The Beechcraft Plainsman was a car made in 1946 by the

Beech Aircraft Company Beechcraft is an American brand of civil aviation and military aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of Beech Aircraft Corporation, an American manufacturer of general aviati ...

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

. The Plainsman was fitted with an air cooled four cylinder

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral di ...

engine driving a generator, which in turn powered four electric motors, one for each wheel. It was fitted with fully independent

air suspension Air suspension is a type of vehicle suspension powered by an electric or engine-driven air pump or compressor. This compressor pumps the air into a flexible bellows, usually made from textile-reinforced rubber. Unlike hydropneumatic suspension ...

. It also had an aluminum body. It weighed , its top speed was , and could carry six passengers. Only two were built.

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1946 Beechcraft Plainsman Concept Car
Editors of Consumer Guide Concept cars First car made by manufacturer {{Classicpow-auto-stub Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Kansas