Where the facts come from
Every factual claim on this site links to its source. This is the full list.
How we checked
Each fact was written in our own words alongside its source. Our build script stores the text of every source and, for each fact, checks that the key words and figures really appear in it. 44 of 44 checks passed when this site was last built (9 November 2026). Where we couldn’t find a named source saying something, we left it out. Where good sources disagree, we say so and give both.
Where sources differ
- How it would have driven its wheels: Hemmings says the details are unclear, Bill Vance describes steam turbines, and a second Hemmings article describes electric drive. We give all three.
- Where the model is: one Hemmings article says it is on display at The Henry Ford. The Henry Ford’s own collection page, which we checked on 9 November 2026, says it is on loan to the Atomic Museum in Las Vegas. We go with the museum.
- The photos on this site show a Nucleon model at the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin in 2008. We don’t know whether that was the Ford original or a copy, so we don’t claim it was.
All sources (6)
- Hemmings: Cars of Futures Past, Ford Nucleon concept (Kurt Ernst) (20 facts)
- Times Colonist: Bill Vance, Ford went extra mile with atomic cars (2020) (10 facts)
- The Henry Ford: Ford Nucleon scale model, 1958 (7 facts)
- Hemmings: 1958 Ford Nucleon (Mike Bumbeck) (3 facts)
- The Henry Ford: “Nucleon, a Glimpse into an Atomic-Powered Future” brochure, 1958 (3 facts)
- Lane Motor Museum: Gyro-X, 1967 (1 fact)