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Ah! Here we have that
wonderful fusion (no pun intended) of atomic energy and the symbol of
the American lifestyle. The Ford Motor Company got as caught up
as anyone in the atomic mania of the postwar years, and in the 1950s
trotted out this concept car called the Ford Nucleon. This baby
had it all: style, sleekness, comfort, and mileage unheard of in any
other make or model. That's because Ford did away with the
polluting, old-fashioned internal combustion engine and replaced it
with a nuclear reactor.
Well, that sounds like a good... WHAT?
Yes, that protuberance in the back is no car boot. It is a
genuine automotive atomic pile. This chic little plant was
a self-contained unit that could power the Nucleon for 5000 miles,
then be detached and replaced with a fresh one. It says
something about the times that Ford could trundle out the concept of
personal motorcars filled with uranium running about the countryside
without having the public go into fits of the screaming meemies at the
prospect of rear-ending one of these things.
And as for terrorists: Al Qaeda? We
deliver. |
