This kept the mechanicals very simple. No transmission or gears or metal linkages to disengage the rotor or drive wheels. It just had a system of valves and ducts inside it that redirected the air from the turbine to turn the blades or blow out the back for propulsion. This is a pretty good way to keep things light, and with few moving parts.
However, the challenge that is still... uuh.... challenging designers is the "car" part of the plane/car/boat vehicle. Governments have a lot of laws and requirements to make a car street legal. This article doesn't say whether the Monte-Copter is street legal or not. I'm not familiar with NHTSA regulations from 1961 But I bet it would have a hard time meeting regulations here in The Future.
The article talks about the compact size of the Monte-Copter, but never mentions what you do with the huge rotor when you're in "car mode". Supposedly, the vehicle is fifteen feet long, but the rotor looks way longer.
Then there's the noise generated by a gas turbine. Here's a FaceTube video of a model train powered by a gas turbine engine. Jump to 11:54 when the guy shuts the hell up and turns the thing on. Frikkin' loud. Can you silence a turbine engine like you can with an internal combustion engine? Imagine how loud the Monte-Copter was.
Then there's speed. The Monte-Copter had a top land speed of 40 mph. And since it's motivated purely by jet thrust, it would have been slow to get going from a dead stop. Air is squishy, and pushing against air takes a while to build up speed.. Wheels are much quicker off the line. Top Gear once raced a very fast car against a very fast jet fighter. Ultimately the plane was faster, but right at the start, the car just walked away from the plane. Scroll to 6:20 to see the start of the race.
Imagine trying to use the Monte-Copter as a car, even for a special trip from the lake to your house or whatever. At every stop light people would be flipping you off and honking. Then, some more finger honking on the highway because you can only do 40 and you're causing a traffic jam. Your huge rotor would probably be hitting things and causing clearance problems when you turn corners or drive through a town. If you want to fly later on in the day, you'd be carrying the wing extensions (required for flight)... where? In a trailer? The vehicle's too wide to use on a road (almost 11 feet wide) with the wings on. Even if it's not your daily driver, the Monte Copter would be almost useless on the road.
As an engineering demonstration, the Monte-Copter was a job well done. As an attempt to solve a transportation problem, it was silly. Nice dome, though!
Best of all, Science and Mechanics chose to ignore the Monte-Copter's real name in the headline of the article. They called it the Drive-and-Fly Tri-Phib. At last! A name as complicated as the machine.
Other Science and Mechanics editorial triumphs:
-"Enjoy Color Tele-Vision broadcasts with new Chroma-Omni-Tele-Vid-U-Tron!"
-"Safety Advancement in Oven Mitts! Manu-Thermo-Grab-O-Nutri-Glove!"
-"Prevent Unwanted Pregnancies with Intra-Fem-O-Baby Nega-Hump-Itol!"
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