It is that time of the year again! Anniversary of the post time, so back to the top for anyone that has not seen the picture of this contraption ever before. Sorry, Chaddilac, I just had to do it again.
I think the owners were in the witness protection program. We'll never hear from them again. Oh well, too Gold Chainer for me anyway!
the body does look like a early 30's body, flipped about backwards, nothing really looks like it was origionally with it...but strangly looks good together. I would love to find out what it is/was..odd in a really cool way.
this one has haunted me a little bit too. I have wondered if it could be a construction type of vehicle. ?? Anyone else seen some of the old heavy equipment cranes and different rigs with one seat ??? need an ending to this mystery. take care- L7
My first time seein it..................i reakon its someones first atempt at photoshop....... Proberbly some mad inventers take on a car. hes just never had time to finish the vision in his head.
This is the first time I am seeing this, I have no idea what it is or was but damn I would love to have it!
I guess after more than three years of this post running and constantly being resurrected on the list here, it's time to 'fess up' and great personal risk to myself, finally speak out and tell the truth and admit what this thing really is. It's the remains of a prototype atomic-powered, single-passenger commuter car called the 'Atomi-Tron', that was being developed in secret by Henway Motors Corporation at the behest of the U.S Government between 1952 and 1957. Had the project not been canceled after being unjustly ridiculed as being - quote - 'utterly impractical', 'futile' 'insanely dangerous', 'stupid' 'total and complete lunacy' etc. - and top Henway management officials, demonized as being - quote - "corrupt", "morally bankrupt" - and even worse - branded as a "complete and utter gang of criminals" - by a team of investigating scientists and engineers brought in by the government to review the project. All this too, just because Henway billed the government for a mere three billion dollars in minor 'nickle and dime' cost overruns! If common sense had prevailed and the government had continued to finance further development of the 'Atomi-Tron', instead of canceling it like they did, the project might have come to fruition and the whole world would likely now be driving nuclear-powered, Henway Atomi-Trons...and every single one of them, proudly made in America too! But sadly, it was not to be. Instead, thanks to a bunch of shortsighted, penny-pinching bureaucrats and self-serving politicians acting on the ill-advice of a handful of so-called "expert" scientists and engineers, the government halted any further funding and ordered an immediate halt to any and all further development of the 'Atom-tron'! As a result, the U.S. lost it's world lead in automotive technology and the world is now driving "old-fashioned" 'gasoline' and 'gasoline-electric-hybrid-powered' Hondas and Toyotas....all made in Japan! For the initial production run, Henway had proposed two models of the "Atomi-Tron" be built - an enclosed single-passenger 'coupe' version, intended for use in inclement weather, and a sporty 'roadster' version for use on warm, dry, sunny days. What you have here are the remains of the 'one of only one ever built' Atomi-Tron' roadster prototype. Henway had spent most of three-billion dollars of government money just on styling and market research into paint colors for this magnificent automobile and had yet to even start work on the 'Atomi-Trons' proposed, plutonium-fueled, advanced fast-breeder-type, nuclear reactor powerplant. The engineering challenges of developing this type of powerplant and adapting it for practical, everyday automotive use were and are, thanks to the government canceling further delelopment mostly unsolved and still daunting, even to this day! Notably, the need for the driver and any pedestrians and other motorists traveling within a three mile radius of the car having to wear complete body-enveloping lead suits -replete with gonad-protecting neutron-absorbent underwear too, even - to protect them from radiation. Then there's the inherent and ever-present danger of an out of control nuclear reaction and the subsequent nuclear explosion that would result, that could devastate large areas of the country and wipe out entire cities. And of course, last but not least, the problem of disposing of tons deadly nuclear waste that tens of thousands of Atomi-Trons on the road would produce annually. But Henway officials and engineers I'm sure were - and are still, even to this day - more than up to task of solving these minor challenges. And given continued, unlimited government funding, it's a near certainty that many of these niggling and truly, really just 'nuisance problems' listed above could and would have been solved by now, had the project not been stupidly and unjustly canceled in 1957! Mart3406 ('Official Henway Motors Corporate Historian and Archivist') ================================
I read all the way through this thread only to find out nobody knows what that thing was. . . At least some of the answers were entertaining.
------------------- Huh?? Whataya' mean?? I told ya' what it was! A Henway 'Atomi-Tron'! Ya' think I could make this kinda' stuff up??? Sheesh! Mart3406 ('Official Henway Motors Corporate Historian and Archivist') =============================
I don't know if I should..but I am going to anyway...as no one has asked the obvious question...What's a Henway?...
The Jalopy Journal
