Nobody thinks about future methods of transportation or commuting and thinks “Wow, that’s going to be incredible” any more. But for 100 years, from the Radium Age to the Space Age, people’s imaginations were on fire. Commuter rockets! Super-fast trains! UFO buses. Check out the most beguiling illustrations below.
A futuristic view of air travel over Paris as people leave the Opera in the Year 2000, an illustration by Albert Robida, 1882.
Police patrol the skies and women are seen driving their own aircraft between some buses and limousines.
(via Wikimedia Commons)
Personal flying machines, airships and amphibious locomotives (or wheeled ships?) on century-old postcards tried to depict what life would be like in the year 2000. These cards were produced by the German Hildebrands chocolate company around 1900.
(via Paleofuture)
Moscow in 2259, illustrations from 1914
(via Fototelegraf)
The combination of an airplane and a monorail system, designed by Francis Laur, 1919
(via Popular Mechanics, December 1919)
A Unique Concept Busof Future to Duplicate Speed of Railroads, from Modern Mechanics, June 1930
(viaModern Mechanics/June 1930)
Illustrations from Aus dem schönen Echte Wagner Album Nr. 3, c. 1930
(via Retro-Futurismus)
190 Miles an Hour with Ball-Wheel Train, from the cover of Everyday Science and Mechanics, December 1933
(via James Vaughan)
A two-wheeled mountain monorail system, on the illustration of Kikuzō Itō, 1936
(via Pink Tentacle)
A rolling Japanese car, 1936
(via James Vaughan)
Illustrations of Hans und Botho von Römer, from Was wird uns die Technik der Zukunft bringen?, 1941
Gas or steam-powered cars:
The City of the Future, with flying cars:
(via Retro-Futurismus)
Dinosaur Truck, from the cover of a Japanese magazine named The Practical Science for Boys and Girls, November 1949
(via Blackgang)
A Flying Saucer bus, from the magazine cover of Science and Mechanics, December 1950
(via Mid-Century Modern Freak)
Das Neue Universum, by Klaus Bürgle, 1955
(via Retro-Futurismus)
Atomic Planes Are Closer Than You Think, with the illustrations of Frank Tinsley, from Mechanix Illustrated, August 1955
(via io9)
Exploring the Arctic… with flying saucers, 1957
(via io9)
Das Neue Universum, by Klaus Bürgle, 1959
(via Retro-Futurismus)
A rocket-powered car with weapons on a superhighway, a Japanese illustration from the 1960s
(via Dark Roasted Blend)
Highway for hovercars, by Shigeru Komatsuzaki, 1960s
(via James Vaughan)
Hovering Red, by Syd Mead
(via James Vaughan)
Self-driving cars on a superhighway, by Günter Radtke, 1974
(via Retro-Futurismus)
A beehive-like parking lot in Moscow, 1975
(via io9)
