The Flying Pinto actually flew. It was not the project of Ford Motor Co., but of two guys who thought they could build a flying car on a shoestring budget. If it didn't crash and kill them both, they might have actually developed it into series production.
In contrast to the Flying Pinto team's efficiency, Ford spent about a billion dollars to design a mere sedan, the 80's reincarnation of the Thunderbird. It was supposedly a completely new car.
Now, think again about the Flying Pinto, only this time as a full-blown development project. With say three billions in R & D it could be done right. The World would see the first commercially successful flying car. I envision it being sold as two components. The car could be bought first, then later, the flying kit when the owner saved enough nickels and dimes. Probably the market is at least as big as the combined market for exotics, a fairly small, but still a mass market.
Ford doesn't have the money or the inclination. It has to be a government project, with licenses to the manufacturers. If Ford doesn't take the license, Toyota would. The government has three billion at its fingertips: That's two month's worth of wasted money for the failing Iraqi war. Our Leader must stop his personal, Constitutionally illegal undeclared war, recall the troops and begin investing the money saved into a long, long overdue project, the flying car.
Within two or three years we could have prototypes. Within 10 years you should be able to buy a flying car for no more than the price of a Corvette, in my opinion, given the economies of a mass production assembly line. Any new Flying Car would be much easier to take off and land than any present day light plane because of all the advances made in aerodynamics and electronic controls. Navigation is vastly improved too, with GPS...the same system used to negotiate city streets would get you safely from city to city. Doesn't all that wet your appetite?
As with all dream projects, its in the financing more than the technicalities. The technology is there, only the will and the money. As long as we flush our money down the tubes, we will never see the 21st Century products we predicted half a century ago, in particular the flying automobile.
The Flying Car would be fueled by synthetic gasoline, derived from coal conversion to oil, another multibillion dollar government project funded by the peace dividend. Synthetic gasoline would free us from the clutches of the likes of Arab shieks, Venezuelen strong men, and Nigerian Mau-Mau. Think about it, then petition your Congressmen to get the President to change his tune or call for his impeachment and removal before the disgruntled generals do the Coup D'etat. Our tax money is needed for critical commercial projects, not deadly war games.