That sort of stuff wasn't confined to the days of the Model T. Consider the Orion project...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projec...ar_propulsion)

which would propel an interplanetary (and ultimately interstellar) spacecraft by spitting atomic bombs out the rear and detonating them to give the spacecraft a healthy push forward.

Thankfully, the test ban treaty put an end to it before some idiot could actually try it.