Cars
Road plane
The article discusses Paul Lewis, an inventor with a strong belief in three-wheeled vehicles, and his attempts to create a successful model. Despite his passion and up to 28 patents to his name, Lewis faced multiple setbacks.
Paul Lewis, advertiser and inventor (with as many as 28 patents to his name), was a real believer in three-wheeled vehicles. His first such creation, which was unsuccessful, was called the Airomobile. Drawing important lessons from the failure of that first model, he decided he needed to make the concept more solid and glamorous, and thus came up with a new, far more esthetically appealing model. He abandoned the external headlamps, while overall the lines, still designed for maximum aerodynamic efficiency, were more carefully developed.
After the end of the Second World War, Paul Lewis came up with a new version of his idea for an unconventional three-wheeled car. Clearly inspired by aeronautical design, the Fascination featured an ogive-shaped cockpit, supported by a single twin-wheel unit, and a generous rear housing the engine and a traditional rear axle.
In spite of a vigorous promotional campaign, this project also failed, for two main reasons: the authorities decided that three wheels were not safe enough, and then the war broke out, making everything even more difficult. But Lewis was not a quitter, and in 1962 he founded the Highway Aircraft Corporation, in Lakewood, through which to revive his idea. This time, however, he reversed the arrangement of the wheels. Indeed, in order to overcome the issues previously encountered, he designed the new version with two wheels at the rear and a single twin-wheel unit at the front, rather like the kind you see on planes.
