Flying Car Landing in NYC: Terrafugia Transition Will Debut At Auto Show

Terrafugia

No, that's not a picture from a 2012 remake of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

It's Terrafugia's Transition Roadable Aircraft, and it's going to make its first public appearance at the New York Auto Show next month.

The Massachusetts-based company has been talking about its flying car (though it looks more like a truck) since 2006, but it will be officially showing it to the public for the first time from April 6 through 15 at the Javits Center in New York City.

The Transition won't actually be flying into Manhattan; it will be transported in a trailer and shown indoors at the convention center.

However, says the company, the first street-legal airplane is currently being tested in an undisclosed location. The car-turned-aircraft has folding wings, a propeller, and a range of 425 nautical miles in the air. Terrafugia says it is compact enough to be driven on regular streets, and then, at an airstrip, it can unfold its wings and take off.

And it's not just a pipe dream. Terrafugia says it expects the Transition to be ready for sale by the end of the year. The anticipated base purchase price is $279,000 and "roughly 100 aircraft have been reserved," a company spokesperson told ABC News.

Terrafugia