Flying cars coming to Sun n' Fun in Lakeland?

Among all the talk about the vintage war planes and aerobatic aircraft featured at the Sun n' Fun Air Expo in Lakeland next week will be conversation about some even more exotic vehicles.

Flying cars.

Aviation engineers are molding together airplanes that can roll down the road and cars that can soar into the atmosphere.

The next generation of flying machines is coming off the production lines next year at one company in Massachusetts, engineers with Terrafugia say. The model is being marketed to pilots by Terrafugia, which is Greek for "Escape the Earth."

The company already has taken 100 orders for the two-person car plane called the Transition, said company spokesman Richard Gersh.

"We are really in this market space by ourselves," he said. "There are other, similar designs. There's a flying motorcycle that's built from a kit and a flying dune buggy."

He said ideas to widen the flight market are flying around the nation now.

"In the aviation community, we are aware of them and we do compare notes," he said. "There are a lot of ideas out there and we appreciate all of them. If nothing more, it adds to the excitement of aviation and that's good."

Gersh and three other company representatives will be at the Sun n' Fun to answer questions and give updates. The prototype, however, will remain in Woburn, Mass., though a 4-foot scale model of the next generation of flying car will be on display at the air show, Gersh said.

The Sun n' Fun Air Expo takes over the Lakeland Linder airport for the week, transforming the small facility into the busiest airport in the nation with some 40,000 takeoffs and landings over six days.

Grounded spectators also clog the grounds, with more than 150,000 visitors expected to pay the $150 for the week or $35 each day to get into the event.

Acrobatic planes, vintage war planes and experimental aircraft that offer glimpses of future air travel will be on display as well. The U.S. Navy's Blue Angels are scheduled to put on shows from Thursday through Sunday. It's the 100th anniversary of Navy flying.

The event begins Tuesday and lasts until Sunday, April 3.

Terrafugia started five years ago, two years after the Federal Aviation Administration created a new category of plane – light-sport aircraft – that opened up the market for new car-plane prototypes.

The company began drawing up plans for a flying car that would fit into the light-sport aircraft category. The target audience: pilots, first off, then flight enthusiasts and businesspeople taking trips of less than 300 miles.

One drawback could be the price tag for such a contraption: $190,000.

The company says fuel costs and hangar fees would be cheaper as the flying car could fit into a regular garage and runs on premium gasoline.

Of course, the prototypes all need regulatory clearance from several federal agencies, and one minor hitch could derail the whole endeavor.

Not as far along in the production of a flying car is Dezso Molnar, an engineer-entrepreneur from California.

In October, Molnar received a U.S. patent for a flying motorcycle, though he's not making any full-ahead plans for mass production. He has one which he will bring to the Sun n' Fun, and one that's in the process of being built.

"I wanted one and I have one," he said. "I'll soon have two. Once the second one is done, I plan to drive it and fly it across the country."

The craft he will bring to the air show was built in 2005.

He said he is more interested in building a racing machine and isn't interested in mass production of a new kind of flying machine that will change the face of private transportation.

"I'm much more steeped in rarity," he said, "than I am in commonality."