What could possibly go wrong? Check out this propeller-driven automobile driving through the streets of Paris in 1921.

This lovely silent newsreel item comes to us from British Pathé News without an audio track or documentation, but it’s probably safe to presume that this unusual vehicle is the handiwork of Marcel Leyat. A French aircraft pioneer who first flew in 1909, Leyat  built a number of propeller-driven automobiles in the hope of putting them into volume production. Experts say Leyat built as many as 25 or 30 of these vehicles between 1919 and 1926, which he named Hélica—hélice is French for propeller.

Leyat’s reasoning: Without the need for a transmission or drivetrain,  the vehicle could be much lighter, and also more efficient and economical to manufacture. Toward that end, he employed a number of elements of aircraft construction, including light alloy components and a plywood monocoque fuselage. Kudos to M. Leyat, but we also detect a few drawbacks with this propulsion system, starting with the deafening noise and the extreme hazard to pedestrians. At least the citizens of Paris could hear him coming. Bless the heretics and iconoclasts of the automotive world. They make life so much more interesting. Video follows.