In 1933, Buckminster Fuller along with naval architect Starling Burgess and a team of 27 workers began production of what Fuller believed to be a part of the future of transport.

Bucky envisioned a vehicle that could one day both fly and drive, with his designs for the car serving as an exploration into what, as he called it, the ‘ground-taxiing phase’ of this utopian vehicle might look like.

In yet another exhibit of his love for portmanteau’s, he named it - the ‘Dymaxion’ car, a combination of the words Dynamic, maximum, and tension.

Fullers plans for a utopian transport vehicle centered around his wish to do more with less. It was his goal to design a vehicle that was cost efficient to both build and fuel, all the while helping to reduce pollution.

These ideas were among many at the time, as designers, architects, and engineers alike tried to realize their visions of a utopian society. They were born out of frustration with the political, economic, and social systems of the time – as well as a desire for change in said systems, and Fuller was no different, devoting his rather tragic life to the pursuit of a better future.

In that spirit, the dymaxion car would play a part in Fullers utopian vision, but not the one he hoped for.

Visually, the dymaxion car is striking. Today, one might liken it to a hyper sleek vintage VW camper van, or perhaps a vehicle the Thunderbirds might even use. For the 1930’s however, its modern look is undeniable.

The car’s large frame was not without reason, Bucky had designed it to seat 11 people comfortably – perhaps with the aim of reducing pollution in the mind.

This elongated and sleek body was supported by not four, but three wheels, with the back wheel acting in a similar vein to the rudder of a ship (no doubt inspired by Bucky’s love of sailing – and his partnership with Burgess).

Perhaps detrimentally, this singular wheel allowed the car to manoeuvre itself in a way not seen previously, by enabling the driver to turn the wheel 90 degrees and steer the vehicle on its axis.

In demonstrations, Fuller showed how this could be used to easily parallel park the car. However, this unconventional design also led to him having to conceptualize a road system that would work for his utopian vehicle, perhaps contributing to its failure to be commercially realized.

There were other factors that no doubt contributed to this however, one being the controversy the project found itself in following a crash that resulted in the deaths of two people, seriously injuring others. Following this, questions around the vehicles' handleability began to be raised, and Fuller and Burgess quickly realized that their design was not suited for commercial adaptation.

Aside from its market failure however, we must ask ourselves how effective is it as a utopian design? Well, not very. Fullers' hyper fixation on the novelty of having 3 wheels instead of four created a plethora of issues that hindered its impact and drew attention away from its more impactful utopian features, such as its fuel efficiency.

In summation, while the aesthetics of the car are impressive and unapologetically modern, its functionality as a mode of transportation seems to fall behind. Certain features such as its ability to seat 11 passengers are impressive but were overshadowed by its poor handling and questions of safety.

When compared to his other work such as the Geodesic dome, the dymaxion car seems much less impressive and significant – but still, serves as a worthwhile exploration into what the future of transportation could have looked like.