- [Glen] There have been some unusual vehicles that were produced including some that were dangerous, unconventional, impractical, and even fun. This is Glen and today,
and we are bringing you a mix of 15 unusual and personal
transportation vehicles. (upbeat music) - [Announcer] Number 15. - [Glen] Paul Moller
has been trying to bring the M200 flying saucer
shaped hover cars to market since around 1974 and progress has been excruciatingly slow since. Three models have been
produced to this date: the M200 X prototype, the M200G Volantor, and the M200G Neuera. Demonstrated to fly
outside of ground effect the Neuera is the closest
Moller came to producing a flying vehicle that he could sell. And, like the M200G the
Neuera features eight rotor power engines for
lift and propulsion. The craft offers side by side seating, 350 pound payload and
provides a cruising speed of 75 miles an hour
with a claimed top speed of 100 miles per hour. The Neuera is said to
provide a range of 100 miles between refueling spots
and can be configured to run on ethanol,
gasoline, or blended fuels. Moller had predicted that they would have the M200G ready for sale by early 2008 with a cost under $100,000. But, this did not occur. (jaunty music) - [Announcer] Number 14. (jaunty music) - [Glen] Designed and built by SwissCopter based out of Arizona,
USA the Dragonfly DF-1 uses a pair of hydrogen
peroxide fueled rockets attached to the tips
of the rotors for power instead of a more conventional
gas turbine engine found in most contemporary helicopters. The Dragonfly DF-1 weighs
234 pounds or 106 kilograms and can carry up to 500
pounds or 227 kilograms including pilot, fuel, and cargo. Top speed of the aircraft
is 115 miles per hour or 185 kilometers per hour. Cruise speed is around 40 miles per hour or 65 kilometers per hour. And, the flight time is up to 50 minutes. Control of the Dragonfly DF-1 also differs from a more normal helicopter
as the Dragonfly DF-1 gets a much simpler handlebar mechanism which hangs down from the rotor head and allows the pilot to control
the angle of the blades. A throttle lever provides
for power adjustment. (jaunty music) - [Announcer] Number 13. (jaunty music) - [Glen] The Lockheed XFV 1 nicknamed the Tail Sitter, is a research aircraft from the 1950s which were
the first to experiment with vertical take off and landing. The XFV-1 was first flown in March of 1954 and piloted by Herman "Fish" Salmon who was to be the sole test pilot during the XFV-1 project. This plane had a length of
37 feet or 11.25 meters, a wingspan of 27 and a
half feet or 8.35 meters, with a weight of 22,596 pounds or 5,260 kilograms, and a speed of 581 miles per hour or 935 kilometers per hour. The XFV-1 used an Allison
XT40-A-14 turbo prop engine that put out 7,000
horsepower making it capable of climbing 10,820 feet per minute or 3,298 meters per minute. And, it had a ceiling of 8.14
miles or 13.1 kilometers. The US Navy realized the
aircraft was entirely impractical for operating
in anything other than perfect conditions and
the project was canceled only one year after the
Lockheed XFV-1 first flew. (jaunty music) - [Announcer] Number 12. - [Glen] Built by Universal Hovercraft the UH-19XRW Hoverwing
Ground Effect hovercraft is designed from Kevlar and carbon fiber over a foam core. This is impact resistant and will hold up in the harshest operating
conditions including extreme cold and heat. This four season high
performance hovercraft is unique because of
the ability to add wings for flight in ground effect enabling you to clear obstacles and
fly over rough water at speeds of 75 miles per hour. Removing the wings from the Hoverwing converts it into sports mode,
a sleek, high performance hovercraft able to carry
four to six passengers and takes just 10 minutes. The price on these from
179,000 to $190,000 and the craft is registered as a boat so no pilot license is required. (jaunty music) - [Announcer] Number 11. (jaunty music) - [Glen] A one of a kind
propeller driver car with a top speed of 75 miles per hour the Helicron 1 was a car
which was revealed in 1932. Essentially, the Helicron
was a car which used a propeller located right between the front wheels for propulsion. And, the rear wheel steering gave the car unpredictable handling. Back when safety laws
were a lot more relaxed this would have been
a dangerous automobile to drive on the roads where a collision could result in a piece
of propeller flying off at a high rate of speed. In 2000, the Helicrohn was
discovered in a barn in France, transported to Nashville,
Tennessee and fully restored at the Lane Motor Museum. (jaunty music) - [Announcer] Number 10. (jaunty music) - [Glen] The initial
example of the Deep Flight Merlin Open Cockpit Wet
Subs, the Necker Nymph is manufactured by Hawkes
Ocean Technologies. The three person Necker Nymph aerosub uses the same underwater diving
principle as the Merlin and unlike conventional
subs uses downward lift on the wings to fly down
to a depth of 130 feet or about 40 meters. The Necker Nymph is 15
feet or 4.5 meters long and weighs around 1,650
pounds, or 750 kilograms, and dives can last up to two hours. The Necker Nymph
submersible costs $690,000, was built in 2010 and is available
to rent at Necker Island, Sir Richard Branson's
exclusive island paradise located in the British Virgin Islands. (jaunty music) - [Announcer] Number nine. (jaunty music) - [Glen] Rick Dobbertin,
the creator behind the Surface Orbiter built
this one off vehicle with a lightweight aluminum
frame known as the HydroCar. The HydroCar took 10 years
to build and can drive on land or water with ease thanks to its ingenious pontoon system. Three hydraulic levers
control the up and down movement of the sponsons,
axles, and wheel well doors for transitioning in and out of the water. The HydroCar has a Quadzilla
4L80E four speed transmission and comes with a 762 horsepower speed boat and hot rod hybrid engine. With a top speed of 125 miles per hour or 201 kilometers per hour on land and 60 miles per hour or
97 kilometers per hour in the water. Costing one million dollars
to build the HydroCar recently sold at auction for
the low price of $60,500. (jaunty music) - [Announcer] Number eight. (jaunty music) - [Glen] Airscooter
Corporation was founded in early 2000 by Elwood Norris and based in Henderson, Nevada. In 2005 they developed they
single seat AirScooter II which was intended to be
classified as a ultralight aircraft with a coaxial rotor configuration. Capable of carrying a load of 350 pounds this was expected to weigh
254 pounds and be powered by a single 65 horsepower
four stroke engine. Although its operating
ceiling was supposed to be around 10,000 feet or
2700 meters the AirScooter was not capable of an emergency
decent and was only used for below 50 feet or 15
meters above ground level for recreational flying. The AirScooter Corporation
went out of business by 2013. (jaunty music) - [Announcer] Number seven. (jaunty music) - [Glen] The Nord 500 Cadet was a ducted, fan powered single seat
experimental aircraft developed by the French
company Nord to help in the development of vertical
take off and landing aircraft in the late 1960s. Featuring two 317 horse
power Allison T63 turbines driving the large diameter propellers within the shrouds the
ducts could be turned to the horizontal
position for vertical lift during take off and
landing and then rotated to the upright position
for forward flight. Directional control of the
Nord 500 during vertical flight was done by small winglets
attached to the bottom of each duct. During forward flight the
aircraft was controlled using a conventional rudder
or elevator tail set up. Later, Nord merged with the
Aerospatiale Corporation and was renamed the Aerospatiale N500. A more powerful advanced
version of the aircraft was planned however,
it never materialized. And, by 1971 the project was canceled. (jaunty music) - [Announcer] Number six. (jaunty music) - [Glen] Built to operate
in all marine environments C-Enduro uses energy harvesting technology combined with an
efficient self riding hull and is a long endurance
autonomous surface vehicle used to safely and cost
effectively collect data at sea. This has a solar panel system
with 10 high efficiency panels generating a peak electrical power of 1100 watts and a wind turbine system that has a lightweight three blade system generating a peak output of 500 watts. This lightweight 910 kilogram ship has two DC brushless motors
giving this a top speed of 6.5 knots for a period of up to 30 days depending on the power configuration. Unprecedented payload capacity and power enables the use of a
combination of payloads during any one mission
and can dramatically reduce the cost of data collection by removing the need for
traditional survey vessels. (jaunty music) - [Announcer] Number five. (jaunty music) - [Glen] Built from
the late 50s until 1973 the Inflatoplane was an
inflatable, easily transportable light airplane designed
for observation use. There were two types, one a single seater while the other had
room for two occupants. These were hooked up to an air compressor once the Inflatoplane had been delivered to its operational area
and the crew waited for it to inflate. Then, after starting up the 60 horsepower McCulloch engine they said their prayers and took to the skies. Sadly, Lieutenant "Pug" Wallace was killed during one of the test flights. And in the end, the project was abandoned after Army generals
realized how vulnerable the aircraft and its
pilot were to any kind of enemy fire. (jaunty music) - [Announcer] Number four. (jaunty music) - [Glen] An ultralight concept vehicle the 2004 Rinspeed Splash makes it possible to travel on the road, in the water, and in the air. The sports car transforms
into an amphibious vehicle at the touch of a button thanks to a special hydraulic mechanism. But, that alone wasn't enough
for Frank M. Rinderknecht, the founder of Rinspeed. A complex integrated
hydrofoil system enables the Splash to fly at an
altitude of about two feet or .6 meters above the water. The Splash accelerates
in about 5.9 seconds to 62 miles an hour or
100 kilometers per hour and reaches a top speed
of 124 miles per hour, or 200 kilometers per
hour as a sports car. When operating normally in the water this gets a top speed of 31 miles per hour or 50 kilometers per hour
and 50 miles per hour or 80 kilometers per hour when functioning as a hydrofoil. (jaunty music) - [Announcer] Number three. (jaunty music) - [Glen] The Surface Orbiter
came from humble beginnings a 1959 Hile stainless steel milk tanker, to be precise. But, thanks to the demanding work over four and half year by Rick Dobbertin of Syracuse, New York, the Surface Orbiter became a reality. Equipment for the
Dobbertin Surface Orbiter includes a GPS system
with 24 mile range radar, multiple radio systems,
auto-inflating life raft, dual steering wheels,
marine cruise control, and bunch of other essential equipment. The first amphibious vehicle to travel the length of the Panama Canal the Orbiter logged over 33,000 miles
on land and it went over 3,000 miles by water, including open seas with waves up to 18
feet or 5.4 meters high. The Surface Orbiter was designed to be a genuinely all terrain amphibious vehicle that could go around the
world without the need for support vehicles. This classic vehicle never
got to accomplish this feat due to lack of funding. (jaunty music) - [Announcer] Number two. (jaunty music) - [Glen] In 1960, the American company Filper Research managed by William Orr built an unusual
helicopter, the Filper Beta. It was equipped with a
gyroflex system of rotors, a novelty using special sinkers for rotors with trimming support at
the base of the blades. This concept was first
tested on a Filper helicopter that had two pylons with rotors connected by a bar with the pilot sitting on top where the engine was located. Beta helicopters were equipped
with different engines. Some had Continental IO360E
with 155 kilowatt capacity. Others had Allison 250S18
or a Continental IO520 with 185 kilowatt capacity engines. The registration records
say that 32 Beta helicopters were built, but it is doubtful all of them were completed since in 1969
the Filper company closed. (jaunty music) - [Announcer] Number one. (jaunty music) - [Glen] Designed and built circa 1979 by German designer Luigi
Colani the Sea Ranger is part off road utility
vehicle, part camper, and part amphibious watercraft. The Sea Ranger was based on
a Mercedes Unimog chassis and running gear then wrapped in a water tight amphibious shell. The Sea Ranger also
included an open interior which had fantastic
360 degree views thanks to large angled windows,
a side ladder to allow the occupants to climb up onto the roof, a powerful radio antenna, and of course, that single rear swiveling fishing seat which was styled a bit like
the iconic 70s egg seats. Making its world debut
at the 1980 Hanover Fair the prototype of the Sea Ranger couldn't draw enough interest to have
it manufactured commercially and is now housed at the
Colani Design Museum. - Hey guys, this is Cassie. I hope you guys enjoyed this video. Tell us in the comments
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