The Research vehicle, called the AVE Mizar, is designed for door-to-door highway-skyway travel, AVE president Henry Smolinski said Tuesday. The car's engine is used for surface travel and runway boost on takeoff. In flight, the combination craft depends on Skymaster wings, a twin-boom tail configuation and pusher propeller.

The flight equipment is detachable to allow street travel.

Except for liftoffs of about two feet, the hybrid has not flown, but will make a test run within a month or so, Smolinski said.

From: Press-Courier of Oxnard, California - May 10, 1973

   Mike Bird - Fly Me

DON"T GET me wrong, I believe in flying saucers.

But who is going to believe me when I tell him I saw a Ford Pinto flying around up there in the sky?

Ed Scarritt, our wire editor, handed me a picture transmitted over the AP photofax machine that shows a airframe of a Cessna Sktmaster coupled to the aforementioned Pinto, sitting beside a runway.

According to the caption, the hybrid's developers, Advanced Vehicle Engineers Inc. of Van Nuys plan to test fly their Kaleidoscope creation soon at Point Mugu.

It's fortunate that Henry Ford got around to putting a selfstarter on his automobile. I wouldn't want to have to climb out at 5,000 feet altitude and crank.

Hal Blake is a vice president of Advanced Vehicle Engineers.

"Hello, Hal? Tell me, does it fly?"

The Telephone line fairly crackled with the lightning speed of Hal's answer.

"Yes. How well, is what we're going to find out at Mugu. First, our test pilots Lois McDonald and Red Janisse, will fly it about 8 inches above the runway. Then 24 inches,. Then 5 feet, 10 feet off the ground. We want to assure ourselves that we have no problems."

"It all depends," Hal said. "There will be an FAA-designated pattern area. Probably a hundred flights over a one-to-three-month period. Lois or Red could take it a mile up."

A regular Pikes Peak run without a mountain.

THE WINGED road runner, called the AVE Mizar, is a five-year-old idea that began taking physical shape two years ago.

Henry Smolinski, president of AVE who first unveiled the research vehicle 48 hours ago, said the hybrid is designed for door-to-door highway and skyway travel.

The car's engine is used for surface travel and for runway boost on takeoff. In flight, the combination craft depends on Skymaster wings, a twin-boom tail configuration, and conventional pusher propeller.

The coupled airframe is quickly detachable to allow street travel in the modified car.

The company has a NASA contract to exchange research and technology information. Negotiations for the flight testing at Nugu to obtain FAA certification are proceeding at the Washington and base command levels.

In Smolinski's words, "We expect to start a test run within a month or so."

MEANWHILE, I had a few more questions for Blake, such as how far will it fly.

Again the phone line cackled. "Speed and rate of climb will vary between three engine models of varying horsepower.," Hal said. "The craft will cruise at between 137 and 156 miles an hour. The range is more than 1,000 miles."

Car Specially Built? "No, it's just as you buy it off the showroom floor, but modified. Ninety-five per cent of the road-air components are already manufactured. They can be coupled or uncoupled in 45 seconds. If you're slow - two minutes. We envision a person being able to someday to drive his modified car into an airport and hitch onto a rented airframe."

Price tag?

"Between $18,3000 and $28,900, depending on the model. We already have 34 single orders. We hope to turn out the first production model in late 1974."

Hal said the Cessna wing system and the Ford component have had their seperate public approval.

He added, "We're just marrying the two."