The Ford Gyron was a futuristic two-wheeled

gyrocar A gyrocar is a two-wheeled automobile. The difference between a bicycle or motorcycle and a gyrocar is that in a bike, dynamic balance is provided by the rider, and in some cases by the geometry and mass distribution of the bike itself, and the g ...

first shown to the world in 1961 at the

Detroit Motor Show The Detroit Auto Show, formerly known as the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), is an annual auto show held in Detroit, Michigan. Hosted at Huntington Place (formerly Cobo Center) since 1965, it is among the largest auto shows in ...

as a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle or show vehicle) is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not ...

Syd Mead Sydney Jay Mead (July 18, 1933 – December 30, 2019) was an American industrial designer and Neo-futurism, neo-futurist concept artist. Initially known for his influential futuristic design work for industrial clients such as U.S. Steel, Phili ...

and McKinley Thompson. One wheel was at the front and the other at the rear like a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

and the car was stabilized by

gyroscopes A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining Orientation (geometry), orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in ...

. The two occupants of the vehicle were seated side by side and, when the vehicle was stationary, two small legs appeared from the sides to support it. The vehicle was created for research and marketing purposes, with no intention to put it into production.

Alex Tremulis Alexander Sarantos Tremulis (January 23, 1914 – December 29, 1991) was an American industrial designer in the North American automotive industry. Tremulis held automotive design positions at Cord Automobile, Duesenberg, General Motors, Tucker ...

was the designer and the gyroscopic systems were based on

Louis Brennan Louis Brennan (28 January 1852 – 17 January 1932) was an Irish-Australian mechanical engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the Brennan Torpedo, one of the earliest wire-guided torpedoes, which was adopted by the British Army i ...

's theories. The

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

of Detroit gave credit for the Gyron to Louis Brennan. Alex Tremulis had started his career with the US Air Force and worked in 1948 at the

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene County, Ohio, Greene and Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patte ...

on the concept of Military flying saucers. He then became the chief designer for the ill-fated

Tucker Tucker may refer to: Places United States * Tucker, Arkansas * Tucker, Georgia * Tucker, Mississippi * Tucker, Missouri * Tucker, Utah, ghost town * Tucker County, West Virginia Outer space * Tucker (crater), a small lunar impact crater in ...

automobile before joining Ford, and was also involved with the Tuscan gyroscopic motorcycles and the Gyronaught XU1 gyroscopic car. The original fiberglass concept was destroyed in the 1962 Ford Rotunda fire. Only the studio model remains today, it was sold at an auction in December 2012 for $40,000. A second model was recently discovered in the collection of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles and displayed as part of the 2024 exhibition, "Eyes on the Road."

References

External links

Photograph of the Ford Gyron
at seriouswheels.com
Ford Gyron Concept Car
at oldconceptcars.com

Gyron A gyron is a triangular heraldic ordinary having an angle at the fess point and the opposite side at the edge of the escutcheon. A shield divided into gyrons is called gyronny, the default is typically of eight if no number of gyrons is specifi ...

Experimental and prototype gyroscopic vehicles Two-wheeled motor vehicles {{Classicpow-auto-stub