The Three-Wheeled Dale (1975)
Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 2:57PM 
My friend Andy, an Unsolved Mysteries nerd of the highest order, introduced me to an episode of the series which looked at the Dale; an economical three-wheeled car of the future. The Dale was to be produced in the mid-1970s by the not-quite-futuristically-named Twentieth Century Motor Car Corporation, and bore some resemblance to the General Motors three-wheeled concept car (in reverse) from 1964. Funny thing about the supposed 70 mile-per-gallon Dale? It was a fraud. There was no Dale car, and no intention to manufacture it. Twentieth Century Motor Car Corp was started by entrepreneur-poseur Liz Carmichael who, according to this People magazine article from 1975, was born Jerry Dean Michael. I love that Liz added the word "car" to her given last name. Carmichael made off with thousands of dollars gleaned from excited inventors, until being arrested and charged with grand theft, fraud and securities violations. She jumped bail but was again caught after the airing of this episode. Remember kids, the Future™ can be used for both good and evil.
"We went to the research and development lab and observed what appeared to be people appearing to be busy but in wandering through the lab I saw no evidence that they were designing a vehicle or were in the process of making a vehicle."
Previously on Paleo-Future:
- General Motors Three-Wheeled Runabout (1966)
- GM's Shopping Cart Car (1964)
- Inventors Die Testing "Flying Ford Pinto" (1973)
- 100 Miles Per Gallon! (1992)
Reader Comments (6)
This sir, is some fine journalism. The Dale is an excellent example of people profiting off the idea of moving into the future. Judging by your blog traffic, people are fairly interested in it. nice new banner on the site by the way. That's a class act font.
Forget the car!! In the future, all re-enactments will be portrayed by cross-dressers!
This reminds me of the Quasar robot hoax.
Personal connection-- my father was one of the "investors" who were taken by this scam.
You just didn't question she was a women ? Well I don't know I think the guys may have gotten a job from her...haha "A car with a little less for a little less and an inventor with a whole lot extra" oh woMAN. So the DALE was not what it seemed neither was Liz. Did the DALE have a MANual TRANNY...SO SO Many good jokes. What a horrible scam and the car was one too.
So, you have a problem with transsexuals then, Nate?