We’re fortunate have grow up in the tail end of the “awesome stuff in the back of the magazines” era. You know what we’re talking about. Buying plans for your own personal submarine, the always awesome X-Ray glasses, and all the other wacky stuff that looked so seedy and cool that you could send away for with just a small investment of funds. We guess that it is the internet now, but it was definitely cooler back then.
One guy who made himself good money for a while by being a back page hero was inventor Franklin Dobson who is shown here demonstrating his AirCar/Hovercraft. You could buy the whole kit to make this baby for $700 which included the chromemoly tubing, the exterior fabric, the fan, the McCulloch 101A engine, and well, everything you needed to be gliding along for fun. For $500 you got all that stuff and no engine. For $2.00 you got the plans and figured the rest out yourself.
Dobson’s day in the money-making sun came when Popular Science highlighted his ideas and vehicle and that gave him a sales spike. Like all good things though, this to came to an end. We have never seen, heard of, or witnessed the existence of a Dobson hovercraft outside of this video. Have you?
Dobson went on to invent toys and even some military systems as well. Smart guy!
