June 1960: Floating a new idea

In the late 1950s, public transport in the US was a multi-billion-dollar industry being eclipsed by a rise in private car ownership that saw a fifth of all households owning more than one car.

By 1960, the US automotive market – excluding business and government fleets – was estimated to be worth $36bn, a figure broken down into $16bn on car purchases and $20bn on maintenance and operation.

By comparison, the market for public transport – incorporating airlines and taxis as well as buses and trains – was worth $3bn and Ford Motor Company was working on a project designed to take a share of the spoils by connecting cities at speed.

The idea was, in fact, 30 years-old when it was presented to an audience at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers by a certain Mr VG Raviolo, Ford’s executive director of engineering staff. By that time, the concept of the Ford Levacar – a wheel-less vehicle supported on a thin film of air – was out of the lab and operating as a single-passenger vehicle on a circular track that was 28ft in diameter.