“The M400 is a flying car that promises to let you take off from your backyard and fly to your destination at 350 mph, ignoring, if not gazing condescendingly upon, land-bound commuters stuck in traffic below,” reads the March 2000 Popular Science cover story on the Moller M400 Skycar. And, really, that sums up the undying, albeit foolish, desire to build a flying car. It’s not that we want to hit 88 mph and travel into the future to grab a copy of Grays Sports Almanac (although that would be awesome). We just want, for once in our lives, to beat traffic by soaring from point A to point B in style.
Perhaps that’s why Paul Moller won’t give up on his 50-year, $150 million quest to make his vision for a flying car a reality. Now, as he has in the past, he is auctioning off one of his unique aircraft. Last week, Moller International listed the M400 prototype on eBay, and anyone looking to own this red machine that looks like something out of The Fifth Element could have taken a shot at the starting bid of $1 million. Or, the more impatient bidder could have used the Buy It Now option to lock the Skycar up for a cool $5 million.
Alas, the listing attracted no bidders. On Thursday, the M400 was relisted, this time with an opening bid of $250,000, and while it still presumably has the same reserve price, maybe this will do the trick. After all, it’s hard to ignore the allure of this listing:
In other words, it’s a fantastic conversation piece. There is, however, a very crucial catch.
The other option is purchasing the vehicle and working with Moller to “make it the world’s first FAA approved VTOL capable ‘flying car.'” But at this point wouldn’t you just rather hold out for the equally expensive AeroMobil Flying Car? At least that one might actually fly without a crane.
