The 1950s and 60s were a wild time in America where bold new ideas were regularly trotted out for the masses to gorge on. While this was the heyday for the American automobile, there were always those looking to make personal transportation smaller, lighter, and more practical. Alex Tremulis was just such a fellow, and his self-balancing gyroscopic motorcycle concept is undergoing restoration thanks to a dedicated team.
Tremulis was a designer for some of America’s best-remembered-but-defunct brands, including Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg. Fascinated by the future as he was, Tremulis became enamored with gyroscopic vehicles and developed his own design, the Gyro-X. Powered by a 1.2 liter Mini Cooper engine and riding on a custom tubular frame with an aluminum body, the Gyro-X was light, narrow, and sat a single person.
Temulis believed the Gyro-X could help reduce both traffic and fuel consumption, and his concept vehicle is said to have gotten around 80 mpg and was just 40-inches wide. A hydraulic-powered gyroscope kept the two-wheeled ride balanced on the road, but the prototype reportedly cost $750,000 to put together back in the 60s. Tremulis’ company, Gyro Transport Systems, went bust in 1970, and the Gyro-X disappeared.
It re-emerged 5 years ago with a Porsche motor as part of a debt collection, and is now housed at the Lane Motor Museum in Tennessee, where it is being restored. It’s an intriguing piece of history, and a few modern companies have revived the idea of a gyro-balanced two-wheeler, or even one-wheel, but will these concepts ever make it to production?
Source: Hemmings Auto Blog
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