the Czech republic by Ecorra

I wonder if adding some smart car electronics might fix the steering problems.

when a carnival ride goes AWOL

Wow. Comments are way more forgiving than I expected. I'm a huge Bucky fan, but this 'car' (bus?) leaves a lot open to criticism. Must be where the term "Roadboat" comes from. On the other hand, modern cars (with their fashion over function) are hideously inefficient when so much energy is used to transport only 1 or 2 people at a time. …. Wish they expanded on the intended benefits of the Dymaxion.

It is great to see aBaccys car still mobile I am in the midst of building a modern version of the idea , it is electric powered and more square at the back and front the central wheels are front and rear and are the steering acting in opposite direction and the central wheels are the powered set the differetial are much more efficient the Buccy had and with the battery from the front to the rear and the mass of the battery give a very low Centre of gravity which adds greatly the the cars stability which has been very accptable

Nice project ! I guess from the point of view of driving, in a hazardous situation, the first wheels should be in the front of the car but not in the middle! That's not the plane.

@ 0:41 True innovation: The Citroen DS.

omg. it looks like the ancestor of the cyber truck!

what about RWD and front steering??

Beautiful vehicle! Dynamic Maximun Tension when driven… 😅

Would make a great superstructure over a Canoo 'skateboard' electric car base!

I love the design! But is it practical? It seems extremely difficult with that low, distant windshield to see traffic signals! But some car manufacturer should pick up on this design and correct its flaws. This would be a hot, hot seller!

His car was an example of what he thought people should have, not what people wanted or could afford.

this is an awesome car, can't decide if it looks like an old r.v, a ufo or car.

Dangerous. Rear wheel steering. Hit a bump and the rear wheel lifts off and you lose all steering!

why is this not all over the place

great Depression Auto Icons

Rear wheel steering? That sounds moderately dangerous.

Makes me wonder if the Airstream company had an effect on the design of this car?

Balance the weight of engine in back with the weight of axel and etc in front!

2:26

So this is what Alan Alda is up to these days.

The original Cybertruck

Airplane shell on roadwheels. A good idea not very well executed. He should have teamed up with Citroén to get a Great van

Хорошая машина

What would Ralph Nader think?

Now look at the Aptera electric car.

It needed wings and a tailplane. The only car you can groundloop

I guess it’s okay as long as you don’t have to make any sharp turns

1:45 It's a piece of something...

The romance of aviation should have meant disk brakes, thick balloon wheels, hydraulic assist for everything, not just canvas and aluminium.

I can hardly imagine going 120 mph with a single wheel doing the steering in the rear! One tiny slip of the wheel at only 60 mph with that arrangement would cause the car to flip over!!

Fast and bulbous also tapered, A tin teardrop,

будущее которое не наступило, революция которая не свершилась. Димаксон наконец то отшел от телеги и стал таким каким должна быть машина с точки зрения науки: аппарат оптимальный, обтекаемый, экономичный, и ни черта не удобный.

What a bad idea 😂

Zero points for suspension dynamics. 100% for aerodynamics and space!

Figured the original would drive pretty poorly. It’s such a beautiful design though - wonder why someone hasn’t just taken the body and slapped it on an existing 4 wheel frame? It’s like a mini Airstream that drives itself… I think it’d sell. 🤔

This is really quite unfair. The guy is trying out a *replica* of a Dymaxion Car. We don't know whether it is a replica in appearance only, or whether the person or people who built it actually used the original blueprints for the original car, using exact equivalents of the parts the original one had. In fact, if it was built in the 21st century, for example, the parts used on the original Dymaxion car are quite probably no longer available (in fact, many of the parts were quite probably custom built). So the builder of this car probably used newer, cheaper material and that could very well explain this 'wobbling' problem that he experienced, and the other problems. If he had driven one of the original Dymaxion cars, then I would give his criticisms of it a lot more credence.

Fuller served in submarines in WWI, so this is more of a Sub than a Zeppelin.

Most of Fullers ideas looked great but were totally impractical.

" When you piont it in one direction or the other it continues to go in that direction untill you stop it"? Yes ...the piont of a steering wheel.

I see a Citroen DSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I still think this is the future, with solar, electric and better batery technology

bucky was a designer, inventor, architect, visionary, futurist, humanitarian and a gentleman... dan neil...wtf have you done?

Aerodynamics are upside down. Or better said, frontside back. Common in old cars.

TAKE MY MONEY

not his biggest fan, but there's no denying that without his influence we wouldn't of got the lautner designed sheats goldstein house. big himself up for that.

persu.ro/ is the one who inspired the construction of this car

Ричард Фуллер опередил время! И дом-купол, и эта машина...

dyyyy maxx eee on

I see now where Elan Musk roll model came from.

Knew of this years ago. Yes it's very historically important, and I really like it for that aspect. But's far too primitive even compared to the cars of the same era. It was never going to work. It's a beautiful historical play toy.

Passenger Trains went streamline before this car .

Well, the single-rear-wheel steering of the Dymaxion certainly beats the single nose wheel of the Reliant Robin by a country mile when it comes to stability. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QQh56geU0X8.html

That isn't going to go 120 mph. If the driver insisted on testing its limits, I'm getting out of the car. Still, a fascinating design.

Not a very "neutral" evaluation. The driver appeared to lack much vehicle knowledge. This is a very weak video and it could have been great. Quite disappointing!

rearwheel lacks steering tilt, trail and suspension. No wonder, there is no steering comfort. Even Fuller missed this, if i look at the drawings.

This review was obviously poor; however, we are not taking into consideration that this is that guys reproduction, which if you compare to any of the only 3 made by Buckminster Fuller, it was made poorly and by cutting quite a few corners.

Critical soy boy journalist comparing the car to 90 years in the future innovated cars makes no sense. It is still clearly incredibly advanced for its time of creation

Get drunk. Stare out the window at an old airstream. Get inspired

Beautiful vehicle. Made current cars of the time look ugly and prehistoric by comparison. Still aerodynamic today. This car is on widened wheels, radial tires, lowered, with different steering. I wonder if the original rear bias-ply with stiffer sidewall would also move away from the crown of the road on the original. We'll never know. If I'd built this and made all these changes and found out it still handled poorly, I would have made one more change as mentioned here and fitted front-wheel steering with a leaf-spring suspension (if it doesn't have it - I believe I could see leaves under the front of one of the prototypes' front), making the rear wheel fixed - preferably two narrow rear wheels close together, à la Isetta, for greater stability. Why? Fuller made outrageous claims for being able to travel at the car's maximum speed. As this car has moved away from the concept, you should have fun driving what you've built, not frightened it'll topple you onto your head while traveling at the suburban speed limit (at least).

I will never understand the mania of the architects to think that they can design anything, like for example, vehicles. Do engineers design buildings? A little bit of respect

I didn't see this vehicle woble in any part of this video. This is only a replication of an 85 year old design. I suppose airplanes and ships should have the rutters in the front too, that way they woulden't be so wobbly.

that's what happens when you try to reinvent things without engineering sense in mind. Compare this mutant to 1928 Mercedes SSK, for example

Ha ha.

Umm... when computer's designed cars, and we removed he human designer element.

Fish anti biotic

Elon Musk saw this and started building the cyber truck.

up a hill?

Hold on. "If you point it in one direction or another it keeps going in that direction . . ." Aha. Has this guy ever driven a car before, cause that sounds like my experience with every car, boat, and plane I've ever driven or piloted. And then he ends it with that? Little to no history, just a dork who didn't deserve to drive that artifact? Man

Drives like a paper weight. ... NEXT!