Scale Model of the Nucleon, a 1958 Ford Motor Company Styling Conception for an Atomic-Powered Car

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Artifact Overview

This 3/8-scale model was built to explore how the future of energy might affect the future of automotive design. The Ford Nucleon would have been powered by a rear-mounted, self-contained nuclear reactor. This atomic-automobile idea assumed, of course, that issues with nuclear safety and the size and weight of nuclear reactors would eventually be resolved. The Nucleon was never produced.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Photographic print

Subject Date

29 April 1958

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

84.1.1660.P.833.113676

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.

Material

Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Gelatin silver process
Printing (Process)

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 8.063 in
Width: 10.063 in

Scale Model of the Nucleon, a 1958 Ford Motor Company Styling Conception for an Atomic-Powered Car