Would you go flying in a Ford Pinto?

March 4th, 2008

ave-mizar.jpg

The first in our series of the world’s worst cars is one of the worlds worst cars mated to part of a plane to become the AVE Mizar. It was a project by a former Northrop engineer in 1973 to develop a flying car, It consisted of a Cessna Skymaster rear attached to the Ford Pinto with production scheduled to start in 1974. AVE planed to sell the Mizar for between US $18,300 and US$29,000. A few prototypes were built but the project ground to a halt when the developers of the Mizar were killed when the the wings of the craft broke away from the car mid flight resulting in a fiery crash. This would have to be the first time a Ford Pinto’s explosion was not caused by someone ramming them from behind. The National Transportation Safety Board reported in addition to poor design and loose parts, that bad welds were partly responsible for the crash, a bad idea was naturally assumed.  

Entry Filed under: Aircraft,Concept,Weird Car | Tags:

  • ' rel='nofollow Al

    Back in the fifties and early sixtys, a Celebrity named George Gobles regulary flew a car plane in his TV show.

    It folded into a trailer he pulled behind afteranding.

    That was the only one I ever seen. I don’t have any idea what it was or what it’s name was.

  • ' rel='nofollow Wattsy

    The only actor we could find out about was Bob Cummings owned a Taylor Aerocar about the same time. Was it this one http://www.transeum.com/weird-car/the-taylor-aerocar.html

  • http://www.cookieboystoys.com/' rel='nofollow Brian Campbell a.k.a. The Cookieboy

    The Flying Pinto 2 Has Been Found!

    On my website you can see updated information and a short video produced by Galpin Motors of California about the AVE Mizar Flying Pinto. The video features the flying Pinto and a second Pinto used in during the filming of the promotional video. Also see the story of how Pintony and Cookieboy found The Flying Pinto 2 from the video and the ongoing adventure to this great find and piece of history.

  • http://cookieboystoys.com' rel='nofollow Pintony

    I have 1 of the Galpin made flying Pintos
    Still has the original paint and is in fairly good condition considering it is 36years old.
    Go to cookieboystoys.com to see the video!!!
    From Pintony

  • http://www.cookieboystoys.com/mizar.htm' rel='nofollow Brian Campbell a.k.a. The Cookieboy

    The History Of The AVE Mizar Flying Pinto

    From the earliest newspaper articles in 1970 where Henry Smolinski started to share his idea with the world to it’s unfortunate end in 1973 with the crash of the AVE Mizar Flying Pinto. I have gathered as much information as I can in hopes of telling the most complete story possible of this fantastic idea, concept and implementation of a dream.

  • ' rel='nofollow Paul

    I wouldnt blame the Pinto itself for the failure of the venture…what did this thing in was shoddy work,poor engineering,and an overweight vehicle.A car was never designed to be a worthy plane,from any standard…aerodynamics,weight,structural strength….the fact that Galpin Ford was tied in with the project is a mystery.Why Ford didnt urge Galpin to steer clear of the venture due to liability and bad press if someone was killed (which happened) remains a question.Had the original plan,a Pontiac Firebird had been chosen,it would have been worse.A heavier car,and a prophetic name FIRE bird…alluding to its status after impact.

  • ' rel='nofollow Mark kapustynski

    Contrary to belief due to bad pr, the early ford pintos were actually very good reliable and great handling cars. They were quite a bargain as a new car purchase(base price was only $1999.00).
    The 1st years of the pinto had two 4 cyl. engine options. A very thrifty 1.6L & a very peppy 2.0L, both of which were German design & build. 1974 ford replaced both engines with a 2.4L american built which had a soft camshaft resulting in major engine problems at roughly 50k miles.
    It was that and the gas tank problem along with fords denial & reluctance to fixing both problems which gave the car a bad name

  • ' rel='nofollow DET

    This looks almost as dumb as the flying AMC Matador in “The Man with the Golden Gun.”


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