1958 Ford Nucleon - AllCarIndex

A glimpse into an atomic-powered future when car drivers might select their own horsepower is provided by the Nucleon, a 3/8 scale model developed by advanced stylists in the Ford Motor Company Styling Office to probe possible styling Influences of atomic power in automobiles.

The model features a power capsule, suspended between twin booms at the rear, which would contain a radioactive core providing motive power.

Although atomic-powered cars are not practical at the moment, according to George W. Walker, vice president and director of styling for Ford Motor Company, new developments in metallurgy and other branches of science could conceivably bring them to realization sooner than expected.

"The Nucleon was styled on the assumption that the present bulkiness and weight of nuclear reactors and attendant shielding will some day be reduced,"

Walker said. "It seems reasonable to suppose that engineers eventually will discover a way to make this weight reduction possible."

Power output of the car could be controlled at the driver's option, much as the intensity of the reaction in a nuclear pile is controlled.

Cars like the Nucleon might be able to travel 5,000 miles or more, depending on the size of the core, without recharging. At that time, they would be taken to a charging station, which advanced stylists envision as largely replacing the present-day service station.

The drive train would be part of the power package, and electronic torque converters might take the place of the drive train now used.

The passenger compartment of the Nucleon features a one-piece, pillarless windshield and compound rear window, and is topped by a cantilever roof. There are air intakes at the leading edge of the roof and at the base of its supports. Temperatures inside the passenger compartment would be regulated electronically, making possible the use of fixed windows.

Slit beam horizontal headlights adjustable for all road conditions are housed in the front end of the Nucleon, together with electronic devices to warn of approaching vehicles. The approach of vehicles from the rear could be detected by means of antennae fixed in the trailing edge of the roof. Retractable front and rear bumpers provide added aerodynamic advantages.

"This model," Walker said, "is an eloquent example of the extent to which research into the future is conducted by advanced stylists of Ford Motor Company.

It indicates the stylist's unwillingness to admit that a thing cannot be done simply because it has not been done."