The fact that the Skycar hadn't so much as hopped two feet into the air didn't stop more than 100 people from plunking down $5,000 deposits for the first Skycars. One woman in Austria has deposits on 14 vehicles, essentially establishing herself as a European distributor. The initial price of the Skycar will be $950,000, though Moller says he can steadily work the price down with greater production levels, ultimately reaching $40,000 to $60,000 -- which may actually be affordable to many Americans on a lease basis, given the traditionally low depreciation on aircraft. Don't even think about it, though; Moller has stopped taking deposits. "I don't want a huge, impatient crowd of buyers waiting for the Skycar," he says. With luck, he says, he'll be able to produce 10 "preproduction" vehicles in 2001, though some or even all of them could go to military and paramilitary organizations that have expressed interest in the machine.
What will it take for Moller to get the car into production? Another $45 million, he says, plus about $500 million more to get to volume runs. That's a lot of money, he concedes, but he points out that 15 million new automobiles are sold each year, and if he could sell one-twentieth as many Skycars at $100,000 apiece, he'd be looking at a $75-billion market. "Ford spends $1 billion just to update a car line," he says.
Even if the Skycar does make it all the way into production, Moller's story won't be over. Just as he has built ancillary businesses to raise money for the Skycar, lately he's been regarding the Skycar itself as a means to a new end, he says. Just down the road from his building he's developing a 60-acre complex to house the world's largest combined alternative and traditional health-care facility. Spurred by the debilitating illnesses suffered by his two sisters, Moller has become increasingly dedicated to promoting various health supplements and treatments. He himself takes some 75 pills a day and unprompted likes to tick off his cholesterol level (HDL 80), his blood pressure (100/60), and even his testosterone readings. In fact, though he is 63, he looks 45. The Skycar is still consuming him, he says, but he spends more and more time thinking about the health complex, which he hopes to complete within five years. "This has become where I want to end up in life," he says.
After all, he points out, the Skycar has been a long haul. "Who would have thought that something that was supposed to take 10 years would take 30?" he asks. But even if the Skycar takes off on test flights this year, Moller won't be in the pilot's seat -- his investors won't let him. "Ten years ago that would have bothered me," he says, sitting in his office. "Now I'm not uncomfortable with the idea of not risking my neck."
He looks off into space when he says that. His gaze leads to a wall that's unadorned except for a framed photograph of a hummingbird.
David H. Freedman is a contributor to Inc.
Starting point: In 1965 Moller built and flew the XM-2, a two-engine hovering platform that struggled to make it inches off the ground and pitched to the side.
Phase two: By the end of 1968, Moller had built and tested the XM-3. It was more stable than its predecessor but was still incapable of controlled flight.
Liftoff: In 1989, Moller piloted the eight-engine flying-saucer-like M200X to a height of 50 feet, which proved the validity of his concept.
IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, IT'S ... HISTORY
More than 75 patents for flying cars have been issued in the United States since 1917. None of the vehicles ever caught on, though, because most tended to be expensive and flimsy as cars and underperformers as aircraft. Enthusiasm for the concept peaked back when hordes of sky's-the-limit young veterans returned to a booming economy after World War II. But interest seems to be picking up again -- a 1998 World Aviation Conference, for instance, attracted papers from three developers working on "roadable airplanes." Here is a brief history of the flying car:
1917: Glenn Curtiss's tri-winged, aluminum-frame Autoplane debuted, sparking interest but going nowhere fast.
1926: Henry Ford rolled out a prototype for the "Ford flying flivver" but stopped work when a friend was killed testing it. Ford remained an outspoken proponent of flying cars but never again put his money where his mouth was.
1937: Studebaker funded inventor Waldo Waterman's idea of sticking a propeller on the back of one of the company's cars, along with wings and aviation instruments. After taking a look at the result, Studebaker said, "Never mind."
1946: Robert Fulton designed and built the Airphibian, the first "roadable" plane certified by the Civil Aeronautics Administration -- which also ordered 10 for its own reps. Eleven Airphibians would be built in the 1950s before Fulton's company ran out of money.
1956: Moulton Taylor rolled out the Aerocar, the only other roadworthy plane to win federal certification. The Aerocar became a minor television star, making appearances on I've Got a Secret and alongside actor Bob Cummings on his show Love That Bob after he bought one. Taylor fell 222 orders short of the 500 he needed to start mass production of the vehicle, and only five Aerocars were built.
That same year, Ford flirted with a later incarnation of the Aerocar, then backed out.
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