In 1958, Disneyland TV aired an animation that rationalized the future of transportation–they called it “Magic Highway, U.S.A.” The video takes you on a typical ride with the quintessential American family (we assume they’ve already installed the Kitchen of the Future), where “Father chooses the route in advance on a push-button selector” and “electronics take over complete control.” Oh, and don’t forget that “with no driving responsibility, the family relaxes together. En route business conferences are conducted by television.” And to this day, Ford still has yet to come out with that glass bubble rocket ship-shaped car…for shame.
Yo, your comment about the “rocket shaped bubble car” led me on a google search of the term “bubble car”. Were you aware that the “micro car” was/is also termed “bubble car”? I wasn’t.
I found this link too … totally useless (to me) as a means of transportation, but would be fun on a Saturday night cruise.
That was awesome… my great aunt actually gave me an edited version of that on VHS when I was 12, i have no idea where she got it from. Had me drawing cities for months as I would watch it over and over.
Talk about a guy that through his hat over the wall.
cg: I finally watched the Disney film. It reminded me of Le Corbusier’s “Towards a New Architecture”. Very similar thinking of planning out a city from scratch. Interestingly, I was told a student of Le Corbusier moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. He has been petitioning the government to raze the city and start over for a few decades. Perhaps he and Disney crossed paths at some point?
