4D Transport

Dymaxion began as a brand, rather than a specific item. Born in Massachusetts in 1895, architect, engineer, and philosopher Buckminster Fuller decided to live his life as, in his own words, “an experiment to find what a single individual can contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity.” He coined the term “Dymaxion” by blending dynamic, maximum, and ion, and adopted it as his own personal brand. Some of his revolutionary inventions included the geodesic dome, and the Dymaxion house…a lightweight aluminum structure that could be shipped by air and assembled on-site. He also came up with the first three-wheeled, multi-directional Dymaxion car.

Fuller first sketched the Dymaxion car in 1927 and originally called it “4D transport.” The vehicle was a mix of aircraft and automobile, because it featured inflatable wings, and wheels, of course. Five years later, Fuller asked sculptor Isamu Noguchi to create new sketches, resulting in a teardrop-shaped design with a rear third wheel that lifted off the ground and a tail fin. Fuller began production in March 1933 at a former Locomobile factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The first model debuted on July 12, 1933, which was also Fuller’s 38th birthday. It had a steel chassis, an ash wood body covered in aluminum, and a painted canvas roof. The car could reach speeds of 120 miles per hour and averaged 28 miles per gallon.

Fuller sold the car-airplane hybrid to Gulf Oil, and the Dymaxion car went on display at the Century of Progress exposition in Chicago. Unfortunately, that October, the professional driver Francis Turner was killed after the Dymaxion car turned over during a demonstration. While an investigation cleared Dymaxion of responsibility, investors were spooked and became scarce. Despite the enthusiasm of the press and of celebrities such as the novelist HG Wells and the painter Diego Rivera, no one would step up and sponsor the vehicle.

The Dymaxion, along with the Nazi-built KdF-wagen…the forerunner to the Volkswagen Beetle, was one of several innovative, rear-engined cars developed in the 1930s. Though it was never mass-produced, the Dymaxion contributed to the acceptance of streamlined passenger cars like the 1936 Lincoln Zephyr. In 2008, the only surviving Dymaxion was showcased in an exhibit of Fuller’s work at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. A New York Times article about the exhibit highlighted Fuller’s own view of the Dymaxion: “I knew everyone would call it a car,” he told literary critic Hugh Kenner in the 1960s, but to him, it was actually “the land-taxiing phase of a wingless, twin orientable jet stilts flying device.” I think it’s sad that fear demolished the possibilities of that unique vehicle.