In 1961 Ford Motor Company unveiled the Glideair - a wheel-less vehicle that rides on a thin film of air a fraction of inch above the road.
Andre A. Kucher, Ford VP in charge on Engineering and Research:
"We look upon a Glideair as a new form of high-speed land transprotation, probably in the field of rail surface travel, for fast trips of distances up to about 1,000 miles."
A gas turbine or tubojet engine would supply the power to both levitate and propel the Glideair. Instead of wheels the vehicle would emply "levapads", a Kucher-coined word. Tiny jets of air would stream through holes in the levapads, supporting the vehicle. It is significant to note the levapads have already been designed to fit around a standard rail. They raise the vehicle from the rail and keep it away from the rail sides.
Important to note that unlike the Curtiss-Wright Air Car, the Glideair never went further than the drawing board.
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