Friday, Sep. 15, 1967
Whoosh, Zoom, Splash
The various vehicles in James Bond's limitless arsenal of gadgets may seem like far-out props to many moviegoers. But not to those who have been paying close attention to what manufacturers and inventors have been up to lately.; Items:
sb MINI MOTORBIKES. Lightweight (60 to 90 Ibs.) vehicles that fold up to suitcase size in a matter of seconds, the little two-wheelers can be stuffed into the trunk of a car, stashed behind the back seat of a private plane or carried in the stern of a launch. Some half a dozen models are already on the market. Typical is the Avanti Sport, made by Italy's Bianchi Velo Co. and now available in most big cities. It is powered by a 1.5-h.p. engine capable of 30 m.p.h. and 125 miles per gal., costs about $250. The Avanti and other mini motorbikes appeal particularly to campers (Soprano Patrice Munsel owns two) and boatmen who need portable local transportation.
sb THE AIR CAT. A two-seat, fiber-glass hovercraft, it skims along on its own cushion of air with the aid of a 30-h.p. engine that can make 31 m.p.h. over a cruising range of 50 miles on 2.5 gals, of gas. Developed by Cushionflight Corp. of San Bernardino, Calif., for sports use on lakes, rivers and marshes and over snow and ice, the Air Cat will go on the market this fall at a price of about $1,900.
sb THE ONE-MAN HYDROFOIL. Invented by Italian Designer Renato Castellani, who plans to sell it in kits for $650, the one-man hydrofoil is an 11 ft. 6 in. streak of foam-filled fiber glass powered by an 18-h.p. outboard motor that flies over the water at 35 m.p.h.
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