Everyone knows about nuclear icebreakers or submarines, but how about injecting a nuclear reactor into a car? In 1957, FORD unveiled the concept art of the Ford Nucleon, which was the most famous atomic car. He became the first such development, as well as one of two such cars, created at least in the form of a layout and shown at the auto show.
The car was thought out from the first to the last screw, taking into account the need for maintenance on public roads and the hazard factor of exposure to passengers. The only thing left was to create the atomic engine itself. The nuclear installation, which occupied 2/3 of the volume and mass of the car, was a miniature copy of a standard reactor from an American nuclear submarine. One filling was supposed to be enough for 30,000 kilometers. However, it was considered impossible to refuel the car on its own, the consumer could only change the reactor and return it to the manufacturer.
It was planned to refuel the reactors at the factory. The technology was considered promising enough, but FORD did not have sufficient capacity at the time, and a submarine reactor manufacturer was in no hurry to develop such an engine for a car.
After 5 years, the project was continued. In 1961, the UN adopted the famous declaration banning the use of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons. Accordingly, the huge number of laboratories working in this area had to suspend research. A huge number of enterprises that studied nuclear weapons could disappear, so it was necessary to urgently find something to do in a peaceful way. Ford understood this and immediately offered jobs to the freed engineers. This is how the Ford Seattle 21 appeared.
This time, the development tried not to repeat the mistakes made during the construction of the previous model. They have kept the traditional line-up - the engine, then the interior, then the trunk of the normal size. But in 1962 a compact engine never existed, so we had to use as many fantastic ideas as possible, which at that time were impossible. Because they were half a century ahead of technology.
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By the way, the engineers proposed a touch panel for control, and the steering wheel was not even supposed. In the cabin, it was planned to use an on-board computer to plot the route, and the windows had a variable degree of dimming depending on the light flux outside.
It was planned to use rain sensors, calculate threats from neighboring cars. But development did not go further due to technical barriers.
Personally, I think it would be nice to try to develop such a car, especially considering the rumors about the imminent depletion of oil resources.