A reactor in the boot
Nobody built one, so “how it worked” is really “how Ford imagined it might”. Even that is not fully clear.
The layout
At full size it would have been more than 200 inches long, 77.4 inches wide and only 41.4 inches high, on a wheelbase of just 69.4 inches. Hemmings (Kurt Ernst)
The cabin sat far forward of the front wheels, to offset the expected weight of the reactor and its shielding at the back. Hemmings (Kurt Ernst)
Bill Vance adds the other reason: to keep the people and the reactor as far apart as possible. Times Colonist (Bill Vance)
The capsule sat at the back, between two long booms meant to carry the reactor and its shielding. Hemmings (Mike Bumbeck)
The power capsule
Its reactor core, which Ford called the “power capsule”, was meant to last 5,000 miles, then be swapped at the future version of a filling station. Hemmings (Kurt Ernst) Ford hinted that drivers could choose a core built for more power or one built for more range. Hemmings (Kurt Ernst)
Ford left it to scientists to decide whether the power capsule would use nuclear fission or fusion. Hemmings (Mike Bumbeck)
What would happen to the used fuel was never really worked out. Hemmings (Kurt Ernst)
How would it have driven the wheels? Sources differ
- Exactly how it would have driven its wheels was never pinned down. Some writers suggest a steam turbine, as in a nuclear submarine, with a second turbine making electricity for the lights and heating. Hemmings (Kurt Ernst)
- The motoring historian Bill Vance describes the reactor heating water into steam to spin turbines, with the steam condensed and reused, much as in nuclear submarines. Times Colonist (Bill Vance)
- Another description has the reactor’s energy turned into electricity, driving the wheels through electronic torque converters. Hemmings (Mike Bumbeck)
Steam or electricity, both have long histories on the road: see the early steam cars on history.motoring.im, and hybrids and electric cars on engines.motoring.im.
The problems nobody solved
No nuclear reactor small enough for a car had been built. Times Colonist (Bill Vance)
The radiation shielding alone would have made a car far too heavy: some estimates ran to 50 tons. Times Colonist (Bill Vance)
The idea assumed that the problems of reactor size, weight and nuclear risk would eventually be solved. The Henry Ford Ford said the design rested “on the assumption that the present bulkiness and weight of nuclear reactors and attendant shielding would someday be reduced.” Hemmings (Kurt Ernst)
It never reached the engineering stage, or even a wind tunnel. Hemmings (Kurt Ernst)
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