Dymaxion
Dymaxion car (Buckminster Fuller)

Why it matters

The Dymaxion was Buckminster Fuller's attempt to apply aircraft-style streamlining to a road vehicle: a teardrop three-wheeler with front-wheel drive, a rear-mounted Ford V8 and rear-wheel steering. Only three were built and only the second survives, so it is both a rare object and a landmark of 1930s design thinking.

How rare is it?

Six separate kinds of rarity – never combined into one number.

Each kind of rarity is rated separately and never combined.

Photos

Exterior, interior and detail photos with their licences.

• Dymaxion Dymaxion car (Buckminster Fuller) (Wikimedia Commons search)
  Photo: brewbooks from near Seattle, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
• Dymaxion Dymaxion car (Buckminster Fuller) (Wikimedia Commons search)
  Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/saschapohflepp/ · CC BY 2.0
• Dymaxion Dymaxion car (Buckminster Fuller) (Wikimedia Commons search)
  Photo: brewbooks from near Seattle, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0

Production

Every figure says what it counts.

Independent counts (e.g. engine and colour) are never combined into a calculated figure. Surviving examples are never presented as original production.

History

Fuller and yacht designer Starling Burgess built the three Dymaxion cars in 1933-34 in a former Locomobile factory building in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The first car was sold to a company for use at air meets. On 27 October 1933 it crashed outside the Chicago world's fair grounds with a hired race driver at the wheel; the driver died and two passengers were seriously injured. Fuller blamed another car that had clipped it, but the public blamed the design and potential investors backed away.

The first car later served as a promotional vehicle and was destroyed in a fire; the third was reportedly scrapped in Wichita, Kansas. The second car is in the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada. Later re-creations include a car for architect Norman Foster and one by the Lane Motor Museum.

Technical specifications

Engine

Transmission & drivetrain

Chassis, body & dimensions

Performance

“Not yet verified” means no source has been checked for that value yet. Nothing is estimated to fill a gap.

Sources

Each number links to the exact facts it supports.

1. 1
   ClassicCars.com Journal – Lane Motor Museum re-creates visionary Dymaxion Car Level C

   • 3 prototypes built; one survives at the National Automobile Museum, Reno

   Accessed 2026-11-11
2. 2
   Dymaxion blueprints discovered in attic going up for auction Level C Hemmings Blog (Wayback capture)

   • the second, the only Dymaxion extant
   • Ford flathead-powered
   • front-wheel-drive Ford flathead-powered rear-engine three-wheeler

   Accessed 2026-11-13
3. 3
   Maximum Dynamism! Jeff Lane's Fuller Dymaxion Replica Captures Insane Cool of the Originals Level C Davey G. Johnson · Car and Driver · 2015-03-18

   • Power comes courtesy of a 1933 Ford flathead V-8.

   Accessed 2026-11-13
4. 4
   Maximum Dynamism! Jeff Lane's Fuller Dymaxion Replica Level C Car and Driver blog (Wayback capture)

   • driven by the front axle and steered via the rear wheel

   Accessed 2026-11-13