Now that it's 2010, we deserve a practical flying car. But we're not there yet -- and it's not for a lack of trying.
Here's the 1937 Arrowbile by Studebaker. That's not a typo. It was called the Arrowbile.
Consolidated-Vultee tried to make one in 1947 called the Convaircar. The idea? Strap a single-engine prop to the roof of something that looks like a Tucker. It didn't work very well:
Engineer Moulton "Molt" Taylor designed one called the Aerocar. Fold out wings and runway take-offs.
There's still a fully operational Aerocar in existence. Watch here.
For whatever reason, modern designers are basically recycling the same idea requiring runways and fold-out wings. Here's the Terrafugia Transition:
The Transition can travel around 500 miles on a single tank of gasoline. 120mph at 30mpg.
And here's the famous Moller SkyCar. With vertical takeoffs, this is closer to the right idea:
It looks like Wez and Lord Humungous might dig one of these:
Nope, nope, nope. Until they come up with a car that's able to smoothly hover based on electromagnetic technology, we'll never really have a flying car.