The Most Innovative But Failed Vehicles Ever

Transportation has been playing a significant role in almost every aspect of modern life. That is to say, it exists and becomes an essential towards not only people in India, but also all individuals worldwide. Everytime we travel, near or far, there will be more than a means of transport for us to ride. Additionally, because of our need for moving here and there is growing faster and faster due to globalization, the attention towards developing convenient and economical transport system has never been more serious than today. As a result, by just simply walking on the street, we can face many innovative inventions of automobiles, bikes, ships, and the rest. However, back in history, there were also more than a creative idea of building unique vehicles that would be used exclusively for improving people's lives. Nonetheless, those ideas were not all practical, some were among the most successful inventions, some are creative but turned out to be  miserably mistakes of their own creators.

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In this article, we will not see the former, the outstanding vehicle in history, but we will take a look closer to the latter, the ones on which nobody would like to take a seat.

No. 1 CAPRONI CA.60 NOVIPLANO FLYING BOAT

A static display of Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano flying boat

The utmost prerequisite for an aircraft to take off is that the lift of the propellers must outweigh the lift needed to lift the aircraft. Therefore, when an aircraft cannot achieve this, more lift is required, or its weight must be reduced. In 1919, Italian aircraft designer Gianni Caproni faced this issue while developing the innovative flying boat, Caproni Ca.60 Transaereo (or the Noviplano). However, rather than cutting weight to meet the prerequisite, he added more wings to the flying boat so that more lift would be created. But in the first attempt, there was still not enough of the required lift, so he started to add more, and more, until the numbers reached nine. The reason why Caproni stopped was unclear, some said that the lift was enough, but others guessed that there was no space left to add more wings.

With the ultimate nine-wing design, the Noviplano was hope to carry up to 100 passengers, and the ability to land and take off on water. However, it could only do the second one, but not so reliable. Truth be told, the Noviplano was tested twice; and although the two takeoffs were successful, it crash on the second landing in 1921. took off twice and landed once. As a result, even though so much hard work and time had been spent to create such flying boat, it could never appear in the market.

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No. 2 THE THREE-WHEEL RELIANT ROBIN

Rolling a Reliant Robin - Top Gear - BBC

Most of us have at least seen motorized tricycles moving on the street a time or more. However, the frequency we catch a three-wheel car running along the road is rarer. Besides, we cannot easily find such type of automobiles at any garages or dealerships anytime soon. However, despite its rarity, a three-wheeled vehicle offers great advantageous potential of relative mechanical simplicity, lower rolling resistance, and notably improved aerodynamics. And there have been many concepts which vary from stable and aerodynamically configured two-wheel-front versions to mechanically simple two-wheel-back ones. However, in spite of countless attempts, the concepts still find it hard to capture the imagination of audiences.

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Here comes our protagonist, the most prominent small three-wheel Reliant Robin. The famous second-most popular fibreglass car was built in England between 1973 and 2002. Interestingly, its success came from affordability and fuel economy and affordability. The Robin is also mentioned directly or indirectly on many shows and series such as Cars 2, Good Omens, and Top Gear. However, unfortunately, despite being one of the most popular fibreglass in history, the franchise was stalled by many problems and production faults and went into financial trouble in October 2002. In other words, this may make its production stop forever.

No. 3 THE MONOWHEEL OF FUTURE

5 coolest and most extreme monowheel

Nevertheless, humans are an innately indomitable species. No matter how many failures they have been facing, they continue to bring the monowheel into life. Besides, the monowheel itself has an intense attraction that despite many drawbacks, it always can give people burning inspirations. Bear those flames in heart, Kerry McLean almost set himself on fire. To be specific, Mclean built a monowheel with advanced technology; however, the tech cannot compensate the stability required. As a result, in 2001, while demonstrating, the instability of the vehicle almost killed him. McLean was not the only one facing such situation, but there have been numerous people who have also experienced the same thing. And we can learn that, monowheel is too ahead of time.

No. 4 AIRSHIPS

Hindenburg Disaster: Real Zeppelin Explosion Footage (1937)

In the early 20th century, airships have been used as both luxury liners for wealthy people, and as bombers during WWI. And, to make these potentially dangerous beast float, an extremely light  was required. Even though helium has been known as the lightest and safest gas, it was too expensive. Therefore, most airships were filled with the disastrously flammable hydrogen, which put a death sentence to airships as a type of mass transportation. One historical events showing the hazard of airships was the 1937 German airship Hindenburg in New Jersey. On the 6th of May of the same year, as the huge floating sausage was approaching its mooring, it suddenly burst into flames, and in just a second or two, was totally destroyed.