Car with wings that flies by Terrafugia based in Woburn, Mass., plans to deliver car-plane, the Transition, to customers be the end of 2011. The company recently cleared a major hurdle when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted a special weight-limit exemption to the Transition.

“It the next ‘wow’ vehicle,” Terrafugia Vice President Richard Gersh said. The car-plane has wings that unfold for flying – a process the company says takes about one minute. The Transition’s price tag: $194,000. But there may be additional charges for options such as a radio, transponder or GPS. Another option is a full-plane parachute. The company has more than 70 orders with deposits, Gersh said.

The concept of a car-plane has been around since at least the 1950s, but Terrafugia may become the first company to mass-produce one, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. “Were working very closely with them, but there are still some remaining steps,” Brown said.