“A glimpse into an atomic powered future when car drivers might select their own horsepower is proceeded by the Nucleon…developed by advanced stylists in the Ford Motor Company Styling office to probe possible styling influences of atomic power in automobiles. The model features a power capsule, suspended between twin booms at the rear, which would contain a radioactive core providing motive power…. Power output of the car could be controlled at the driver’s option, much as the intensity of the reaction in a nuclear pile is controlled. Cars like the Nucleon might be able to travel 5,000 miles or more, depending on the size of the core, without recharging. At that time, they would be taken to a recharging station, which advanced stylists envision as largely replacing the present-day service station.”

This is the story of the brief and bonkers rise and fall of the atomic car.

Author: Gilles Messier

Host/Editor: Daven Hiskey

Producer: Samuel Avila

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