"Meet the Ford Nucleon, an atomic-powered concept vehicle with a nuclear reactor that Ford Motor Company never produced. Presented to the public in 1958, the project proposed a car that would run on nuclear power instead of gasoline. It came from the car manufacturer's Advanced Styling Studio, whose premise was to work on projects that looked 10 to 20 years into the future. The American industrial and automotive designer George W. Walker led the styling division of the atomic-powered car Ford Nucleon."
"The Nucleon project started as an exercise in packaging, with the leads asking the styling team to design a vehicle with a heavy power source mounted in the rear instead of a front-mounted gas engine. James Powers realized that placing a heavy reactor in the back meant the passenger cabin needed to move forward to balance the weight. This created the cab-forward design that defines the atomic car Ford Nucleon's overall look."
The Ford Nucleon was a 1958 atomic-powered concept car conceived by Ford's Advanced Styling Studio under George W. Walker, with James R. Powers and Alex Tremulis contributing. The project aimed to imagine transportation 10–20 years ahead and to generate public interest by proposing nuclear propulsion. Designers placed a heavy reactor at the rear, forcing the passenger cabin forward and producing a distinctive cab-forward, bubble-cockpit appearance. The car measured 200 inches long with a 69-inch wheelbase, creating large overhangs and front wheels under the cabin; the short wheelbase aided city turning but produced handling problems with the heavy rear load.
Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine
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