The footage of the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 doesn’t exactly paint airship-related travel in the greatest light.
That said, after seeing what an airship engine can do on a car, you might have a change of heart.
For inspiration, look to Englishman Mike Vardy, who took an extra-large Isotta Fraschini engine from a World War I airship and attached it to a vehicle that flies around curves, not through the air.
Vardy’s 1905 Fiat can make it up to 127 MPH and generate 3,000 pound-feet of torque, thanks to the 250 HP antique engine he labored to install.
“Owning a car and building a car like this, it’s an illness,” Vardy said. “It’s something you can’t get rid of. It’s in your blood.”
Admittedly, the vehicle’s tires take a beating and the rubber “pours off of them” so quickly that they only last for about 400 seconds of drive time, according to Vandy.
Even so, the high speed and shredded rubber make a joyride in the Fiat seems preferable to most zeppelin trips … well, except this one.
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