Flying Low : Inventor Cruises the Streets in His ‘Propsicle’

Jim Riordan’s “propsicle” is not fuel-efficient. It isn’t fast. And although it took a lot of ingenuity to build, it is far from a model of modern technology.

“But it’s fun,” Riordan says, “and it’s the only one.”

Riordan, 40, a stunt flyer, inventor, entrepreneur and jack-of-all-trades, has what he believes to be the world’s first street-legal propeller-driven vehicle.

He calls it a “propsicle,” and there isn’t a person around who doesn’t stop and stare when Riordan drives by.

The three-wheeled cart, which is licensed as a motorcycle by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, has a gasoline-fueled 12-horsepower engine that turns a modified Hovercraft propeller instead of wheels.

Matter of Creativity

“It gets about 20 miles per gallon, and its top speed is about 50 m.p.h.,” Riordan said proudly, as if describing his child’s first steps.

Riordan came up with the idea of building the propsicle after a neighbor gave him an engine from a water pump and told him to “be creative.”

It took Riordan about eight months to build the vehicle in his spare time, and on May 20 he finally got license plates for it.

Riordan said he has been stopped twice by San Jose police officers who were skeptical about the legality of the propsicle.

“The first guy was a rookie cop,” Riordan said. “He had a smile on his face, but he said, ‘You know I had to stop you.’ ”

“The second cop was a hard-nosed sergeant. He pulled me over and said, ‘Twenty years of driving the streets of San Jose, and I’ve never seen anything like that.’ ”

To the surprise of both police officers, the propsicle is legal.

Some Red Tape

Riordan said he had to go through several channels within the Department of Motor Vehicles and the California Highway Patrol before he could get the machine approved for street driving.

“There’s nothing in the law that says the engine has to drive the wheels,” Riordan said.

Riordan is now preparing to begin building “Propsicle 2,” which he says will go faster, will be freeway-legal and will have an adjustable propeller that will allow it to move in reverse.

The original propsicle’s wooden propeller is enclosed in a wire cage that makes the vehicle look like a swamp buggy. The wind it creates behind it is enough to raise the hair on passing bicyclists, but not enough to distract motorists.

“The thing I love about it most is the reaction it gets from the people I pass,” Riordan said.

He also plans to make skis for it and take it to the snow next winter.

Riordan has offered the propsicle to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. He said the Smithsonian people have expressed interest in the propsicle, but only if it receives more publicity first.

Riordan is a former Atari Corp. executive who left the company in 1979 to go into business for himself. He founded Overnight Engineering Inc., a successful consulting firm to inventors and entrepreneurs.

He has also patented and marketed a number of his own inventions, including the “Light Beer Mug,” a mug with a glowing bottom that makes any beer a “light beer.” Sales of the mug have topped $2 million, he said.

Despite several offers, Riordan says he does not plan on building propsicles for sale.

“It’s too high a liability item to put in someone else’s hands,” he said. “I would operate it safely, but I don’t know how someone else would operate it.”

Riordan said he just wants to have fun with his propsicle, in the same way he does with his other hobbies, which include stunt flying, sky diving and motorcycle racing.

“I like taking chances. I like being on the edge, but I don’t do stupid things,” he said. Then he added, “Flying upside down is the most fun I’ve had in life.”