Talk:Ford Nucleon

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Contents

[edit] Electronic torque converter

Electronic torque converter? Is this a fancy name for an electric motor? If not, how does it work? — Soupisgoodfood 23:15, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

Who knows? FoMoCo's own words from the cars blurb at the time --DV8 2XL 00:41, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
At that time, "electronic" could mean anything which involved electricity. It could have been a generator/motor combination, or it could have meant a transmission which used electricity (whether for automatic or push-button shifting, or an electric heater to keep it warm). (SEWilco 06:16, 26 June 2006 (UTC))

[edit] Concept Car?

I doubt whether the Nucleon ever made it even to concept car stage; at least the pictures look like they were taken of a scale model. Maikel 21:02, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

There was a full-scale mock-up, that made the rounds at the time. --DV8 2XL 03:46, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
From what I've heard, it never made it past the 3" model stage. BioTube 01:41, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
The Ford web site says "a 3/8-scale model". The pictures all have what looks like overly thick radio antenna on the back of the cab, and the shadows resemble those for a model. Despite the bright lights the glass is totally opaque, and there are no seams around the hood and doors. There also are no descriptions of the interior of the vehicle, such as lacking a fuel gauge. As when front wheel drive vehicles appeared, it also would have been expected to mention the lack of a driveshaft hump down the middle of the floor due to all the drivetrain being in the rear. Those were the days of rear wheel drive; if the vehicle used front wheel drive that would also have been featured, but would have been made more difficult to accomplish because the front wheels are beside the passenger compartment. (SEWilco 06:16, 26 June 2006 (UTC))

[edit] Cor Blimey!

Am I an addicted gambler or does that car have a casino wheel on its back??

Don't know but that thing on the rear is the nuclear fusion reactor. Installed at a safe distance from the passenger compartment, you see. Maikel 20:35, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
I'm sure you meant to say a [nuclear fission] reactor. An affordable car-sized fusion reactor would be quite a feat!

[edit] Plagiarism

This page contains an almost unedited ripoff from the Ford media page - http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=3359.

The page needs to be rewritten to contain the same facts, but written properly as an encyclopedia entry.

Octothorn 07:09, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Does it sound too real?

The text states: " ... was a nuclear-powered concept car developed by Ford Motor Company in 1958. The car did not have an internal-combustion engine, rather, it was powered by a small nuclear reactor in the trunk of the car."

I think this should be rewritten because it gives the impression that the nuclear reactor actually existed and that the concept version actually had one. This impression is not dispelled by the rest of the article.

Marzolian 19:15, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Good point. Done. Fix it up further if my phrasing ain't so hot. (SEWilco 21:07, 17 January 2007 (UTC))