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Every week as an 11-year-old, Marilyn Felling would wait intently for the aerocar to cruise into Burbank Airport on the 1961 television hit “The Bob Cummings Show.” And every week, she wished she had an aerocar of her own.
Felling’s dream came true 20 years later when she and husband Carl Felling purchased an aerocar from a tobacco farmer in Kansas City, Mo.
After 25 years of ownership, the local couple is selling the car-and-plane-in-one. Marilyn Felling said she hates to part with the car, but it has to go as part of the Fellings’ divorce settlement.
Only five aerocars were ever made by inventor, designer and manufacturer Molt Tayler. The aerocar features a small frame that can run independently as a car.
Wings can be attached or towed behind the car and make it airport-ready in minutes.
“It was the first really practical flying car,” Carl Felling said.
Three aerocars are in museums and one is privately owned in Black Forest. The Felling’s is the only one for sale.
The asking price for the aerocar is $3.5 million. The Fellings did not disclose how much they paid for the car in 1981, but a model cost between $10,000 and $12,000 when they were first introduced in the 1950s.
“A very rare piece of aviation history has finally resurfaced after all these years,” Marilyn Felling said.
This particular aerocar has a storied past. It served as a plane for KISN radio traffic watch in Portland and carried Raul Castro, Fidel Castro’s brother, as a passenger once. Castro’s ride was not a smooth one, however.
“They crash landed and he hit a horse on the runway,” Marilyn Felling said.
That doesn’t mean the car’s in bad shape, though. Carl Felling said it should be restored, but the aerocar is still a perfectly acceptable form of transportation. Aerocars can fly up to 300 miles on a tank of gas and go 110 miles per hour in the air and 62 miles per hour on land.
A stream of prospective buyers has come to see the vehicle, but no one has snatched up the aerocar just yet. The Fellings said they don’t worry too much about the eventual buyer doing anything reckless with it.
“The asking price defines a serious buyer, so you’re not going to take it home and blow it up,” Marilyn Felling said.
A private buyer would be fine, but the Fellings would really like to see the car in a museum, preferably in Grand Junction.
“We would love to see it in a museum. It’s meant to be shared with the community,” Marilyn Felling said. “Originally, we thought it would be great to have it in the Gateway Auto Museum but getting a hold of (them) is rather difficult.”
Either way, Marilyn and Carl Felling are willing to wait for the best deal.
“We’re in no hurry to sell,” Carl Felling said.
“This isn’t a fire sale,” Marilyn Felling said.
Interested buyers can e-mail the Fellings at aerocar103D@aol.com.
Emily Anderson/Free Press
Felling’s dream came true 20 years later when she and husband Carl Felling purchased an aerocar from a tobacco farmer in Kansas City, Mo.
After 25 years of ownership, the local couple is selling the car-and-plane-in-one. Marilyn Felling said she hates to part with the car, but it has to go as part of the Fellings’ divorce settlement.
Only five aerocars were ever made by inventor, designer and manufacturer Molt Tayler. The aerocar features a small frame that can run independently as a car.
Wings can be attached or towed behind the car and make it airport-ready in minutes.
“It was the first really practical flying car,” Carl Felling said.
Three aerocars are in museums and one is privately owned in Black Forest. The Felling’s is the only one for sale.
The asking price for the aerocar is $3.5 million. The Fellings did not disclose how much they paid for the car in 1981, but a model cost between $10,000 and $12,000 when they were first introduced in the 1950s.
“A very rare piece of aviation history has finally resurfaced after all these years,” Marilyn Felling said.
This particular aerocar has a storied past. It served as a plane for KISN radio traffic watch in Portland and carried Raul Castro, Fidel Castro’s brother, as a passenger once. Castro’s ride was not a smooth one, however.
“They crash landed and he hit a horse on the runway,” Marilyn Felling said.
That doesn’t mean the car’s in bad shape, though. Carl Felling said it should be restored, but the aerocar is still a perfectly acceptable form of transportation. Aerocars can fly up to 300 miles on a tank of gas and go 110 miles per hour in the air and 62 miles per hour on land.
A stream of prospective buyers has come to see the vehicle, but no one has snatched up the aerocar just yet. The Fellings said they don’t worry too much about the eventual buyer doing anything reckless with it.
“The asking price defines a serious buyer, so you’re not going to take it home and blow it up,” Marilyn Felling said.
A private buyer would be fine, but the Fellings would really like to see the car in a museum, preferably in Grand Junction.
“We would love to see it in a museum. It’s meant to be shared with the community,” Marilyn Felling said. “Originally, we thought it would be great to have it in the Gateway Auto Museum but getting a hold of (them) is rather difficult.”
Either way, Marilyn and Carl Felling are willing to wait for the best deal.
“We’re in no hurry to sell,” Carl Felling said.
“This isn’t a fire sale,” Marilyn Felling said.
Interested buyers can e-mail the Fellings at aerocar103D@aol.com.
Emily Anderson/Free Press
