Inventors Who Maybe Should’ve Read The Manual Of Their Own Invention That Ended Up Killing Them

Henry Smolinski

Wikipedia / Doug Duncan

Smolinski took the wings of a Cessna 337 aircraft and joined it to a Ford Pinto with the intention to create a flying car. The car would be called the AVE Mizar and was manufactured by Henry’s company Advanced Vehicle Engineers. The modified Pinto was capable of flying 12,000 feet above ground at 130 mph. The dashboard was even modified with additions for fuel pressure gauges and radio navigational equipment.

During a test run, Smolinski and his friend Hal Blake struck the top of a tree and crashed into a pickup truck before bursting into flames. They would both die in the crash. The flying car was supposed to be featured in a James Bond movie later that year but after the fatal crash, they dropped the idea.