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"We didn't have a telephone and our family until I was about 15, in high school."
- Ray Bradbury

Go-Buggy  
  A ground-only vehicle.  

One characteristic of good writers is that they don't try to include details that don't move the story forward. In this case, the small vehicle is simple, but modernistic (at least from the standpoint of the 1970's, when this story was written).

The go-buggy was a white basic two-seater teardrop with wraparound window, a turbine in the rear.

Orne and Stetson got in, fastened their safety belts.

Stetson started the turbine whining up to power level, engaged the clutch. The buggy bounced several times on the cobbles until the gyro-spring system took hold. It made a neat, flat turn past the vegetable stalls.

From The Godmakers, by Frank Herbert.
Published by Berkley Medallion in 1972
Additional resources -

Today, of course, we can point to at least a few production cars that have a "tear-drop" shape (because it improves the aerodynamics - and therefore the gas mileage - of the vehicle).

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Godmakers
  More Ideas and Technology by Frank Herbert
  Tech news articles related to The Godmakers
  Tech news articles related to works by Frank Herbert

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